Day 3 Ride (and some)

Still living the life in Limoux, France. The weather today was perfect. It was 24C (75F) with little wind and clear skies. The day started off with going to the farmer's market. Every Friday this is held in the town square, which I've mentioned before is literally like 100meters from our house. This was the first day we saw "happenings" of the town. Limoux is pretty small - about 10,000 people live here. But up until today, we had hardly seen anyone. Going to the market was an awesome experience. I don't know French, so that was difficult. But it was very interesting to be interacting in a community that you know nothing about. Their culture is very different than ours. One thing I noticed is that people here don't say "excuse me" when they cut in front of you. I was standing by some fruit, looking at them, and people would just come up and almost push me out of the way to get what they wanted. I'm sure they are not being rude, it's just their way of life. I saw them doing it to each other, so it's not like they were doing it because I'm an American. Anyway, markets over here are a huge deal. There's great food at really good prices. I think I spent around 10euros and bought lots of food. Not only do they have food, but they also have clothes, jewlrey, bags, etc. You know it, you could probably find it there.


I blend in well...

The dog introduction.

Yep, you could even buy bras there.

After we bought our food at the farmer's market, we sat around and watched some DVD's for a while, ate some lunch, and then finally went on our ride. We headed out around 2:00 for a 2 hour easy spin. The route was a continuation of the TT ride we did. The road actually starts to climb for a while, then descends and climbs again. Very beautiful scenery, of course.

Some cool houses on the hillside outside of Limoux.

Climbing :) I was overdressed - shouldn't have worn my base layer.

Teammate Ashley Dymond climbing on the narrow roads.

Me, Lauren, Einat, and Ashley posing in front of a famous church. It's old - like 1000years old.

The group descending through an awesome forest.

Grape vines EVERYWHERE!

Rolling back towards town. You can't tell in this picture very well, but those mountains in front of us are the Pyrenees. Ah snow caps!!

After the ride, Chris treated us to some Orange drink that I can't remember the name of. In the square was a band. We had heard this band going up and down the streets a few times since we've been here. Now we finally saw them. Apparently this group of people walks around town playing music a few times a day. Interesting.


Yes, I said interesting.

Ok that's all I have from today. Tomorrow morning we leave to drive up to the race. We race on Sunday, but are doing a course recon tomorrow afternoon. The race is near Chambery, France. From my understanding, it's a 10km circuit with a hill each lap. I think we do 80km, so 8laps, right? I'm a little nervous about it, but more excited than anything. The fields are supposed to be huge - like 100 or so. Jeannie Longo will probably be there. Not sure if I'll have internet access this weekend, but look for a recap Sunday or Monday. Thanks for stopping in!
-A