For quite a long time in the middle of the trip we didn’t need to think about other cyclists, because there weren’t any.
But now we are in the richer (and dare I observe, flatter) areas of southern France, the numbers are starting to build up.
They come in the following categories:
– Men (always) in full club kit whooshing past on high-spec skinny expensive bike
– Man/woman combo (usually) with e-bikes and tons of touring luggage
– Family groups often on hire bikes, often with some members of the group a bit wobbly
– People using their bike to run an errand
There is a sort-of hierarchy in my mind (which is the obvious and best place for it to remain) which puts us rather like Ronnie Barker in the famous class sketch, in the middle but definitely ahead on certain categories such as distance travelled and amount of luggage not carried.
Anyway, the category 1 gents do sometimes include us in their number (maybe because we have drop handlebars) and then we get the Equals Salute. To describe. It is done across the road, just before the cyclists are due to pass each other. The hand is pushed out, palm open, as if saying “if you weren’t all the way across the road, I could push you off like this”. It is super-cool because it is unlike any other salute.
The category 3 peeps say hi to everyone, and the really great thing is that if you say “bonjour” (go on, try this one out in the mirror) you end up with a little moue as if you are blowing a kiss. Very very attractive. Sid has taken to bonjouring many of the younger ladies.
The touring combos round here seem to leave each other alone on the road, although they do come over in cafes and ask how far we are going. If this is a prelude to a game of one-upmanship they are doomed to lose, although the winners are still the Normandy couple we met somewhere down the Danube who had been going all the way across Europe since March.
The errand-runners have an irritating habit of being faster than us on bikes that are patently far less roadworthy than ours but they lack stamina, my dear.