La Premier

1/7/07

The eastern sky over the Mediterranean starts to lighten about 7:15 and I get my bike and body primed for my first club ride in Rousillon. The Amelie les Bains club meets at 9am in the centre ville, about 25 kilometers up the road. I'm going to meet Geoff Smith in Le Boulou, 8k west of here and ride up with him.

Geoff and I got connected on the Internet, through an inquiry I made about cycling in the area. I had emailed about eight clubs with no replies when I found a posting he had made. A quick email and we were connected. He raced professionally back in the 60's, but when I meet him, with his helmet and riding kit on, it's hard to tell how old he is and I found out during the ride, he's still quite capable of making one hurt.

Geoff meets me at the large rond point west of Le Boulou and we head up the road, literally, because the road climbs all the way to the Spanish border. The river Tech flows next to the road and palm trees gradually give way to pines as we pass through small towns and villages, St. Jean Pla des Corts, Ceret, La Cabanasse, La Forge. Geoff talks about the club, his worries about falling membership and the aging of the riders, issues familiar to me and my own club. I'm filled with a combination of excitement, riding in a new place with a new club and the lasting effects of jet lag and interrupted sleep.

We roll into the resort town of Amelie les Bains and Geoff points out where the old Roman bridge used to stand and the old village, up the hillside from the Roman baths. Our meeting place has a couple of cyclists waiting, older men dressed in lycra kits and smiling broadly as Geoff introduces me. He keeps calling me Steve, confusing me with a 22yr old neo pro who soon pulls up. This becomes a running joke, especially when he mixes up our names when introducing us.

The real Steve just accepted a contract to ride with a team based in Toulouse and we talk a lot as we drift down the valley, retracing the ride Geoff and I just did. It's an easy pace, mostly coasting around the corners, not really a warm-up, but a cool-down after pedalling 25k up. Steve will be racing a full schedule starting in early Februrary and continuing until October, including a lot of big races like the Tour de Vendee.

At the sign for Montesquieu les Alberes, we turn up the mountain and climb, my goal is to just stick to the front part of the group, but not work too hard. So I spin away as the group splinters from 20 down to about 6. The climb enters the narrow streets of the village as it's waking up. People off to the boulangerie for the morning baguette and some older folks out walking their dogs. The road climbs past the village before settling in on a series of downhill hairpin turns through olive and cork orchards, descending the mountainside to my village of Villelongue dels Monts.

It feels like fall in the midwest. The air is dry and the leaves are a crackling mixture of rust and greens. The views from the road looking north to Perpignan and beyond are breathtaking as is the immense Le Canigou, the rocky peak that overlooks the plains running to the Mediterranean.

Villelongue comes and goes in a flash of old walls and new construction. We follow the signs for Argeles sur Mer and head directly for the sea.
70.2 miles, 4:04, 2440ft