I want to ride my bike…

First a brief update on the ankle. There is no doubt that I have a pretty severe injury and if I were home I’d probably be in an aircast. But, I’m not home and everything we have planned revolves around riding. The swelling is going down and there is a little mobility (front to back, not side to side). One of the worst parts is that the bleeding (bruising) was probably exacerbated by the use of ibuprofen in the first 48 hours. So now each day the bruises move around to different parts of my ankle, toes, calf. After “The Incident” post, I had several picture diagnoses from my friends in the medical community indicating that I may have broken toes. But rest assured that the toes are okay, it was just this floating bruising.

To refresh your memory, here is the ankle at 72 hours:

and here is the ankle after 9 days (and 142 miles):

It still looks rough, but it’s a big improvement!

Our friends Randy and Claudia are spending a few weeks in France this summer and we have coordinated for them to come ride with us after they “do” Paris and before they “do” the French Riviera (Ooohlala), so actually, on bike building day 2 tandems were put together.

I want to test the ankle and see what we can do, so I suggest that we try a two-mile ride into the old city of Vaison-La-Romaine.

We have lunch, then we ride down to an artisan chocolaterie.

Ice cream alert!

Award-winning nougat…

And of course chocolate…

It’s another two miles and then two back to our house. The first day of riding becomes a short shakedown ride! Randy is suffering with a cold that he exported from the U.S., so he is not feeling 100% and everyone is content with the short ride.

If it’s Tuesday, it’s market day in Vaison which is one of the largest weekly markets in Provence.

Think of it as a gigantic farmer’s market with fresh and very local wares. After shopping, we take a 16-mile jaunt, and the ankle continues to improve. I can’t really push with my right, so serious climbing is out of the question. I can’t turn my foot to disengage from the pedal, so I have to open the velcro in my shoe and gingerly slide my foot out of the shoe in order to get off the bike. This causes great amusement and confusion for passing French cyclists.

By Wednesday we are able ride 30 miles, and we finish up our first week of cycling with four days of beautiful 30-mile rides in the shadow of Mt. Ventoux.

Roger has been busy rerouting to avoid the major climbs.

Yes it’s true you have to climb to get the views, but we do manage to find some beautiful scenery everywhere we look.

We are just happy to be on the bike.

Coming up next, food, glorious food!