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| Another Retro Event! |
Turning off of the boring (and
expensive!)
Autoroute, I headed my rented Skoda station wagon
along a secondary road in rural France, somewhere between Nantes and
Angers and saw a sign for a chateau in Oudon. Leisurely proceeding,
I soon found myself on the northern bank of the Loire, admiring an
impressive medieval fort. The Tower of Oudon dates back to 1392,
although most of it was built in the 15
th Century and
then, after falling into ruin, restored after 1866. It was the
subject of a painting by the famous British artist J.W.T. Turner.
Continuing towards Angers I found yet
another impressive residence, clearly from a much later period, and
it struck me that if I were to continue to look at every fantastic
castle in this region—there are so many it is not surprising there
was a French Revolution--I would never make it to Angers that day.
And the whole point of the trip was not to look at admirable castles
but to participate in another retro-ride, the Anjou Velo Vintage.
After enjoying the Retro-Ronde in
Belgium and then the much more modest Retro-Pedale in Rüsselsheim,
Germany soon after, it was time to go further afield. I flew from
Düsseldorf
direct to Nantes on the Air France affiliate airline Hop! (yes, "!"
included in the name) since there did not seem to be any other
reasonable way to get there. The Peugeot PXN-10, my ride of choice
from l'Eroica, was making a return trip to its homeland. Rather than
the usual unwieldy bike case, I had a soft-sided bag for it, stuffed
with foam. This turned out to be much easier to deal with than the
case and on arrival in Nantes everything appeared to be in order.
The
Anjou Velo Vintage event is spread over several days and this year's
edition (the third) had Saumur as its anchor but Angers was a key
component. This year the organizers had included a ride from Angers
to Saumur on June 22 that would follow 83 kms or so of the original
final stage of the 1903 Tour de France. To participate in “le
Rétro
1903” it was necessary to get to Angers first and the organizers
had set up a bike corral so participants could leave their bikes
there and take a shuttle bus from Saumur the next morning for the
ride. My plan was to leave my bike in Angers and then drive the
Skoda to my hotel, which was east of Saumur.
Angers
was much larger than I expected and I was a bit nervous driving in
but the GPS took me close to where I wanted to be. I found a big
underground parking lot (noticing that there were big signs that it
would be closed at 6 pm that day due to various events) and found an
excellent spot with a lot of room around it. It was here that I
pulled out the bike bag and my tools and put the Peugeot back
together. It all went swimmingly until I had a heart-stopping moment
when I could not find the seat binder bolt. I had not come all this
way to be defeated by the loss of a tiny part but, calming down, I
carefully shook out the bag and out the bolt fell. Victory! Tires
pumped up and brakes adjusted, the sea-green Peugeot and I headed
outside into the street. Straight into a violent rainstorm.
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| the Old Bicycle Corral in Angers |
The
rain hammered down and I sheltered at a storefront as everyone in
Angers took flight. It was really nasty and cold to boot but
eventually it stopped. After asking some policemen where the square
was that I needed to reach—they needed to call in, even though it
turned out to be less than a block away!--I found myself in the heart
of Anjou Velo Vintage. Avec mon vélo.
Some
enthusiastic helpers took the Peugeot off my hands and stored it
safely in the bike corral. There were a number of stands set up and
I met the charming Marie at one promoting a bicycle museum mid-way
between Paris and Angers. She gave me some brochures and did not
laugh at my French at all. There was also a stand selling English
candy and another with a nice selection of cycling books. Raymond
Poulidor was there autographing books, as was the widow of Laurent
Fignon, Tour winner in 1983 and 1984.
To
entertain the passersby a gentlemen demonstrated a high-wheel bicycle
(called “un bi” in French) and then let some children sit on the
saddle. The rain was intermittent and I had had enough so I left the
garage after I received my registration package in good time and made
my way to my hotel.
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| The registration goodies not only included a musette and aluminum water bottle but also radish seeds |
Le
Rétro 1903
On
Saturday morning I left the hotel early, figuring I could find some
kind of breakfast before the ride. It was very easy to find the
Anjou Velo Vintage Village in Saumur. Signs were everywhere and
there was a big parking lot opposite the famous Cavalry School so
that took care of one concern. Picking up my minimal stuff (a small
saddlebag with tools, tire repair stuff, emergency food and the
as-yet unused plastic rain jacket from the Retro-Ronde) I walked
passed the not-yet open Village with its many tents and promises of
interesting experiences to be had to where I could see several buses
and lots of people in cycling gear but without any bicycles.
I
caught up to Dave W., an English rider with a lovely 1950s Claude
Butler whom we had met at the Retro-Ronde, and a number of his
countrymen. I was struck again by the fact there are so many British
participants at these Continental retro-rides. They certainly seem
to have the right bicycles but apparently there are no events there.
In any case, it would be hard to surpass the kind of event we would
enjoy in France over the next two days.
While
waiting for the bus we also got to know another Dave W., this time
from Ireland and equipped with a Raleigh and superb vintage-style
sideburns. He had ridden the Anjou ride last year and his sideburns
had gotten him noticed enough to become the AVV poster boy for 2013!
Soon it was time to board the bus and we had a jolly trip to Angers,
arriving just over an hour later.
It
would be several hours before the ride was to begin but a lot of
events had been planned. It was bitterly cold so we all piled into a
cafe near the square and after Irish Dave battled through the crowds
we were able to enjoy some hot coffee. At an adjoining table was a
familiar group from Dűsseldorf's
Klassikerausfahrt, all of whom had also been at the Retro-Ronde. As
we were enjoying warming up, a gentleman came around with a big
basket and handed out fresh croissants to everyone. Very civilized
indeed!
Leaving
the cafe, we saw that groups of cyclists had gotten their bikes out
of the corral and were enthusiastically chatting in various
languages. There were some truly marvellous bikes, including a
wonderful old 1905 Peugeot with truly beautiful brakes. And not just
the bikes were old: on the stage there was a presentation taking
place with “Legends of the Tour de France” being briefly
interviewed. These worthies included Raymond Poulidor, “the
Eternal Second,” much loved in France for his determination.
Although he came second in the Tour three times and third five times,
he never wore the Yellow Jersey once. That was not the case for two
others: Dutchman Joop Zoetemelk,wearing a vintage Yellow Jersey on
stage, won the Tour in 1980 and Frenchman Bernard Thévenet,
who won twice with his first victory in 1975 marking the end of the
era of Eddy Merckx at the Tour. In addition there were some other
French riders and even Roger Legeay, who had been the final manager
of the Peugeot pro team and then manager of the Z pro team when Greg
Lemond won the tour in 1990. This was a pretty amazing group to
present to fans of vintage cycling.
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| Legends of the Tour de France |
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| Me and Joop Zoetemelk, Winner of the 1980 Tour de France |
While
eating yet more croissants, our little group of English Dave, Irish
Dave and me were accosted by a very attractive and very pregnant lady
who interviewed us with an accompanying camerman. Her French was
perfect but she was actually a British actress and presenter named
Louise Ekland. The other two both said their piece as she turned to
them and when there was a break Irish Dave told me I had to jump in
and say something. It appears the plan worked since only my
interview was kept in the video! I was so excited that I forgot to
speak French after my initial few sentences but it all worked out. I am in the video below starting at 0:42:
A
fleet of antique cars assembled, everyone was marshalled into place
and “le Rétro
1903” was launched into the cobbled streets of Angers. There were
around 250 riders and, as usual at the start of retro-rides, a lot of
squealing from the totally inadequate brakes as we swooped through
cobbled corners, but soon we were off at a nice pace, passing the
historic buildings and heading downhill to the banks of the Loire.
Irish Dave set such a good pace we soon lost him but figured we would
join up at the food stop.
We
joined the north bank of the Loire at Les-Ponts-de-Cė
and headed eastwards, directly along the river and soon along a
really excellent bicycle road which had no vehicular traffic except
our accompanying antique cars. The big group had already split and
English Dave and I rode at a reasonable pace, passing quite a few
cyclists, particularly those on particularly ancient machines. At
one point we were overtaken by an old flatbed stake truck and
standing on the back was a cameraman and a man with a boom mike who
proceeded to interview two particularly picturesque riders while
moving for about 7 kms! This procession was actually holding us up
so when the way was clear I sprinted past, English Dave following
soon after.
Now
we rode along the Levée
Jeanne de Laval, the main road along the river, and a rather rickety
tandem overtook us. As there was now a noticeable headwind it was
time to take advantage of the situation and I quickly pulled in
behind the creaky tandem, having explained to Dave the principles of
drafting. It was new to him and at first he had some trouble keeping
the pace but after a while we had a good rhythm going. We kept up
until Km 27, when we came to the small town of
Saint-Mathurin-sur-Loire and crossed the old bridge southwards.
Now
the countryside changed a bit as we rode away from the river into
some small hills as we wheeled through the mixed forest and
farmlands. We caught up with one of the old Tour de France
domestiques who was maintaining an excellent pace in spite of his
post-TdF beer belly but the group split up as we reached the steep
pitches on the road at Blaison-Gohier and outside Saint-Sulpice. We
took a break there and while I had drinking from my water bottle I
missed the chance to photograph Joop Zoetemelk, who rode by being
paced by a motorcycle.
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| English Dave and his Claud Butler bicycle |
Near
Km 44 we had a real break as it was time for lunch, a hot meal served
up at the magnificent Chateau Brissac, the tallest chateau in the
Loire region. It dates backs to the 11th Century but has
been rebuilt numerous times. The Duke of Brissac acquired it from
the King of France in 1611 and his heirs still own it although it was
ransacked during the French Revolution and had to be restored yet
again in the years following.
In
addition to our couscous and other tasty victuals, we enjoyed a
performance of local folk dancers in the regional costume. One or
two cyclists joined in with much more enthusiasm than skill but we
all had a good laugh. Irish Dave was there and soon departed and
English Dave and I soon followed, joined by Stephen, another British
rider. We continued along the empty country roads, with one or two
climbs, but after Km 49 it was pretty much downhill back to the
Loire.
We
rejoined it at Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne
and followed the south bank now, passing through small villages named
Saint-Maur, Le Thoureil and Gennes. Other settlements were just
crossroads with a few houses. There was no traffic at all on this
Saturday morning and we made excellent time as our little paceline
picked up speed in spite of the fact that the road took us very
gently uphill. Sooner than expected we found ourselves at Km 84, the
beautiful old city of Saumur and the end of the ride. There had been
a lot of fast riders and I had the feeling that of the weekend events
this was the one that would attract the more serious cyclists, even
on their old bikes. There was a rather surprising 480 m of climbing
on the route and we managed the route at an acceptable 24 km/h
average, not getting lost once due to the excellent signage and the
numerous marshals on the course who stopped traffic for us.
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| A large part of the English-speaking delegation: English Steven, English Dave and me |
Of
course, our heroic arrival in Saumur did not mean the end of the
day's activities. Leaving our bikes in the convenient bicycle corral
with volunteers, we took the opportunity to walk through the very
extensive Retro Village, which featured a bicycle jumble sale, retro
fashions, a retro barbershop, two museum displays and all kinds of fun products, including
a special umbrella to fit onto your handlebars for rainy days, a
concept not really meant for anything except Dutch roadsters, I fear.
It
was also time for the “Concours d'Elegance” and we enjoyed
watching the participants as they paraded in their period clothing
with their vintage bicycles before the appreciative judges and a
capacity crowd that cheered them on. We recognized several of the
contestants as clearly people love retro-riding so much they attend
all the events, whether in Belgium, Italy or here in France.
The
highlight for me had to be the pleasant chat I had with French
cycling icon Raymond Poulidor, the beloved “Eternal Second” whom
we had seen earlier in the day in Angers. He was happily
autographing books for all and when I asked which of his books I
should get he shrewdly suggested: “All of them!” Poulidor at 77
is in great shape and between his own races and then covering them in
PR work subsequently has seen no fewer than 50 Tours.
| Different nationalities, different languages but united by cycling: the author meets Raymond P. |
For
“Convicts of the Road:” The Ride
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| Breakfast in Saumur |
Day 2 of the Anjou Velo Vintage
had on offer a choice of three rides from Saumur: “the Discovery”
at 37 kms; “the Stroll” at 46 kms and “made to order for
cycling aficionados” was “the Ride” offering 86 kms. Our start
time was 10:30, giving us plenty of time to wander around the Retro
Village and look at many interesting things on offer, including
getting a haircut in an old-style barber shop with a period-attired
proprietor. The bicycle fashion show had been rescheduled and we
enjoyed watching the participants, judging for their clothing and
bicycles, parade before the appreciative judges. The weather was not
as cold as it had been on Saturday but it was still grey and overcast
but the enthusiasm of the crowds of people in the Retro Village gave
us all courage for the start.
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| the Retro Village |
There was a lot of jostling about
as the announcers called us all up to the start line. The 46 and 86
km route riders were all to start at the same time, with the 37 km
riders beginning half an hour later. Things eventually got sorted
out, the antique car, with Raymond Poulidor as the honoured
passenger, at the start line rolled forwards and we were off!
We quickly passed the chateau of
Saumur and rode along the broad road along the Loire, heading
southeast. We had nicely gotten sorted out and we starting to pick
up speed when all of sudden after 10 kms we raced up a steep little
hill and then found ourselves riding underground through a tufa cave!
This was the village of
Souzay-Champigny (population 743) which offered fine houses alongside
the river and a series of underground passages where people lived and
stored their wine. Tufa is a soft, workable stone that is easily
quarried and was used in building all those chateaux. The caves
where it was quarried are dry and consistent in temperature and
humidity, so people just moved in. It was my first time cycling in a
cave, manmade or not, and we were delighted to be offered wine along
with the usual cycling standards of bananas and energy bars.
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| Always time to sample the local vintage... |
Unlike the previous day's route,
the Ride featured a lot of little climbs and descents. Leaving
Souzay-Champigny we climbed away from the river to the south at
Turquant and just outside Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg we came up to an
impressive gatehouse and a high stone wall, which we followed in a
loop through the little town of Brézé
and discovered the remarkable Chateau Brézé,
site of some of the largest underground fortifications in Europe and
site also of our lunch. We had only put in 26 kms on the road so it
seemed to be pretty early to stop but as the lunch stop was being
shared with the 46 km route riders it appears to have been done for
logistics reasons. We were already ahead of the others and it was
clear that the longer route group was smaller than the one for “le
Rétro” had been the day before. Even Joop Zoetemelk was doing a
shorter stretch today.
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| Irish Dave samples the local vintage... |
Chateau
Brézé dates back
originally to 1060 but the current building was modified in the 16th
and 19th
Centuries and is in the Renaissance style. However, we made out
entry through the cellars, which are 12th
Century, and provided another strange cycling experience as we rode
around the interior, going from the dark cellars to a bright
courtyard. We climbed back out of the historical darkness and lunch
was served with a fine view of the impressive building.
The
charming village of Le Coudray-Macouard was only 10 kms away but it
also offered another refreshment stop but we did not tarry as the
skies to the northwest were looking dark and threatening. We put on
some speed but when we came to Le Puy-Notre-Dame I called a halt when
I saw a bus shelter with two Dutch riders already standing there. We
dashed in just as the rain began. And it poured and poured for 20
minutes. Other participants passed by, soaking wet, but we were
comfortable and dry. Soon enough the clouds parted and we were on
our way again.
Another
food stop and we were into the home stretch. We reached the larger
town of Doué-la-Fontaine (“the Rose Capital of France”) at Km 68
and our route took us into another totally unexpected discovery: the
amazing underground cathedral at Le
Perrières,
carved out when the stone was quarried in the 19th
Century (for sarcophagi!) and featuring ceilings a good 12 m high.
Again, a strange experience to ride through the passages, which were
lit and airy.
Returning
above ground, we continued northwards towards the Loire, passing
Chateau Marson and another chance to try some wine (actually, I
really enjoyed the sparkling grape juice) before joining up with the
cyclists on the 46 km route, whom we effortlessly overtook as we
approached Saumur. But one more surprise was in store...
8
kms before the end of the ride we were directed off the road and
through a set of shipping doors. Yet once again we found ourselves
underground and to our delight discovered we were now in the wine
caves of Bouvet-Ladubay. Slowly riding through the candelit cellars
we saw stacks of bottles behind iron gates and then we reemerged onto
the winery's main floor where everyone was enjoying unlimited glasses
of excellent sparkling white wine, the vin
mousseaux for which
the Loire is celebrated, made using the same technique as that for
Champagne.
After
making a serious dent in the cellars, we shakily remounted our trusty
steel bikes and headed outside for the final stretch. While we had
been riding around indoors the rain had returned and the streets were
wet but now the sun was shining and we quickly passed the final
intersections (all with marshals, including two policemen on horses!)
and found ourselves back at the Retro Village at the Place du
Chardonnet. We celebrated our arrival after 89 kms and 670 m of
climbing with a justly-earned beer. Another circuit of the
RetroVillage was made and that was for us the end of Anjou Velo
Vintage 2013.
A
highly-entertaining and exceptional event with wide community
support, Anjou Velo Vintage takes you through pretty countryside with
some memorable detours you will not experience on any other ride. It
is not like l'Eroica, which is much more racing-focused, but rather
is an exercise in general nostalgia. While we were tearing up the
roads on our Golden Age lightweights, many other people were riding
the shorter routes on classic roadsters or rusty tandems while in
period clothing. The event boasts first-class organization and is
reasonably priced serving as an excellent introduction to the Loire
region which offers many choices of historic routes to cyclists.
Mark
it in your calendar for June 2014!
www.anjou-velo-vintage.com
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