Sometimes you get lucky

The day before my ride to Ventoux, Rowan and I were joined by her brother Michael for a tentatively planned week of him joining our cycle tour. The only major hurdle in this was that he had no bike...

During our time in France Rowan and I have grown to love Decathlon - a massive outdoor and fitness store, in a New Zealand context like a bigger, better amalgamation of Kathmandu and Rebel Sport. Thus it seemed obvious for Michael to get a basic bike from Decathlon and work out what to do with it at the other end of the week.

Decathlon stores tend not to be located in the centre of cities, taking an amount of land not readily available in the constricted centres of typical French towns. This was definitely the case in Avignon, and the nearest store was at least 10 km from our campsite. Never mind, public transport and bikes to the rescue surely...

Michael and I set off to the bus stop to get Michael on the number 7 bus, having been given instructions for him to get off at "Le Pontet - Avignon Nord". I set off on bike, following the route of the bus - a foolproof plan.

Until, that is I hit roadworks. That prevented me taking the planned route of the bus. Never mind, a look at a map showed another direct route linking back on to the required route - back on track.

Half way along my detour, and well short of Michael's intended stop, I found the Decathlon we were looking for. Uh oh. How to get Michael off at the right place? It quickly became obvious that the only chance was to intercept the bus. Duly following this plan, I cycled back to the next stop and flagged down the rapidly approaching number 7. On which Michael was not. Somehow the driver of the bus guessed who I was looking for, and managed to communicate to me that he had got off at Le Pontet Centre. Back on the bike.

By this stage I was beginning to wonder what chance there was of me finding Michael in the middle of a foreign city with no arranged meeting place. Nonetheless as I got into Le Pontet Centre there appeared in the distance a figure resembling Michael, although unresponsive or unhearing of my calls.

It was Michael, and fifteen minutes later we were gleefully spending Michael's money in Decathlon. An hour after we were fully equipped and ready to hit the road. Told one wrong bus stop, got off at a different wrong bus stop, somehow met up and got back to Decathlon well within the required time frame. Sometimes fate smiles.