I subscribe to this internet site call The Clymb. It is mainly outdoor stuff on sale for 1/2 price. It’s a members only site, but all you have to do is give them your email to sign up. Right now they have a bunch of stuff to choose from, Mountain Hard Wear clothing, Victorinox knives and some other stuff. They have some bikes called nirve, mainly fix gear and cruiser bikes, which is kind of usual from this site. Check it out here. I think I get a $10 credit or something if someone I refer buys something. I don’t buy stuff very often, but sometimes they have good cycling stuff, like winter booties, smart wool socks, etc., pretty cheap.

Micheal told me that he is reading a book Slaying the Badger, a story about Hinault and Lemond in the ’86 Tour. Here is a review from RKP. Michael said the book starts out kind of gross with Lemond having diarrhea and using a box full of Benard Hinault postcards for something involved.

That made me think of the very first day I raced in Europe. I was on the US National Team and we were doing a PRO-Am race called the Tour de-Vaclouse. It was in the Provence area of France with a stage climbing Mount Ventoux. Anyway, Bernard Thevenet, who was on the tailend of his career, but had won the Tour de France a few years earlier, was the team leader of Peugeot. And it was all the Pros against the Russians it seemed.

I was so nervous for the start of the first stage. It was in the city center of Avignon. We rode to the start and I was so sure we weren’t going to be able to find it. Greg Demgen had raced in Europe a couple times and was the leader. We got to the start and I couldn’t believe how many people were there. I needed to go to the bathroom seriously. So, I rode over to a small bar and went in to find the W.C. I walked in and it was something I’ve never seen before. A small room made out of porcelain with a hole in the floor. It was a squatter. It was super dangerous. I was having issues. Trying to keep my balance and not soil my cycling shorts, but not completely slide out and end up in a pile in the corner. I was trying to use the wall as a balancing point, but my cleats on the porcelain keep slipping.

Anyway, I was so perplexed about the whole scene, that I hadn’t even noticed there wasn’t any toilet paper there. It was a nail hammered into the wall with newspaper torn into 1/4 pages stuck on the nail. I’m pretty sure that was the first time I’d used newspaper to wipe. But, I wasn’t complaining. So, I take the first sheet of newspaper off the nail and on the backside is a headshot of Bernard Hinault. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to be wiping my butt with Bernard Hinault’s face. In France. Thinking back upon it now, I would probably have folded the paper up and put it in my pocket and used the next piece, but that didn’t occur to me at the time.

When I finished I pulled the chain hanging down and a huge flood of water came from everywhere and completely soaked my leather cycling shoes. When I went back outside, the race had left. I was completely paniced. But, everyone watching pointed me in the right direction and everytime I came to an intersection, they would tell me where to go. I caught up with the back of the caravan just a little ways out of town, just when everyone in the race, the riders, the drivers, the mechanics, everyone was having a nature break before the real start of the race.

My European cycling experience started off a little haywire that day, but it left a lifetime memory.

You can see how it would be a little tricky in cycling shoes.

Just rip into 1/4 sheets, and voilà, toilet paper.