I got a letter in the mail a couple days ago. Hand written, from Chicago. I thought it was a get well card from someone from Trudi’s family. But, no, it was a personalized invitation to a 125 mile Gentlemens’s Race in Illinois on July 12th. It is called ride 10,000. And the 10K is for the number of feet of climbing. It’s gonna be pretty hilly, with 10 thousand feet of climbing in 125 miles.

I had been planning to do some of these show and go races this year. This isn’t quite a show and go because you need to send your name and team name by email to register. It’s free, no entry.

So, if you don’t have anything planned that weekend and are looking for some pretty scenic riding, which that part of Illinois is, you should think about doing it. All the information you need is here at RideTenThousand.com.

And if you don’t have another race on August 24th and you’re from the East coast, maybe consider doing the Vermont Overland Grand Prix. It’s a 51 mile gravel race with over 5400 feet of climbing. Click here for more information on that one.

The Roman Numeral for 10,000 is an “X” with a line above it. Pretty cool logo.

I was talking to a couple friends last week about different bathroom situations throughout the world and remembered this story below. I wrote it a few years ago, but there weren’t that many of you coming to my website back then, so I figure it isn’t that big of a no/no, posting it again. Here it is.

Michael Fatka told me that he was 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 tail end 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. Avignon has a walled city center and we were having a heck of a time finding the start square. Greg Demgen had raced in Europe a couple times and was our 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 wearing leather cycling shoes with metal cleats. 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 fold 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 walked back out through the bar, my shoes were leaving pools of water, and went back outside, the race had left. I was completely panicked. But, everyone watching pointed me in the right direction and every time I came to an intersection, someone would point and tell me, in French, where to go. I caught up with the back of the caravan a few kilometers out of town, just when everyone in the race, the riders, the drivers, the mechanics, were stopped, having a nature break of their own, before the real start of the race. That was pretty standard back then before all starts were on television.

I went on to race with, and against, Bernard Hinault a few years later on. I never could have imagined it that the day I used his likeness to wipe my butt.

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.