Sylvain l'Américain

So, first off, a GOLD STAR to everyone who commented on my blog. And that includes my Aunt Glad, who is a loyal commenter by email. It's good to have readers :-) Now I just need regular shout-outs to make sure I'm not in a void, because rambling in a void is no fun. I'll assume no one is interested anymore (and wouldn't blame anyone if that's the case!) and get bored.

Anyway, this week has been Sylvain's introduction to American living. And Sylvain's owner's reacclimatization to American-style biking. I think Sylvain is adapting better than I, hahahaha.

First off, Sylvain had his first car ride, to Valley Forge:


That's when my father and I realized that he has some heft to him...not as light as some bikes, but what can you say? It takes material to be that awesome.

So we got to the bike path near Valley Forge, and I realized that Sylvain is indeed a city slicker. Note the basket:


I was all set to put my water bottle in the basket, which turned out to be a rather ill-conceived idea, as I had no way to secure it. My usual bungee cord was too big to fit through the loop of the bottle. So I just took the risk and rode with the bottle rolling around, as I was passed by all sorts of hard-core mountain bikers in their fancy attire with backpack water canteens and under armor gear and the like. Felt like a total tool with all that outdoorsy snaziness going on around me, although it was a very nice ride. The basket is genius for my Sunday trip to the market since I can strap everything in...not so practical for one little water bottle, however.

All in all I was sitting there like, "I should be biking down the Boulevard Saint Michel in my miniskirt, on my way to happy hour, thank you very much." It was already a concession just to put gym clothes on, and of course I picked my shorts to match the bike. And if you look closely, you'll see my sports watch is even pink. What can I say? An awesome bike needs an awesome accessory, and it takes effort to rock that.

That's also when I realized just how uncomfortable Sylvain's seat is, since I don't usually spend extended periods of time on it at once. The longest I ever traveled routinely in Paris was about 25-30 minutes. Granted, I did feel it when I made those trips a few times in one day, but that wasn't all that often.

Moral of the story: I'm not a mountain biker (or a national park biker, for that matter). I'm a city biker. I need cars, motorcycles, and stoplights. Otherwise I get bored and my butt starts to hurt.

That was this weekend. Then yesterday I was stuck at home without a car, so I decided it was time for Sylvain's coming out in Collegeville. haha. The biggest problem, not surprisingly, is the lack of parking. I went to our local café and had to tie him up to a pole off to the side, right off the road:


Then at the post office, there's a whole special lane for drive-in mail drop-off, but no facilities for the lowly biker. So I left him attached to the handicapped parking pole:


As you can guess this picture was taken on the fly, since I figured I already looked toolish enough arriving on a bike, I didn't need to augment the toolish factor by then ostentatiously standing in the parking lot taking pictures of the bike. ha. So I did it quickly and clearly got my finger in the way. And didn't notice until I uploaded the pic.

Anyway, no biking for me today, as I'm in town sans Sylvain. But perhaps he needs to be introduced to Philadelphia. He would feel much more at home. But he might also lose his seat or basket or something, if I don't have the proper locks for everything (haha).

Sylvain lives again!

Brought to you by the Germans, the Brits, and the Americans. But NOT the French:


Wow it's been a long time. Almost two months apparently. Does anyone even read this thing anymore? If so, you have to let me know! I've been hemming and hawing (sp?) about whether or not to keep it up, because I just don't have any clue if anyone is really reading it. I kind of feel like I'm writing in a void here, so if anyone is reading, PLEASE COMMENT! Do I keep it up or not? If I don't get any feedback, I'll assume no one's following and turn it off. After all, it IS rather presumptuous of me to assume anyone is reading, particularly now that I'm back to the trite banality of my American existence, haha.

But one last holdover from France: I finally got Sylvain put back together this week! Woohoo! He made it just fine, in really great condition according to the awesome guys at the bike shop.

The saga began in early July. I was initially planning to sell Sylvain, since I have a perfectly fine bike here. But then I got to thinking about how much I liked him and how much I'd miss him, and I figured, what the hell, biking was one of the best parts of my year in Paris, why not at least try to bring him home???

I looking online at British Airways and figured out that it was actually quite easy to do, with the appropriate packing. It was just the same price as an extra bag, which was 35 euros. So I figured, ok, for $50, that's totally worth it. Of course I had to buy a bike bag to store it in during the flight, but that would be reusable if I ever want to travel with the bike again.

The easy part ended there, alas. I went to my local bike store for a bag, and they were like, "yeah, we're out, we always run out in the summer, you'll have to call one of the big sporting goods stores, but they often run out too." So I called the big sporting goods store by the BN (Decathlon), and they were like, "yeah, summer's a high demand time, we always run out." I asked if they knew when they'd get them in, and they said they had no idea, they always run short in the summer. I then called another big sports store (Go Sport), and got the same message.

Which raises a fundamental question: HAS ANYONE IN THAT COUNTRY EVER HEARD OF CAPITALISM??? I mean, seriously now, I was calling all around, TRYING to spend my money, and everyone was giving me the same message: demand always outstrips supply in the summer. Right.

So then I did what ever smart consumer in France probably does: I went to Germany. Well, not physically, but cyber-ly (ok, I just made up a word, but you get the point). I went online, found a great bike bag from a German store, and I bought it. No wonder Germany is faring so much better during this financial crisis (best in Europe). Their economy WORKS.

Perhaps the funniest part was that I had a great email exchange with an employee over there (in French). I contacted them to see if I could get rush shipping, since at that point I only had two weeks left in France. They were super nice about it and sent it UPS, with a tracking number and all. I wrote back thanking them and saying that I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find such a bag in France and that I was so happy to have found them. The woman wrote back (and this is a direct translation of her message) and was like, "of course you'll be happy with it, it's a great bag, it's German." hahahahaha. Of course she was right, the thing arrived a few days later and it was perfect.

Getting Sylvain to the airport was no joke, however. I had to take an airport shuttle and then shuffle my way through Terminal 2B (the really packed one...obviously) with my overweight suitcases, overweight carry-ons, and a big old bike bag. Imagine me, with a cart, wheeling all that through crowds and crowds. And because it was the start of the annual summer vacation time, the airport was insane. One particular area I had to pass through was MAYHEM...guess what it was: Air Tahiti. Of course. Assholes. All on their way to exotic vacations while I was trying to get the damned bike through the hallways, haha.

But miracles do happen and I got it all checked in, and all the way through my connection at Heathrow. He was there waiting for me in Philly, safe and sound! And thank god for those little suitcase carts at the airport, I don't know what I would have done without them!

Took me a few weeks to get him put back together since, well, my knee is so messed up I'm not really going anywhere these days. I finally figured it would be a good idea to make sure he was ok, though, so I took him in this weekend and just rode him home. Perfect!