Oh that rain!
I don't like the rain... Ever since I was a kid, I didn't like an umbrella, I even used to mark my watches so that I wouldn't have to go to school in the rain.
And just like that, the 300km brevet that I needed for the PBP qualification was supposed to be rainy, so I stretched those Restrap bags as far as possible, in order to put in rain pants, a jacket, gloves, and waterproof socks. In addition to that, it was also chilly, so there should have been a set of spare clothes for "dry and cold". Everything was ready for the planned wet hour or two in those approximately 18 hours of riding time. An hour or two... not 8 f……. hours.
We were soaked properly, even that raincoat, purchased from a well-known chain of sports equipment, which should have been enough for the aforementioned hour or two, got completely soaked and became completely useless. The cold also crept into the bones, the undulating terrain added fuel to the fire by additional sweating... pouring water on water...whatever...
The only thing that worked against those weather conditions was the atmosphere and the team. That team, that ordinary people under their umbrellas and from their cars look in the strange way, because we laugh and goof around on bicycles while some bearded man collects a male and a female of each animal and crosses himself left and right.
With that team, kilometers passed, checkpoints passed, breaks passed, radiators and wood-burning stoves passed in some " Okrepčevalnice" through Slovenia, until I found myself about 50 km from the finish line. That's when I realized that the rain wasn't that bad. It pushes the boundaries even further and I am even more aware of how stretchable the boundaries of mind and body have been.
Paris - Brest - Paris for the end :-)
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