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• Here are some excuses for what happened:
• For 4 years, 12 hours/day, I had been sitting in front of a computer.
• Training was limited to flat Florida summer sidewalks on Sundays.
• A 40 pound mountain bike loaded with 40 pounds of stuff.
• French train people all say "you cannot cross the French border into Spain with a bike on the train". And, "you can't take a bike on a train in Spain". Both are untrue. I believed them and tried to cross the unforgivingly, steep Pyrennes mountains on the coast road from Perpignan, France to the Spanish border, a scenic, winding, 20º grade nightmare. Do not try to go this way, unless you are Lance Armstrong or Ray Vance. If you do, don't pass a bunch of restaurants full of festive gourmets living it up. Do stop to eat and drink plenty. Don't focus what little power your brain has left on catching the 6PM train from Portbou to Barcelona. You probably won't make it anyway. I didn't.
• Beware of signs that say; "corniche". It obviously means "to go from sea level to 1500 feet every mile for 50 consecutive miles without eating or drinking anything".
• The last chapter of "Long Distance Cycling", "Nutrition" should be read first. I read it in a French hospital. It says; "when you are biking mountains you must drink a quart of water every 20 min. (not an Evian every 4 hours), or you will dehydrate. You must eat every hour or your muscles will take all the glucose from your organs and brain." If you're lucky, your brain will shut down and you will pass out before you kill yourself.

SWITZERLAND- $40/nite average. Even in downtown Zurich on the Limmatt River I paid only $60/nite at the "Hotel Limmathof" for an excellent room. I reserved it by internet before leaving the US. In Luzurn, the prettiest city in Switzerland, a day's bike ride from Zurich, I stayed at the "Hotel Turist" with a room right on the river, near the ancient covered bridge. See the first photo below. It was taken from the room. $20/nite, including breakfast. Geneva has the highest room demand. It took a lot a pedaling after a long day to find a hotel for $65. If you plan to stay in any big cities, its advisable to make reservations ahead.

FRANCE- $20/nite average. The French usually charge $1 extra for a breakfast roll and coffee in the morning. Rooms are not generally clean, cheap or quiet, except in small towns away from the tourists.

SPAIN - $10/nite average. The Spanish people are warm and friendly. A welcome relief from France. The food and wine are as good or better at half the price. The best hotels are the small ones in little towns for $7-8. The rooms are clean and quiet. Wine and food are excellent. Usually $4-5 for dinner with a glass of red wine.
 

BIKING IN EUROPE IS SAFE. The Swiss are generally helpful, intelligent, proper, educated and multi-lingual. Swiss drivers will not hit a bike because it would be highly embarrasing and would cost them a big fine.

The French are generally rude, insular and single-lingual. I hear many reasonable excuses for this, but it's still not nice. The French won't hit a biker because the rider may be French. France went all out on nuclear power plants. The beautiful Rhone river valley has gigantic nuke plants every few miles next to Roman ruins, the winds blowing presumed radioactive vapor up your nose. In south France there are many real estate offices. Each has hundreds of listings. Seems like good deals. 2br apts for $30,000, 4br homes from $50,000. Many small farms for sale. But be wary of the old farmhouses. They can be a blackhole for your dollars. The French say; "Our farms are suffering. The big US farms have ruined our markets." I have a feeling that the French have an unofficial surcharge to ruin Americans trying to restore old farms.

The Spanish are usually warm, friendly, easy-going, pro-biking and forgiving of bad Spanish. Not only can you travel in Spain on a train with a bike, the Spanish don't charge extra for the bike. The roads in Spain are well marked and many have bike lanes. Drivers here won't hit a bike because they don't want any scratches on their new, shiny cars. They work hard to make the car payments and pay the cellular bill. Everyone in Spain drives with one hand on the wheel with the other holding the cellular phone while laughing into it.

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