Paris

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From Eindhoven we drove to Cergy-Pontoise to Marion's Aunt Daniele and her husband Alan.

It was getting unbearably hot. We stopped by a supermarket to buy some flowers. Tired as we were, tempers started flaring by the time we arrived in the evening, and we had to take a half hour to chill out before we drove to their place. It began to dawn on us, some of the difficulties we went thru were due to less-than-ideal equipment, or less-than-ideal traveling conditions for mototourists.

Lessons from mototouring
Intercom: While Zak did the driving, Marion was the navigator, looking at maps and giving instructions. It was both a blessing and a curse - good to be able to talk to each other, but bad when someone is literally inside your head for hours, trying to affect your decisions to go left or right in the last second. The intercom system we had bought, worked in ideal driving conditions, perhaps in the city. Once we got faster than 70 kph, it got difficult to hear each other. There is a lot more wind and noise in open styled helmets, which makes it even more difficult to hear the intercom. What's more, the ear pieces we had were pressed against our ears and it got painful or annoying after many hours. We know that for the next tour, we'll have to invest in a decent helmet/intercom system, one you can be comfortable with for hours and hours of use, and one that can survive the noise of 140kph winds against the helmet.

Heat: There is simply no way to travel safely and not be affected by heat. We had looked at mesh clothing with shoulder and elbow pads, etc. We had settled for Draggin Jeans with kevlar, which is supposed to work, even though they aren't as reliable as leather pants designed for bike use. Zak's Doc Martins were water proof, but they didn't breath! Next year, we'll have to find better gear for hot weather, as every small comfort adds up exponentially.

Gear: We can't emphasize how much a little difference in your clothing makes when traveling this way - what affects you on short 30 - 60 min trips across town is not the same as what and affects you at highway speeds for hours on end. A visor that doesn't vibrate at 90kph might do so at 110kph and 6 hours of a vibrating visor against 130 kph winds will numb your brain and give you a ringing in your ears, making you feel sea-sick, or rather, land-sick when you get off the bike. After a while, driving gets to be uncomfortable.

Bike: Clenching your leg muscles for short trips across town is not the same as trying to keep your legs from blowing away against 140kph winds for 6 to 8 hours a day. A good foot rest system, and a way to stretch your legs without blocking circulation or creating a sore ass is a must.

We settled down to a dinner, and as everyone was chatting away, Zak started falling asleep to the hum of mosquitoes. He went upstairs, lit a coil which stank up the bedroom; while Marion did some catching up with Alan and Daniele.

The next morning we were off to visit Marion's paternal grandmother, who lives in a retirement home. We had lunch with her, had a look around, met her friends...

Then we were off to St. Brieuc. ...

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