Tour de France Randonneur Challenge: Samuel Thompson. 4800km in 13 Days - Here We Go!

Fancy a 4,800km bike adventure all around the perimeter of France? Well that is exactly what is ahead for guest Samuel Thompson who is about to take on the Tour de France Randonneur challenge on June 15, 2025.  This brevet route is a nod to the Touriste Routiers of old, and Samuel hopes to complete the challenge in under 13 days. In order to do so he must pass through 61 control points, and climb a whopping 45,000m of ascent.

Click here to see live commentary and track Samuel's progress along the route

Follow Samuel on instagram - @Touriste.Routier

Read more about the challenge here

Check out Old Man Mountain's Ponderosa Panniers

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hello everyone, Bella Malloy here, host of Seek Travel Ride, and welcome back to another midweek mini episode of the show where I aim to fuel your Stoke and Wonderlast for bike adventures. Now, recently I've had the absolute pleasure of featuring the stories of people who are about to take their adventures on and then have then shared updates of their journey along the way. And this week is going to be something a little bit similar but with a twist. This week I'm interviewing Sam Thompson, who is about to take on a stupendous challenge which will see him do a full circumference of France. It's the Tour de France Rondeneur route, a route of 4,800 kilometers, and Sam hopes to complete it in 13 days. Now, this challenge is taking place from the 15th of June, which is just days away. So I am super stoked to catch up with Sam just before he sets off. And you're going to listen to my interview with him now and also find out how you can watch this adventure play out in real time as well. Let's get to the interview. Hello, listeners. Today on Seek Travel Ride, I'm being joined by ultra-distance cyclist Sam Thompson. Now, Sam is on the verge of taking an absolutely monumental challenge on. It's called the Tour de France Rondonaire. This is a permanent brevet, which is a throwback to the early days of the race when so-called Touriste Rutieres rode alone, unsupported and unpaid, chasing nothing but glory for the sheer love of the sport. So what lays ahead of Sam with this challenge? Well, he's going to be riding the entire 4,800 kilometre route, which will take him right around the perimeter of France. And it involves a knee-breaking, 45,000 meters of climbing. And in order for the ride to be official, he also needs to make sure he passes through 61 set control points. His goal is to complete the ride in less than 13 days, and he's going to be fully self-supported, riding in line with the rules of this historic brevet. Now, Sam's ride is starting on the 15th of June, which is literally just a few days away. So today we're going to find out what's motivated him to set out on a challenge like this, how he's prepared physically and mentally for the ride ahead, what is exciting him most about the journey, and also how you, the listener, can get involved as a dot watcher and follow Sam's progress all along the way as he ticks over the kilometres, fuels himself with a mountain of croissants, and turns his pedals all the way around France. Sam Thompson, a big warm welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Hi Bella, thank you. Thank you for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I get to talk to you about France, boulangeries, fueling, bike rides, vistas. What a challenge you've set for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah, it's feeling quite real now. It's been in the making for the best part of two years that this has been on my mind, but this time felt most appropriate. So it's been a good best part of the year in terms of the actual planning and getting myself logistics in place. And yeah, quite looking forward to getting going. I think the easy part, I say the easy part, but the easier part may be getting riding, all I have to think about is turning my legs, eating and sleeping each day.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

It's funny, Sam. I have interviewed lots of people on the show, some ultra cyclists like yourself, some people who just, you know, seem to be perpetually living on a bike, riding around the world. And what you spoke about there, that the simplicity effort of you don't need to think about anything other than moving forward, where you're gonna eat, where you're gonna sleep, where you're gonna ride. Um, there is that element to it, but I want to know a step back. How did you find out about this route in the first place? I'm a francophile, I love cycling, I moved to this country, and I must admit, because of, you know, being a Tour de France viewer, but I had never heard of this brevet before until your challenge popped up in my feed. How did you find out about it?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Now that you asked that, I can't remember exactly the first time. It may have been that I'd heard of um when Christophe Aliguer had ridden it in what is now the the fastest recorded time. It it must have caught my attention a couple years ago, because that's when I when I really started looking into it more, finding out about what the rules are, what it what it entails. But for a while I've obviously been racing in ultra endur endurance races for eight years now. And I've come to this sport in a way from not just the racing side, but enjoying really touring in the self-supporting nature of that. And I really like allying that both that sense of adventure, exploration, with the competitive side. And also along the way, I've been really inspired by people who I've taken on record-breaking exploits. I think the around the world is the the reference point there. I remember reading Mark Beaumont's first book back um fifteen, twenty years ago about his first Around the World um record at a time. And if you compare that to where we are now in this sport, it's just miles apart. But that idea of having a purpose and more than just a race in itself, there's a sense of completeness with this route, that you are circumnavigating the whole of the whole of France. In a way, it it seems a shame to do it as quick as possible, but it's that part of it motivates me as well. I like to I like to push myself physically, mentally, to know what I'm capable of. And I think that's what stuck out in this. It sort of it it allies both that racing side, that sense of exploration, and seeing more or the most part of this country which which I've come to really love.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

It does strike me, like you said, sometimes it's a shame to think that you're doing it so quickly. The other thing that comes to mind for me though, Sam, is that because you are doing it so quickly or aiming to, your experiences are different as well, and so you're experiencing the country in a different way. So and I don't think one's right or one's wrong. It's different, and you know, you're aligning it with your own different personal goals as well. I do love that idea of the completeness, because listeners, I'll put a link up in our Instagram page so you'll be able to see actual Sam's proposed route, and it really is a map of the hexagon there, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, and there's there's many parts along the way which really which are gonna be really interesting to go to because I've been there in the past and cycling in other events, in other trips I've made. And so it's it's gonna be some sense of familiarity in that part. Other parts is gonna be a total new discovery for me. So I think there's always gonna be some part along the way which I have some some reference to or something to something to look forward to there. Especially with I know people who are in sort of all all six corners of the country. And hopefully at some point I'll be able to see some of these people along the way, or be reminded that these people have helped me out with checking my route, with giving me some given me some advice along what to expect in those areas. So yeah, it's it's that mix of the the new and the familiar.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

And there's something about being in a place that you've been to before, there's like that sense of nostalgia about a place which actually helps spur you on. I had that feel last week. I was on roads that I hadn't ridden for two or three years, but the nostalgia that hit me when I was on those roads again, flooding back memories of what it was like here and remembering, oh, that's right, I used to go to you know this boulangerie here, or that's where I found the water fountain. And there's something about that. It's not a tangible thing, but the nostalgic element I think definitely adds a mental boost as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

And it'd be interesting to see in places in different contexts as well. For for example, the Pyrenees, I've ridden over the the big passes in the Pyrenees a couple of times, but as it was during a race, half of them were at night, so I didn't get seen very much. Um I've done the tour malay twice. It was dark by the time I've got to the top both times, so it'd be interesting if I if I see that during the day this time. There's other areas as well where my first my first bike touring trip, I was in the southwest of France, and I'll be going through similar areas there. Yeah, I think there's something to look forward to in each part of this room.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, there's almost like a ride down memory lane for certain sections of them as well. Can I say I live 50 kilometres from the summit of the Tour Malay, Sam? I've been in a very privileged position of riding it many times, or maybe sometimes doesn't feel so much of a privilege when I've suffered riding up it many times, and I've done it in all weather. And I hope you do get it on a magic day. Something that actually does happen often when I've ridden on the Tour Malay is you get the beautiful cloud inversion as well. So you get that feel of you're actually climbing up through the cloud, and you're at the summit and you're just looking down at a sea of clouds, and it just makes you appreciate the monumental height you've climbed with your bike there as well. There's an awesome cafe bar at the summit which actually has a whole heap of the bicycles used in 1910 to summit the Tour Malay, and that always gives you a fair sense of nostalgia which you'd bring the route back because you know it's it's called the the Tour de France Rondonaire, and back in the day when the Tour de France literally was a ride around the circumference of France, really, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, it was well, used to be a true Tour of France. And that was one of the things which has inspired me around how I've um you mentioned in the intro about the the tourist routiers, that really reading about them, uh finding out about what they did alongside so you had the professionals who are part of teams, tourist routiers were essentially pack fillers who yeah, it was part of their holiday at the end of each stage they had to fend for themselves, they had to find something to eat, they had to go and find somewhere to sleep as well. And it really struck me how similar it is to what people do in ultra distance races now.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

The distances they're doing each day are similar, having to be self-supported, maybe there's an element of in the in the race itself it's slightly different, but everything else around it is very similar. So that's sort of there's an element of romanticism there as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

The original ultras.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah, perhaps. But well, I think they were carrying less with them, that's for for better or worse. So that's sort of the the image which was really stuck in my head, and to sort of treat what I'm doing here on the same on the same principles as they are. Because the organization itself, how this is run, it does leave open for having external support. But this is something which I've deliberated how much I really want to take advantage of. That the only the only specific rule against that is not to have a following car. But technically, you could have someone in the camper van meeting you at the end of each day, you could sleep in there, you could have them meet you along the route. But that's not not what I enjoy about this this sport. I think the supported side is a different challenge to that, it's very valid. But what I really like is being there on my bike with all I need for however long period of time, and figuring out the logistics around that, which I think adds the extra element which makes makes this sport more than just a fitness test. It's around having the smarts, being well prepared, and then putting that to play in in difficult situations, and stuff's gonna happen which which I haven't predicted, and I'm gonna have to deal with that. So I have to be prepared for what could happen, and then also be prepared for the unprepared and it's something which I really like to look at in a positive way. After the first day, I don't know what's gonna happen. So instead of trying to plan for everything, I've got to be prepared for everything which could come up. So it's that sense of excitement of stepping out into the unknown, and I can make this experience what I uh I can make it into the experience I want for myself.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

I want to dig into, you know how we were talking about it's a map of France, and we were talking just earlier about nostalgia and a trip down memory lane in some areas. What about the areas that you haven't been to? Which are the places that you haven't been to yet on that, you know, the map around the circumference that you are super excited about?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Um to be fair, I think the I think the areas I'm most excited about are the ones that I've been through before in in terms that they are the more the more interesting places in terms of what I enjoy. I I I love the mountains, um and I'm familiar with all the pyrenees I'm going through I'm reasonably reasonably familiar with, and the parts in the Alps. There's only a couple passes which I haven't done there. So it may well be that the areas which are slightly less well known, perhaps, um I think the area, the sort of Jura area just north of the Alps that looks quite quite interesting, not totally sure what to expect there. And then maybe sort of coming up the west coast as well. Maybe maybe a lot of that. I think the South West maybe doesn't have the best reputation around Hollande and um Endless Forest. Yeah, but I quite enjoyed going to going to Brittany last year, and it's a lot of caspat, a lot of up and down, a surprising amount of elevation than than what you'd expect. But I think the whole region there is yeah, a really nice place, and they put a lot of butter in their in their vinoiserie, which is gonna be is gonna be something to look forward to.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Oh, absolutely. And I I mean, you know, we I've I've joked already a couple of times about boulangeries and croissants, but you are very much a connoisseur as well, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yeah, indeed. Um some people question whether that was my motivation for moving to France to have better access to uh to boulangeries and vinoiserie.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

It still blows my mind after living in this beautiful country for a number of years, just every single one has so many great options. None of them are ever bad. I've I've not been disappointed, but like they're so cheap as well. Like I still can't get over that aspect of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Yeah, I I don't take for granted I've got a couple of very good boulangers locally, which does spoil you when you when you then turn into a connoisseur and you come across a disappointing one, then it's yeah, yeah, I'm not too happy in those situations.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

No, I mean my local boulangerie does this thing of like buy three, get one free, and I'm like, three euros, and I've got like four croissants, like this wouldn't even be one in Australia, and it's amazing. Anyway, we digress. But when you were talking there with Breton and Brittany and you know the lumpiness of that, I found that when I was riding in Normandy, apart from the actual coast, it's it's beautiful rolling countryside. And to me, as a as a fellow mountain lover, I really realised that I love a mountain climb, I love one that I'm on for two hours. Maybe I love it more after the fact, I'll admit to that. But the rolling scenery seems to be something that I struggle less with than the dead flat roads. What about you? Because in ultras, you're obviously thinking and setting yourself, you know, a monumental challenge of 4,800 kilometres in 13 days or less. You're doing a lot of kilometres a day. How do you find the dead flat roads? Like, do you find them harder to overcome? Do you find that you yearn those, that you know you can just sort of get into a you know a meditative rhythm through them? Like, what will you find challenging around that side of things?

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah, it's something I've struggled quite a bit in the past, but it's something I've really worked on in especially the past couple years. I'm really fortunate where I live, I've got some real good variety, so I can do a lot in the valley where it's you're you're never dead flat, but you can put in a lot of consistent riding on very even gradients, and it's it's yeah, something which I identified as a limiter for me. Both, as you rightly say, it's both the psychological and potentially the physical side, because you're not changing position much when you're on a dead flat, straight road which with uh with no changing gradient. So that side means any any imbalances with a bike fit are gonna gonna show up. That's where sores, nerve damage can come up. So it's something which yeah, it really shows up any imbalances there. And the the physical side I found I've done a lot of work on riding these bits quite hard over shorter periods of time. Because I find that really helps. Then then when I'm on these types of roads on an all-day ride, just knocking back that intensity feels a lot easier. I'm used to I'm used to that riding with purpose on these. I find that's what I maybe did in the past. I found a climb, I could put out more power, feel physically stronger on it, but then come a flat road, I revert to noodling along. But now I feel like I can ride with more focus on the flat roads. Still it's not the most interesting, you get a headwind, and it can be very annoying. But I think it's the mindset you take them as well, and also remembering that you're making good progress, yeah, for most of the time, if the conditions are conditions are well on those roads, you can be moving along at a faster speed. So just to appreciate that, and then when the mountains come, you can then appreciate them even more.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

You know, with Ultras Sam, there has been this discussion around emotional support and you know, with an unsupported ride and how much that extends to and what level of support people might or might not be able to accept from people on the side of the road. You were mentioning there how, you know, with the rules are so open in yours, you can't have a follow car, but you could choose to have a support vehicle that you could hand clothes off to, get food from, sleep in, and stuff like that. You're choosing not to do that. But say someone sees you and wants to, I don't know, hand you some water, hand you a drink, or those sort of things, or ride next to you, is that allowed during your ride?

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yep, it's those things are totally allowed in the rules, and this is again something which I've deliberated myself. And I think the way I term this is I want to be self-sufficient, but that doesn't rule out some support from others in terms of and I think I I think the way I distinguish this is if someone wants to give me something or come and ride with me, I I'm not gonna solicit this basically. I I'm not gonna say to someone, meet me at this point, give me this. But if this if what I'm doing interests people, uh makes them want to be involved in some way, then I want to accept that and celebrate that and use this as an opportunity to involve others. Yeah, come back to that distinction. I won't be soliciting things, but I do want to leave myself open to accepting things. And it's very unlikely this is going to make the difference of me completing this or not, if someone, say, gives me a croissant from the side of the road or comes and rides with me for a few hours. I also don't want this to be I don't want to be as strict on myself as potentially I would be in a race with with more specific rules on this.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

It's an interesting one because I feel there are some ultras that are maybe shifting away from that total strictness um potentially. And it's something I've thought about before. So I think there is an element where there's an argument with the black and white stuff saying, oh, you know, fair's fair, and you know, everyone has to be open to the same opportunities, and I can understand that. The other part of me goes everybody is gifted the same amount of serendipity sometimes as well. And you know, those beautiful serendipitous moments of someone she I had it actually last week. I was at the base of the Col de la Coitamore in the Pyrenees region, and I was looking at what was ahead, which isn't a really hard climb, but with a couple of weighted panniers on a bike, it was and you know, close to 40 degrees, it was hard enough. And I obviously just stood staring at the sign for a bit longer than normal, and before I knew it, I watched this old man go out from the road. He crossed the road with like a pair of loppers, like uh clippers in his hand, and he cut something from a tree, and then I sort of didn't think anything of it, looked at my trip computer to see what was going on, and then I got a tap on the shoulder, and it was this beautiful old man, let's call him Jean-Paul, and Jean-Paul handed me a bunch of freshly ripened cherries. And that was a moment of serendipity, and maybe in an ultra, that's a oh, I can't accept anything on the road, but in in what you're doing, that's totally acceptable.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

Yeah, and well, it well, it comes down to sort of my personal principles, and I I've written I I've written a bit on this. There's going to be an article, it may even be out by the time this is published on on the Restrap website, and there's also on my Instagram as well. So I've I've given myself five main principles and how. want to treat this and just to clarify as well all forward movement I want to be under my own steam so I won't be drafting off anyone else if they are if they're riding with me and I don't sort of want my sort of rhythm to be influenced by others in in that way I think I'm very happy for people to come and ride with me but I'll be I'll be stopping when I need to and so on. So um so just to sort of just sort of bear that in mind. And and also in terms of like arranging accommodation I don't want to use like a um like a virtual base camp in terms of asking someone to book accommodation or find things out for me. I want to do that myself. It could well be I I've had some people offer me off say to me if you if you're here then you can sleep at my place and so on and I think if it ha if it so happens that I'm gonna be sleeping there anyway I think I'm happy to accept that. But yeah it's it it's it's this balance between with me because it's it's not all about trying to break this record and because if it was then I could yeah like you were saying get a caravan to follow me round hand me up everything every however many kilometers and taking advantage of all that and I think say that I do set a fast this time and then someone next year takes advantage of all all that then I'm happy with that because I've gone about it in a way which which feels right to me to do this. And I think that's the mindset I'll have into it that I want to have a great experience first and foremost. And that does involve me wanting to get the best out of myself. All I can do is go out and there ride as many hours in a day as possible which is sustainable over this period of time, eat enough, sleep enough and do the same again for the best part of two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

What about the control points? I mentioned there's sixty one I think so these are sixty one places on the road where you have to pass through and I think is it a case that you have to take a photo there or you have to get something stamped at a certain point if that's available for it to be verified as officially you've done the route?

SPEAKER_00 24:31

Mm-hmm The organizer prefers that you get a get a stamp from a a business I believe most places in France but I was talking to some a French person earlier who said maybe it's not as common anymore but all businesses in France are supposed to have a tamp on a stamp.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah yeah paper is king here too right so for anyone dealing with French bureaucracy note that mentally and always always carry some cash with you in case you come to a village always and even even just for the baguette vending machines. Oh of course yeah have you used one of them before I know we were talking about pizza vending machines before we recorded but have you used a baguette vending machine yet?

SPEAKER_00 25:11

I've got a story about this This is what the pod's about go I was doing it I was doing a race last year Trans Iberica and despite the name we went across France so I was going across the Massive Central about three in the morning. I did have plenty of food with me but it wasn't the most I was basically craving the first boulanger that I came across in the next few hours but this was Massive Central diagonal de viewed so it wasn't I wasn't expecting much. And then I was going through this village and I saw this like lit up beacon to the side and so slammed on my brakes and turns out it was it wasn't just a baguette vending machine, it was a boulangerie vending machine. Oh my god that you have hit the mother load well that's what I thought but I I got close and there was only one thing left in it and I sort of I didn't quite see what it was but I sort of jabbed away and like well it accepted cards as well we were talking about cash this one took a card so it's amazing. Yeah so I got whatever this was just for context my my favourite Vinoiserie are almond croissants and so me saying that guess what was get us what was a need so it was No way. Two Armand croissants were there the last thing left in these vending machines.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

This was fate. Made my morning yeah I Sam have only ever once come across the boulangerie vending machine one. In fact it had its own little hut and it was I was riding towards Cahore. I was on a two day ride from the Pyrenees to Bordeaux and remember it was sort of early morning it might have been day one and it was the middle of nowhere all around me was like you know fields of canola grass or stuff like that. And it was lit up with neon signs. I've even got a lovely photo of it and I went in there all excited I had my coins because this was a coin operated one but the sad thing was I was there too early it hadn't been stocked yet. So it was totally V it was totally empty. Oh may that not may may you only have Armand croissants in the machines ahead but I mean Breton Normandy I mean you could you could be up for wheels of camembert you can be up for oysters if you I don't know how oysters would go on a on a on an ultra ride like this though. I mean they are refrigerated I'm just putting it out there it's not like it's not like they've been out all day and then left to simmer.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Well you get vending machines of all sorts around uh around here I see I always seem to come across them when I don't need them though there's there's loads uh there's loads in my region here less like um fruit and veg ones there's a pharmacy vending machine I saw a CBD one the other day well yeah could that would certainly get me that that'd be interesting when you when you're sleep deprived what sort of hallucinations were hitting you there and why?

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Speaking of sleep deprivation actually this is something you've obviously had to deal with before with your previous ultra experience but what is your plan in terms of distances, sleep and things? You were talking about writing to your rhythm and riding to your routine but what have you sort of thought about longer term over these 13 days and what's likely w what's your ideal circumstance?

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Yeah I'm I'm thinking a sustainable amount should be four to five hours a night. The first day because I'm starting at 8am I'm gonna see how it goes that first night. I may well just nap that first night, potentially not sleep indoors but then from there I want to basically I want to establish a routine where I particularly favour stopping early starting early because I think a lot of people forget it's about how far you ride in 24 hours. Not you don't have to ride to 2am every every night and then well get up at 6, 7am I much prefer stopping maybe 8, 9pm because it's easier to check in if you're sleeping indoors especially I found in France sort of beyond 8pm a lot of receptions seem to close you can pick up resupplies for that night and the morning ahead ahead of time. And then I much prefer riding into the morning than riding into night I think there's I think those first few hours in the morning seem to fly by and you're always looking forward to the sun coming up that seems to give a boost of energy.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Huge boost. And the bird song for me I I love hearing the first bird calls as well. They sort of like the pretext of oh my gosh good things are about to come. It's like that m golden hour is is on its way.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

And especially this time of year where yeah maybe I'm maybe I'm going to sleep before it's dark, which does help and means I'm not having to go through that transition of riding tonight but then morning is going to come well depends where I am in the country but going up to the north I'm gonna start seeing light at 4am so I'm not gonna be having to do too much riding at dark hopefully I also also find like there's definitely less traffic earlier in the morning than there is later in an evening as well. Mm-hmm yeah that's right and I think it comes down to personal preference as well. I generally a morning person I usually ride first thing in the morning so it's something I'm certain I'm very familiar with. Looking forward to that first boulanger I come across it is always good motivation for those first few hours.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Listeners will be tuning into this and you know I I'm pushing this episode out before Sam has started and it's the 15th of June that you do start. People are going to be able to dot watch this though aren't they? Like you do actually have a a dot tracking link that people can see as well can't they?

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yep that's right I'll be carrying a GPS device which has been provided by Follow My Challenge and dot watcher the website very kindly hosting my map and commentary from a few very kind people. Belly you might know one of them.

SPEAKER_01 31:34

Yeah there's a few of us there I'm one of just a few. And I'm super stoked to be able to be sharing this and so I guess everybody I will be posting links in today's episode description with ways that you can follow Sam. I'll also share his Instagram handle, his social media links and I will also be sharing commentary and posting it up on the socials as well. There's something awesome being a dot watcher and living vicariously through someone else's efforts so I'm sure there's listeners that are thrilled to be able to be doing this as well. Can I ask something I should know but I haven't I've just assumed is the direction of travel up to you?

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Yep um you can go either clockwise or anticlockwise you can start at any point along the route as well. That's why that was what was interesting to me. I live in Manosque in the southeast of France and it just happens to be a control point on the route. Um well saying that it's there are choices you can make between the controls. You have to pass through sixty three sorry sixty one but there are points where you can have alternative or variant controls as they call them which I I think it's sort of to give you that choice of whether you follow closer to the coast or you take a route in the route sort of slightly inland. There's a couple where in the high alps you can miss out some of the passes which maybe you're doing it there's possibility of them being closed at snow season or something like that. Yeah well saying that it's it's only possible to do this in summer months but um there's there's particularly one um where I've avoided having to take a ferry because I think I'd rather not have to have to take a ferry near um at the Gironde near Bordeaux. The the Giron the Giron River um I've missed that ferry that's but that's why I'm not taking it there you go and then Manosk is on a a variant route the the other route takes you further towards the south coast so I'm I'm a little bit inland. So so yeah I've chosen to go clockwise I think mostly because I'm hoping to get a better prevailing wind up the up the west coast if it's more likely to come from the southwest. I know it's something you can't you can't predict in advance but inland in the east there's less if I'm heading south there it's yeah it's it's less at risk of having adverse adverse wind. Yeah I suppose the rest it's quite interesting look at the profile of my route I go straight to the Pyrenees so day it should be the third day I'm really hitting the the Pyrenees. I'll see you early on then I will definitely see you somewhere on the road I was gonna say I was going to say relatively fresh but even by the third day it's uh that's when I'm that's when I'm in in one gear mode by then that's good that could be my speed I'm I'm always good for bringing conversation though Sam so you can just yeah or just tell me to shut up and point you to the boulangerie it's up to you I think I maybe maybe happy to have someone else have have someone else just talking to me for a while you look at a profile and then the rest is flat for three and a half four thousand kilometres well relatively flat I was saying about Brittany being it's it's lumpy it is lumpy places but no no mountain passes until I get background to Jura and in the Alps and then it's pretty much once I'm through the Alps it's only 150 200 kilometres back from back from there.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

So that mentally will be a big deal too knowing that you're through the mountains and you're almost home.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Yeah but in some way it's it's a route which I've done a couple times so sometimes the roads you've done before are worse because especially when it's that close to the end I sort of know oh it's 70 kilometers from here.

SPEAKER_01 35:27

Like that's three or four hours and not not twelve and a half days deep it feels they feel very long at at that at that point.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I think that's yeah contextualized sometimes it's best just to not get on a bit not count down I'm I'm a person who I don't have stats on my Garmin. I don't know how some people have like time and distance showing all the time it would just drive me crazy.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah the best thing I ever did was put my garment on like battery saver mode and so unless it blips with a direction I I see nothing and mentally just gave me so much more out of my rides being able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yeah. And I think it's that comes down to it's controlling the controllables. I can control the effort I put in how I manage myself over that time. I can't control which way the w which way the wind's blowing what the weather's doing a lot of that determines the speed you're going at. If I'm doing what I need to do the outcome takes care of itself in that in that sense. It's something which when I talk to people about sort of goals for events saying sort of what position or even even how many kilometers you're going to do a day to a large extent that's out of your control. When I'm going across the Pyrenees I know I'm not going to do the same distance each day as on the flatter bits and even on the flatter bits if I get the wind in my face all day it may be two thirds of what I could do if I got a tailwind. So it's just things I've got to accept I've got to just play into what is under my control and trust that the rest is going to play out.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Keep eating, keep fueling, keep drinking water and get your you know try and aim for your four or five hours sleep a night and g give your best efforts and yeah the rest you you've done everything in your control like you said. Well Sam, I am super pumped. I'm I'm super chuffed to even be a tiny little part of what you're doing here and I can't wait to see this all unfold for you to help provide updates. Listeners, as I said I'll be providing links in the show notes for those of you who like to listen to things straight away and go somewhere Sam a quick shout out to your Instagram page.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

And my yeah my personal Instagram is at tourist dot root and tourist has got an E on the end root air root hasn't got an E on the end. Yeah I I changed my handle to be on brand um I'm we'll see how it goes. I may keep I may keep it that way.

SPEAKER_01 37:45

I think you'll be proud of this handle. You you will this will be your badge so listeners follow along check out the links in the show notes and Sam I'll put you on the spot here but so looking forward to hopefully doing a full length episode with you when when this is all in the history books.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Oh great yeah well I'm yeah um not trying to sort of put pressure on myself but I think yeah I'm going into this open-eyed to really get a great experience out of it and yeah can't wait to sort of I think once once you get a few hours onto the roads or even a couple days yeah I'm just really looking forward to getting into that routine and seeing seeing all of this country.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yeah the whole lap around 4,800 kilometers here you come who knows however many almond croissants are in that tally as well but we will be keeping note thank you so so much Sam and um Bon route and courage thank you merci merci Bella There you go listeners and now you know all about the Tour de France Rondonair and if like me you're excited for what's coming up for Sam make sure to click the links in the podcast description show notes so that you can track his dot moving across the country. Sam I really hope that you have the best of the weather the best of the pastries at the boulangerie and an absolute blast of a time as you make your way through this route. And listeners let's all wish him a boncarage and see how this journey unfolds. I'd like to give a shout out now to you my absolute legends of a super fan who have gone ahead and supported me and the podcast by buying me a coffee. Each week these messages of support for the show come through and it really does fill me with joy to read them. This week I'd like to say a huge thank you to Velo Manuela who said the podcast basically pushed me through Argentina's desert, pamper and steppe. Well Velo Manuela thank you so much for supporting the show and I have to say I'm super stoked to find out you were tuning in during your actual adventure through South America there. Some amazing landscapes that you were going through and I hope that the weather was kind to you and that you took some inspiration from the podcast guests and put it as fuel for your own journey there as well. Thanks for being a dead set legend and supporting me and the podcast. And listeners if you would like to do as Velo Manuela has done you too can support me and the podcast simply go to buymeacoffee.com forward slash seek travel ride. Buy me a coffee a few virtual brews but more importantly leave me a message and let me know what is it that you love about the podcast and where is your next bike adventure taking you and until the next episode I'm Bella Malloy thanks for listening