Gitane-esque

I bought a bike!  

A nice lady in a small town nearby was clearing out her barn and sold me this bike for 10€, and the pannier bags for a few euros too, uh huh that's a steal.  From what I can figure it's a 1979 Gitane 'Tour de France' touring bicycle made in Nantes; front and rear quick releases, mavic (presta) rims, ideale leather saddle, Huret/Simplex derailleurs and mafac brakes all in need of some tender loving care.  Yes I'm happy.  

The man at the nearby bike shop kept questioning me why I needed all the bike parts because he would supply them when he fixed my bike, what was it that I needed done?  It took some time for it to sink in that I repair bikes too.  He said it's not everyday you see a girl repairing bikes 'with a shrug of his shoulders' it's a bit macho you know. Ah what a charmer. : )

With this little beauty I'm planning on biking the very intimidating Mt.Ventoux before my time here is up.  It's the tallest mountain in the chain here called 'Les Alpilles" and it's normally part of the Tour de France.  People have told me that some bikers have died trying to climb it because the oxygen gets pretty thin, so I need to do some serious training.  I'll post some more pictures of my beautified bike and the trek down the line.

Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 28, 2014 at 11:02 PM

    She's a beauty, love the color! Nice goal. Sounds like a huge challenge but I'm sure you could do it!

    ReplyDelete

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