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Holger

Warning! this could turn into some pathetic, romantic and stupid thread.
Everybody who cannot deal with it, should not read it.
First of all i like to thank all those friendly and kind french people wich we met in
those three weeks. second i like to say that France is the best country to
go cycling that i know.
And a like to praise my old sixties Gitane wich allways was some kind of underdog in my small
collection, and it is so good to ride it, so comfortable, reliable and that Ideale saddle is one of the best i`ve ever ridden.

Marmande L`Historique:
we arrived there on a very hot Friday, and soon i realized that it cannot be compared in any case with the
L´eroica. After i signed in and the (italian) Lady gave me the starting number 46, i thought wow quite familiar.
(for example if you do that in Italy you will get the number 2899)
Then i visited the market were they sold bikes and parts. In that two weeks before Marmande i allways thought wich Jersey i will buy there, a St.Raphael Gitane Campagnolo like Mr.Anqeutil use to wear was my favourite, then i dreamed of a wide range of Delta`s waiting for me.
But there were absolutely no single Gitane bike for sale and Jerseys only one Renault Campa wich i`ve allready got.
O.K. they said vintage and when they say that they mean old, very old! between 80 and 100 years!
That was the range the bikes and parts had on the market, except one or two Colnago`s from the 80`s.
The Randonee was on saturday not on sunday like my informations said, starting time 11.30 for
the 100km on a day with 38c degrees!
So i took my L`eroica cycling gear, (as i sadly not found a period correct 60`s Gitane Jersey) and went to the start.
The field started under the endless burning sun, behind an 100 years old Buick car and some Motorcycles wich were not very younger. After a while i realized that the Buick was the Pace Car and it was not allowed to overtake it. Fine car but it was not faster then 25km/h as long it was flat.
So i looked over the beautiful landscape and hills, as on the right a silver shinning `Randonneur`came beside me, i looked at it and it was one of that rare `Rene Herse` bikes, i`ve never seen before. Then i talked to the owner, wich was a french guy who, thank god, spoke very good english, cause my french is terrible.
We talked a lot and he said he collects `Herse` Bikes and lives in Cap Breton on the coast, good live i thought. He found it quite curious that i collect Gitane`s.
After a while we arrived in Duras wich is a castle on a Hill of vineyards (what else)
There we got some good food and yes, wine. After three cups of rose we went of again.

Man, after four hours on the bike i felt like a `poulet roti` , but they made a lot of stops in nearly every small town with the people standing beside the road giving applause.
Then i talked to a guy on a `Alcyon` bike, first i thought he was french, but he was American from SF he told me he settled down near the pyrenees cause its so good for cycling there and so he lives there.

about 25k before the finish the two groups joined (50k and 100k) and the whole field (maybe 60 people) rolled to Marmande ( in that 50k groups were four guys on antique High Wheel Bikes!)
Soon we arrived the town and the Randonee was over, sad but true!
I took a shower and went again to the center were a `bal musette` was going on, took a `magret de canard` and a bottle of red wine, and keep watching the scenerie, on that still very hot night.
Life is good!

P.S.
to late i realized that mr. Emile Arbes was also in the field riding one of those heavy singlespeed Bikes from
the 20`s.
P.S.
one last episode: french man on the market looked at my Gitane said: `Ah, Gitane long time not seen such an old one, but boy, why do you not throw those brakes away and change it for Campagnolo?
MAFAC ? C`est la merde !
P.S.http://www.sudgironde-cyclisme.net/rubrique,l-historique-a-marmande-47,559384.html
lot better pics than mine

must be the right way!

participant

one of those very rare Caminargent Paris-Bordeaux for sale

on my way to the start

before the start one of the organisators from the L´Eroica beside me

and here we go

Herse total

Herse detail

me my (a little tired) son, the duck and the wine

dancheet

I cant believe no one has posted yet! What an amazing trib with beautiful bikes and land!

I am jealous and will def try to make a trip like this in the near future!!!!

LeicaLad

Excellent post. Sounds like you had lots of fun.

Feel free to post even more photos!!!!

verktyg

Great story and pictures... Thanks for sharing your experiences and pictures.

I posted a link to another website. There were some very positive responses for Holger.

Gtane

Holger,

Thank you for posting the report and images. It sounds, and looks, like you had a fantastic time.

Great photos. It's always good to see older machines out for a breath of fresh air. That Caminargent is a very special bike indeed, one doesn't see many of those. The workmanship, technology and weight combined to make it a very desirable machine at the time and even today they stand out as masterpieces of engineering as well as being very collectable. I like those elegant cotterless cranks on it too.

Super shots of you on your Gitane and I doubt there are too many of those on the roads today. You have a wonderful machine there.

Thanks

Tim

vanhelmont

Holger,

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. I really enjoyed your pictures and story. It's great that 60s Gitane got to go for a ride.

Dave