Outbound from Loudéac late Monday afternoon the course made its way through a verdant rolling countryside. To my eye there weren't many distinct villages along the route, but there were homes everywhere along the relatively rural landscape.
While I wasn't riding together with anyone in particular at that point, there were plenty of riders around and I went with the flow. I soon realized that a young man on a mountain bike, in racing kit, was riding alongside.
Now, there are many different styles of bike & rider on PBP, but he didn't seem to fit the mold!
I'd seen him ride a bit of a wheelie, so I asked him to do another for my camera:
We struck up a conversation.
Turns out that the course was running right though his village, so he was just hanging out, riding alongside PBP participants, going back and forth between his village and the next village down the road!
The day before he'd participated in the junior French national mountain bike race, but had crashed out. A bit sore today, but he was doing ok.
His older brother had previously won a cyclocross national championship, and was working that very afternoon at the mechanic's tent at the Loudéac control!
Yet another lovely moment of getting to hear a bit of someone's story and to share a few miles of cycling. Isn't that what it's all about?
I gave him one of my memento tokens before parting ways, and in good spirits I made my way down the road toward Carhaix-Plouguer to wrap up my first leg of PBP 2019.
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