It's 1:30 am in the morning, my bike is boxed and protected by a small fortune in cardboard and packing tape and I can now start packing in earnest for our cycling trip to the French (Maritime) Alps. Dave & I are leaving tomorrow evening for Nice (with an early morning stopover at Heathrow).

I'm joining  a group of about 17 cyclists -- they call their informal club, The Monsters --  that Dave rides with out of Concord; apparently my main purpose in going is to make sure Dave is not lonely at the back of the pack.

 Meet a few Monsters at our one and only organizational meeting -- think mostly tall, fit, people whose idea of a good time is to get up at 5 in the morning and ride as fast as they can to Mount Wachussett and back before breakfast. Sacré bleu !! I better get packing...