Day 1, Rennes to Dinan

 First day of the Tour

Starting any big ride like this entails a set of jitters. If you are riding a rental bike, is the fit of the bike just right for the ride ahead; is the breaks adjusted properly; how are the gearing set up; what about the seat and is it adjusted for you? Any number of items. All those thoughts float through your mind as you stand with the other riders just before the morning photo before the start.

All those thoughts dissipate as as you make the first couple of pedal strokes in the cool morning air as you leave the town in the quite Sunday morning with little to no traffic with only a couple of pedestrians to watch as to the 40 or so riders make our way out of town though the streets and bike paths. The scenery starts to change from the city lined with commercial building filled with closed shops. All the shops will be closed today. It's Sunday and not even the bakeries are open. The commercial buildings transition to residential buildings then before you know it, you're out in the rural community with fields of corn lining the roads.

You start to pick up some speed at the pace quickens. Not too much, after all this isn't a race just a bit faster than a social ride. You still have a case of early ride jitters and today's ride will be almost 100 kms. Not a lot of distance, but you want to get some distance before the summer day transitions from the cool morning air rushing by you, the low 60's and before later afternoon temps int the high 80's or low 90's.

Chuck has methodically layed out these routes to include interesting sights that today included a chateau called, Chateau de Lehon.

Below is an interactive map of today's ride. At the bottom is an elevation profile of the ride. The elevation gain for the day was 2,638 feet, though it was spread out for entire ride and really didn't seem to very signification.

I've posted photos from today's ride at the following link, feel free to browse the photos a bit

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bvWMW7hoxHT1UWBt7

All the best and happy biking,

Brian