Today’s TWO songs offer a bit of foreshadowing. Read on!
The last stage of the 2026 Tour de Franks is upon us. Who will claim the yellow jersey? Who will win the grand prize? What is the grand prize, you ask? A cat-shaped grilled cheese sandwich, of course!
We had a minor delay in getting started today because we couldn’t get out of the gate. Literally! Someone forgot to open the impressive red gates at the hotel entrance.
Once we overcame that formidable obstacle, we were off! Today, we headed for our final destination of Mâcon, France. At 17 miles, today’s ride would be significantly shorter than all of the previous days. And, coincidentally, we had our first cloudy day with temperatures at least 20+ degrees cooler. It was actually a little chilly! We could FINALLY use the outer layers we’d brought along.
Every once in a while, our peaceful ride was interrupted by the thunderous sound of a high-speed train.
It looked almost autumnal! And felt that way, too. It was a shocking and welcome shift from the previous four days.
For today’s ride, I was especially excited about a tunnel that was just up ahead. It’s called the Tunnel du Bois Clair and it’s the second longest non-motorized vehicle tunnel in all of Europe. It was the longest until 2023, when Norway opened a longer one. Pffft. Still, it’s 1.6 km long (that’s 1 mile for us imperialists). We had to pass under a highway and then climb a pretty formidable hill before the path descend back down to the tunnel. That warmed us up quickly.
The tunnel itself is kind of spooky. For one thing, it closes from October to March so that a colony of bats can hibernate inside of it. Also, it’s dimly lit and damp. At one point near the terminus water was dripping from the ceiling. On top of all that, it’s really old and really long! But that’s what makes it so exciting. Here’s a video of us riding through the tunnel. It speeds up to 4x, but it’s still almost 2 minutes long. For the true tunnel aficionados!
We had the whole tunnel to ourselves!
The elevation profile for this day was a bit misleading. While there was a climb up to the tunnel, the tunnel itself was flat. The profile appears to show a continued hill throughout the tunnel just before the 4 mile mark, which was not the case. We were happy to see that we weren’t in for as much climbing as we had thought. The climb probably stopped at about the 1.0k mark.
The rest of the day would be mostly downhill. But that would be too easy, right?! We enjoyed riding through scenic tree-lined trails and stopping to admire babbling brooks.
Until…
Dun, dun, DUN! Disaster strikes. In the form of a flat tire! The tour company had given each of us an extra tube, a can of fix-a-flat spray, and some tire levers. Greg pulled out his spare tube and got to work. But the valve on that tube was broken. I gave him my spare tube and he put it in and pumped it up. All seemed fine. Until…
Dun, dun, DUN! Another flat! This time we could hear the air whooshing out. Fresh out of spare tubes, we were in a bit of a pickle. We were only three miles from our final destination! Should we try to find a bike shop? Should we call the tour company and ask for help? Should we walk three miles?? We decided to call the tour people and see if they had any advice. We did a quick video chat with someone who agreed that these tubes were bad. Could he come get us? Well… they’re based all the way back in Beaune where this whole saga began. Sending someone out would take an hour and a half. That seemed ridiculous since we were just 3 miles from the end of the route.
So, Greg put the ORIGINAL tube back in, sprayed it with the foam, and it worked! We made it to Mâcon! This whole drama took more than an hour, but at least we didn’t have to walk. After a ride through a bit of city traffic, we arrived at our final hotel. It was a great feeling of accomplishment. We’d endured heat, soreness, flat tires, tunnels, hills, and a complete lack of porta-potties. But we had accomplished our goal. We parked the bikes for the last time.
But the story doesn’t end there. Because of the trailside delays, we didn’t make it out to have lunch until all the restaurants in town had closed. But where does any American know that they can always find food?? Starbucks! It was literally our only option. We were able to grab a couple sandwiches and, of course, some coffee. And there you have it: the cat-shaped grilled cheese, a.k.a. Croque Chat. Victory was mine. All gooey and buttery and tasted just like home.
After lunch we had a lot of fun looking around downtown Mâcon. It’s a really quaint city with a lot of character. We enjoyed shopping, dining, and sightseeing there. Photos for proof!
Anyone who knows me well at all knows that I LOVE word games and crossword puzzles. It’s like an addiction. OK, it IS an addiction. I was so tempted to buy one of these, but knew that the language barrier would make it too frustrating.
Some of you discerning readers may have noticed that Penny Dog wasn’t along for this ride. She had to stay home for this international adventure. However, we brought the Penny pillow with us and thought about strapping it onto the bike. We never did that, but she did appear on our hotel bed every night. And really discerning readers may have noticed a small white dog on the front of my bike. In Paris, I bought an adorable little stuffed dog. “Tuppy” rode as a stand-in for Penny.
And on one final note, did you know that in France, “Foosball” is called “Babyfoot”? We found this out at the hotel when Greg asked where the restroom was and was told, “Right behind the baby foot.” With her accent, he heard “baby food” and was totally confused, but didn’t bother to ask for clarification. He figured it out.
Looks like a great adventure! Next trip, try the C&O Canal from Cumberland to DC. 180 miles downhill (drops 800 feet in 180 miles) if you're willing to camp on the trail. Off trail lodging requires a significant climb every day, but it's beautiful - As a long time Virginian you'd feel right at home.