I Rode a Bike 34 Miles. That’s THIRTY-FOUR. THREE FOUR MILES.

I like to think of myself as an adventurous person.

As in, I’m not adventurous, but I like to think I am.

I am generally opposed to physically uncomfortable activities. Here are some physical activities that I consider to be uncomfortable: riding a roller coaster, swimming when it is colder than 80 degrees out, eating food while not seated at a table, overnight flights, running literally any distance, etc.

But yesterday, I rode a bicycle 34 miles. That is the greatest distance I have ever moved myself under my own physical power.

And I did it all for fancy baked beans.

This is the face of someone who rode 34 MILES and feels she fully deserves the cassoulet featuring duck confit that she is about to eat. Also, we were eating at 7:30, which is basically like eating dinner at 4:30pm for French people.

We rode from Port Sud south of Toulouse, where Nic’s lovely mother Nelly lives, to Castelnaudary, which is one of the three cassoulet towns of southwest France. The other two are Carcassonne and Toulouse, and each has a specific, traditional version of cassoulet. Toulouse cassoulet features duck confit, pork and Toulouse sausage. Carcassonne’s includes pork, pork sausage and mutton. Castelnaudary’s is made with duck confit, pork sausage and pork shoulder. I believe the Toulouse version is traditionally baked with breadcrumbs on top, but the other two are not. All feature perfect, creamy haricots blancs.

That is duck confit on top. It’s a good example of why, when Nic asks me what part of the roasted chicken I want as he’s carving one for dinner, I say “the skin, please”.

Castelnaudary is beautiful, isn’t it?! The water you see is Le Grand Bassin that forms part of the Canal du Midi, and was a very busy port on the canal from 1681 when the canal was opened.  I’m including it mostly to prove that it was VERY WINDY on our 34 MILE BIKE RIDE.

This photo is so you know I’m truly the worst for complaining and that riding 34 MILES was a lovely time and we had a really nice picnic on the way. Nic made delicious sandwiches and we had a short nap in the sun on a dock on the canal.

Did I mention it was 34 miles?

Working title of next post: What’s With All the Hotdogs in Copenhagen? An In-depth Investigation

– Potato