I’ve been having some grief over my position on the bike lately and have tried everything from adjusting my seat height to buying two new stems. Today, after finally listening to bike guru Nigel, I tried out his suggestion – a long, ‘sit up and beg’ stem that would take the pressure off my lower back. I’m relieved to say it worked…at least for a 3-hour ride, with a 15 km headwind. I’ll give it the true test in Spain in a couple of weeks! 

Anyway, me and my new granny posture went to check out Castries today, the town an American friend lives in. Here are a couple of shots of the old town center, along with my new stem, if you look carefully!

As I was leaving Castries I remembered that someone told me about an aqueduct that was supposed to be in or around the town. After about 2 seconds of looking I found it (they are big, these things…), and also found out a bit of history. It was built in the 17th century, during a Renaissance building boom, by a guy named Riquet. It is nearly 7 km long and I actually pass a portion of it (a few km out of town) pretty regularly on my rides (check out the “A(nother) Roman Bridge Interlude” post for a picture). Here is curvy section I found near the town.

And finally a couple more spring pictures from a vineyard on the way home.