I’m 46 today. This means I’m old enough to know not to expect, nor plan, too much for any day, including my birthday. With this thinking pushing my strategy, I had a short-list of things I wanted to do, in strict hierarchical order.
1. Ride through Le Tube.
2. Drink a beer.
Actually, now that I look at it, I could have done these in the opposite order (or even together) and my birthday would still have been a success.
Le Tube, if you haven’t heard, is a new cycling/pedestrian tunnel in the French city of Lyon, which cuts under the hilltop neighborhood of La Croix Rousse, and presumably allows sensible commuters from the other side to easily access the center of the city.
Here’s part of Shoko outside the far-side entrance of Le Tube, right by the conveniently-located Velo’V station. Warning: if you think you can just walk up and rent a bike with Lyon’s system you will be décu; you need to buy a subscription online beforehand. Still, it’s only €1.50 for a day, so well worth the few minutes it’ll take.
The other part of Shoko, by the way, did not pass quality control before uploading.
Once you ride inside Le Tube you are treated to a long series of lights and animation, layered with soothing tunes that make you want to roll along slowly. Not the place for Lactic Threshold intervals, I’d suggest.
Le Tube is nearly 2 kilometers long and has two lanes for bikes, a wide path for pedestrians right next to it, plus a lane for buses (we only saw one of those, thankfully). For the claustrophobic among you, emergency exits are placed every 75 meters.
And finally, the 2nd part of my wish list, which is Canadian, just like me.
The Vicious Cycle 
Happy Birthday Gerry!
Happy birthday!!
So awesome! Definitely on my to-do list for Europe! Thanks for the blog!
. . . and happy birthday!
Happy Birthday again ;o)
In rain and ice conditions: Is it possible to train in “le tube”? long as a velodrome and same level of boredom as swimming….
Good point, and you’d have something to watch on the walls, too. Too bad I live in Nîmes…
Happy Birthday Gerry! Enjoying recent news of your rides in sunshine – after weeks and weeks of cold and rain I finally cycled this afternoon with a sun shadow!
Bon anniversaire Gerry!
Happy birthday Gerry,
Hope you didn’t just stop at one moosehead!!
Strangely, it did. I made up for it on the wine later, though.
Happy 46 Gerry! When I started riding in my younger 40s a good cyclist said: “You will be stronger and better at 49!” Something to look forward to…
Thanks, Jan! Rob is still riding PBs at 57, so hopefully it’ll get better for more than the next 3 years!
Happy birthday!
Bon anniversaire and Happy Birthday! Very cool to celebrate in Lyon.
Happy belated birthday, Gerry.
Thanks, everyone!
Like Jan, I was told when I started racing when I was in my twenties..’You’ll be stronger in your 50’s….yeah..not really..smarter, but not stronger… don’t get your hopes up…I consider it my great fortune to have met , ridden and become friends with you and of course Shoko..HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
The fortune is all mine, Stephen. And as for getting older, at least I’ll be smarter. That’s a decent consolation prize, I guess.
Happy birthday, old man.
Thanks, TP.
Belated bonne fete!
Thanks, Pierre!
Psst, Gerry it’s Sarah, not Pierre. *la* canadien*ne* 😉
Oops. My poor French grammar has been exposed! It’s before 8 am. I’m sticking to that excuse.
I just thought that there was something you knew that we didn’t.