A `WRETCHED' START: BICYCLIST SLOGS THROUGH RAIN, CHILL IN FRANCE.Byline: - Carol Bidwell Right on schedule, North Hollywood screenwriter Megan Timothy, 59, pedaled out of Paris on March 5 to begin her 12,000-mile, 10-month solo bicycle journey around Europe. And right on schedule, Mother Nature smacked Timothy - who had planned to camp out and cook over a campfire - with enough miserable weather to send a less determined bicyclist hunting for a rental car. But Timothy, who kept on pedaling, wrote in a letter to the Daily News that the route out of Paris - which she had envisioned as a blissful trek - ``was occupied with a fight to not end up a roadkill road·kill n. 1. An animal or animals killed by being struck by a motor vehicle. 2. Slang One that has failed or been defeated and is no longer worthy of consideration: statistic, (not to) have my fingers freeze off and to keep from drowning.'' ``Rain! Rain! Rain! Some coming straight down, some coming sideways, some bouncing up from the road, and trucks fantailing enough water to knock you flat. Quite a baptism, especially when the rain turned to sleet sleet, precipitation of small, partially melted grains of ice. As raindrops fall from clouds, they pass through layers of air at different temperatures. If they pass through a layer with a temperature below the freezing point, they turn into sleet. midafternoon. Just as I was beginning to see the wisdom of friends who declare I'm certifiable cer·ti·fi·a·ble adj. 1. That can or must be certified. Used of infectious, industrial, and other diseases that are required by law to be reported to health authorities. 2. , Chartres (her first stop, about 62 miles southwest of Paris) popped into view, perched 'way up on a hill! ``To heck with camping. My tent remains rolled up in the bag and I'm curled up in a big feather bed in a cozy medieval inn, wrapped in a down comforter with a big cup of hot chocolate in hand. Call me a wuss; I don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. . I'm feeling great and tomorrow is another day.'' Five days later, in a postcard from France's Loire Valley Noun 1. Loire Valley - the valley of the Loire River where many French wines originated France, French Republic - a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe , Timothy continued to bemoan be·moan tr.v. be·moaned, be·moan·ing, be·moans 1. To express grief over; lament. 2. To express disapproval of or regret for; deplore: the weather, much colder and much wetter than she had expected as she pedaled toward the Spanish border. ``If I had to choose one word for this trip so far, it would be `wretched,' '' Timothy wrote. ``I've forgotten what it is to be dry, let alone warm, and fear if I stop pedaling for a second, the head winds will blow me all the way back to Paris.'' As for keeping her strength up along the way, that didn't work out as planned, either. ``I was advised to pack Power Bars for emergency pick-me-ups. Well, let me tell you, a bulldog couldn't bite through one of those suckers after it's been out in 45-degree wind chill wind chill, the cooling effect of wind and temperature combined, expressed in terms of the effect produced by a lower, windless temperature, also called wind chill factor, wind chill temperature, wind chill equivalent temperature, wind chill index, wind chill all morning,'' she wrote. A bag of dried figs replaced the bars - and kept her teeth intact. CAPTION(S): Photo, Map Photo: ``I've forgotten what it is to be dry, let alone warm ...,'' writes Megan Timothy, in a postcard from the Chateau de la Loire in France. Map: A BIKE RIDE 1999 |
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