Distance Travelled: 96.1 km
Riding Time: 4h 41m
Average Speed: 20.5 km/h
Elevation Change: approx -143 m

day three was spent deep in the ardennes where english is little spoken. i was amazed how quickly my french came back once surrounded by people who spoke it. though i seem to be better at understanding their european french than they are at penetrating my quebecois.

when i stopped for lunch in martelagne, i noticed something distressing about my rear tire. you see, said tire is composed of yellow rubber³. for the past couple of weeks there has been a red patch on the tire which i paid little heed to, presuming that some piece of gum or something i had ridden over had discolored it. in martelagne however, i noticed that the patch had become more of a variable width streak nearly circling the tire. turns out that this is the kind of red that means "stop". in this case, stopping is advised because your tire has become little more than a  piece of canvas weave with a condom over top of it.

i decided that i would continue on to arlon and then hop a train from there to luxembourg, where i would surely be able to get a new tire. however, once i actually arrived in arlon, i was taunted by a sign saying "Luxembourg 28". there was no way i was going to admit a shameful train ride into my trek for the sake of a scant 28 kilometers.

i got two flats between arlon and luxembourg.

the first was a messy unpatchable blowout. i installed the single spare tube i was carrying. the second, thankfully, was a clean puncture which i was able to field dress well enough to carry me to luxembourg.

incidentally, the border entering luxembourg was less transparent than the border entering belgium, in that there was a sign and a little un-manned hut.

and then i saw day three out by drinking a bottle of vermouth and chatting with my amicable luxembourgish host and his two other houseguests, both american.

today is technically day 4, but the only riding i'm doing is a little cautious rolling around luxembourg city, taking in the sights and waiting until tomorrow when someone will be willing to sell me a new tire. since luxembourg is written on my chickenscratch itinerary as today's goal, i figure i've earned a day off.

cheers.

_{1. approx 100 m higher than zurich}

2. actually, that may not be entirely true; i did spend a rather unnerving amount of time in functional free fall on the way down Tuckerman Ravine.

3. because, as everyone knows, bright colors make you go faster.