Day: March 15, 2006

It was a icy wake up call this morning -10° Celsius.  Medhi lit a fire at 6H00 to try to get warm but in vain.  The team, who slept under tents appreciated the hot coffee at breakfast. In the days preceding the new year (March 21), the Iranians set off fire crackers and light fires.  If you jump over a fire three times “the bad head will go away.”  Translated, this means that you throw all your ailments into the fire.  At the invitation of Medhi, Serge jumped over the fire because he has a sore throat.
 
The sky was bright blue and the air warmed up quickly: this afternoon the temperature reached 25° Celsius. It was downhill for the whole stage until Niameh, which Serge reached at the 62nd kilometer.  The cities are big and they continue on into the suburbs, where you find mechanics, tire salesmen and all the services needed by trucks.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has 28 provinces (similar to French departments).  We arrived by the province of eastern Azerbaijan at Bazargan then to western Azerbaijan, where we are now and of which Tabriz is the capital In these two provinces, there are many Turks who, according to Medhi, speak Turkish or Farsi with a very strong accent.  There are many Kurds too.  
 
At  Mianeh, a young boy on a bicycle met Serge and pedaled along at his side for 2 or 3 kilometers.  Serge was radiant, as is usually the case in these privileged moments.  Then two men stopped: they wanted Serge to autograph post cards so he did that as he left Mianeh.

All of a sudden the sky darkened and the air became heavy.  A distant storm came toward us and Serge just had time to finish the stage before the first drops of rain fell.  This evening he complained of having a sore knee.  A good massage and a 15 minute application of cold on the painful spots should put things right for tomorrow.