Bike Shop

I'm in Lyon now, got my bikes together, just been riding around, checking things out. I have mixed feeling about France and it's people. The terrain is similar to Eugene's, except without evergreen vegetation.
I got to go to some bike shops today, I say got to because it's more of a privilege than a right here, or perhaps just a rare opportunity. Bike shops are closed Mondays, yesterday was Armistice Day, so today I got to go to the bike shops. Hours are a bit different, too - open 9:00 to 12:00, lunch, open 2:00 to 5:30. I guess that means if you work in a bike shop you work 6.5 hours per day... sign me up. And, you don't even have to help customer's. If you do see one you like and decide to help them, you don't need to be very helpful. I kept reciting my list of stuff I wanted, I tried fast, slow, I over enunciated, I even tried in a very French accent, but to no avail. They just just looked at me and said something in french that sounded like 'Ayee doan sbeeg eenglay'... it may have been an insult. I told them I don't speak french.
The good news is that I have learned, through a marathon of pantomime and gymnastics, that there will be a group-ride meeting at noon at a bike shop tomorrow. First the three shop boys formed a pace line on stationary bikes, representing a group ride. They made it clear that one must wear loud colors, preferably magenta or another purple based florescent (luckily I brought mine). Next, they produced a calender and pointed to tomorrow, clear enough, but at what time? Gymnastics! Two of the boys formed a circle by standing in crescent shapes back to back, heel to heel, hands clasped behind their heads and bowing their middles outward. The third and shortest boy, a dwarf in fact, donned a beard and robe (father time) and stood between the circle boys and showed time with his arms as hour and minute hand. I'll post the picture soon, it was amazing.