Bicycle Mice

## Stats

**Bicycle Mice** is the 27th episode of the series *The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures* that aired on March 21, 1999. The setting in this episode is France.

## Summary

Emily and Alexander ride in a man's bike, awaiting to meet their cousin Renaud who has invited them to France for a bicycle holiday. Alexander comments that he knew bicycles would catch on as they are popular, which is proven when a bunch of men riding bikes smoke by. They then meet Renaud with his little mouse bike. He welcomes them for arriving them just in time for the first Tour de France bicycle race, a race across the country. Emily slides down to Renaud's bike safely, but Alexander not so much. The mice get to Renaud's friend Olivier who is still waiting for his dad to come to the finish line after practicing, but not even the Tour de France host has hope in him. Renaud wishes his father his father could come first place tomorrow for the race, or else he'll lose his vineyard. Story is that Olivier's family had been winemakers for centuries, and his father owes a lot of money to the banker, Monsieur Gronet, but times are hard for them at the moment. Though, Olivier is sure that winning the race will make them famous and his father can pay him easily.

His father then arrives with a rather rundown bike, when his tire gets popped by a needle on the ground. He loses control and falls off the bridge but his bike is more hurt than he is. Gronet arrives with his automobile and laughs, betting that he will lose the race. Olivier's father tells him he will, but Gronet reminds him that if he doesn't, he loses everything. Olivier tells his dad that he will have his bike good as new for tomorrow. The mice then pedal own bikes, and Renaud is confident that he will win the Tour de Cheese race for mice, after all, he nicknames himself "Rocket Renaud". Suddenly his cable snaps, and his bike slowly begins breaking apart. He almost crashes into a barn but Emily and Alexander save him. Alexander inspects it, and says someone sabotaged the bike by cutting the cable. Renaud mentions that was just his practice bike, and goes into the barn to show him his true racing bike.

Inside the barn, many rodents, mice and rats, work on bikes for the race. One of these is the notorious No-Tail No-Goodnik, who was the one who sabotaged the bike, and decides to go with a plan B to win the race. Renaud shows him his bike which has aerodynamics and good design, plus his helmet which is essentially a salt shaker cap. Suddenly, No-Tail comes up and introduces himself as "Count Gorgonzola". Emily mentions that they have met a Count Gorgonzola at the opera, but No-Tail denies it. Alexander is positive that they have met and asks for his name again, which No-Tail then replies to as "Count Limburger" and walks off. Alexander is very suspicious of this character.

That night, while the mice go to sleep, No-Tail decides to put his plan into motion. He yells at an owl resting up and insults it with a joke, making it fly around and hooting which causes commotion in the barn. Emily has an idea and her, Alexander, and Renaud split up. The bird chases Alexander while he rides a bike, and when he exits the door, Renaud and Emily shut the front barn door which makes the owl crash into it, and he gets out and flies away. Renaud is relieved that nobody looked at his covered-up bike, which is hidden so nobody could possibly steal his neat design. But at that moment, No-Tail announces his new design and unveils it to be Renaud's bike. Renaud uncovers his bike and finds a hastily made bike underneath. He is upset that he lost the race before it even begun, but Emily says that the bike isn't what wins the race - it is the racer. Alexander plans that they could repair the bike before race time, and they put it together at Olivier's house who has parts. The next day, the Tour de Cheese begins, and the mice and Olivier arrive just in time at the finish line. Renaud begins biking on his improved bike while Olivier, Emily, and Alexander go over to see the Tour de France.

At the finish line, Olivier gives his father his helmet, and tells him to try. Suddenly, Monsieur Gronet comes up telling him to sign his vineyard right now to save his embarrassment, but Olivier tells him that his family never gives up without a fight. Gronet rips the paper up angrily, and walks off, and the race starts. Emily and Alexander see Gronet looking at a map at his car. He eyes Dead Man's Curve, which he considers the perfect place for an accident, and drives away leaving his map behind. Olivier looks at it and Emily and Alexander see the thumbtacks he had dropped. Emily assures that Monsieur Gronet had been sabotaging the bike all this time. They give Olivier a thumbtack to give evidence that Gronet is cheating, and the mice bicycle as fast as they can to catch up to Dead Man's Curve. The mice catch up to Gronet's car, and Alexander gets on. He gets an idea to stop Gronet, and rips his pocket containing tacks. He falls accidentally on the horn and honks it, startling Gronet and making him jump, and he sure enough lands on the tacks. It causes rocky driving and close encounters with the bikers make them fall in the river, and Gronet also gets his car stuck. Olivier and an officer come to seize Gronet, while Olivier's dad continues to pedal his bike. Alexander and Emily race over to meet Renaud at Tour de Cheese, when they discover that "Count Gorgonzola" is really No-Tail, after he takes his fake tail off and runs it in Renaud's wheel to make it come off. Renaud's bike breaks, but Renaud makes it in Alexander and Emily's bike. Thinking that he will win, No-Tail bumps into a thumbtack which makes him fly in the air and right into the winning cheese prize, but Renaud, as well as his two cousins, are declared the real winners. Back at home, Alexander reads in the newspaper that Olivier's family name is famous throughout France, plus, Olivier has said that he wants to win the Tour de France himself one day. Emily is sure he will, after learning all about bikes while helping Renaud rebuild his racer.

## Trivia

* Being the first episode of the second season, it is the first to use digital ink and paint.
* This is the technically the third episode to take place in France. The other two are *The Mouse-tache Marauder* and *Those Amazing Mice in Their Flying Machines* (which however, mostly takes place in England although France appears at the end)