The ride is well
underway and the days have been long and tough. I was hoping to post more
frequently on the blog but also didn't know what to expect for a typical day on
this journey, so far they have been very busy. I am hoping to update every so
often with an update from the last 3-5 days, maybe more frequently as we get in
the swing of things and have some shorter days on the bike and less to plan
ahead for. I have been making some brief daily posts on facebook since I can
put those out quickly and easily, if you want to follow me on facebook to see
those daily updates and pictures lets be friends https://www.facebook.com/anonymoussm23.
Instead of posting pictures in the blog I'll be saving them to a OneDrive folder that you can view. I take A LOT of pictures, I'll try to sort through them before I post but may add pictures after I post. check out my gopro footage from the first 4 days of riding. https://1drv.ms/f/s!Angcs1dhDGOX8WxzE4aKvshtk68Q
May 23rd-24th,
before team arrival:
Evan
(my teammate from The Journey of Hope 2014) and I arrived in Santiago 2 days
before the rest of the team so we had some time to get organized, build our
bikes and squeeze in an extra training ride. The bike shop did a great job, not
only were the bikes rebuilt well, and adjusted to how they were fitted when we
boxed them but they also did a full check and tuned our brakes and derailleurs,
even replaced my front brake cable that was showing some wear.
The
first day we got to town we explored the town a bit and found some of the bars
my friend had suggested. All the bars serve tapas with all your beers, so for a
2 Euro beer, we also got a variety of small bites including sliced meat, chips,
bread, cheese, tuna sandwiches and our favorite, muscles in tomato sauce. After
filling up a bit from beer and tapas we checkout out the carnival that is going
on at the big park in town, they had everything, the carnival rides, game
booths, food, ferris wheel, it was pretty crazy. We just walked around seeing
what they had at the carnival before heading back to town to find a place with
amazing seafood paella and a bottle of wine to finish off our first day in
Santiago.
The
next day we slept in until we could go pick up the bikes and headed out for a
ride. Since we have no idea where we are we figured it would be best to just
pick a road heading out of town and do an out an back. The ride was fantastic,
it felt great to finally be riding our bikes after carrying them around in
boxes all over Portugal and not riding for more than a couple weeks. Saw some
other cyclists on the road which was good to know it is a well used cycling
route. We only did 15 miles out but the scenery was fantastic, greenery,
rolling hills, small towns, just a taste of what we should expect through
northern Spain. Our turn around point around 15 miles, ended up being a café
where we saw another cyclist taking a break with a drink and of course tapas,
we refilled water and talked a bit with our new friend, we are both about to
start crazy cycling adventures, he is training to do the Camino de Santiago
self supported by mountain bike and us training for our 3,200mile bike
adventure. After the ride we ate some more good food and relaxed in our
hammocks in a park and took care of the last couple logistical items for our
trip so we were ready to go once the team arrives tomorrow.
May 25th to 28th,
team arrival and planning:
May
25th we met the few guys that had arrived late last night after picking up the
rental car in Madrid and driving all the way to Santiago overnight, they slept
in the car at a park, it was a pretty rough day for them and the beginning of a
major nightmare for all of us. The rental that AbEx had booked for us, a 7
passenger van, through their corporate relationship with Hertz required a 25+
year old driver per policy in Spain, no one picking up the rental was 25+, they
needed a car that night so they had to get the biggest car they were able to
which was a somewhat large 5 person sedan, but we have 10 guys, 10 bikes and a
lot of gear and luggage for a 2 month bike trip, on top of that, it is a manual
and 3 of the 10 team members know how to drive a manual . So the first speed
bump was hit. While we were in Santiago we spent time getting to know everyone,
hanging out at the awesome house we had outside of town. Sorting out some
logistics like assigning driving days, dividing up planning of lodging and bike
routes as well as learning stick shift while we tried to figure out if it was
possible to get the van we wanted/really needed.
We
determined it was possible to make the sedan work, it could fit all our gear,
the trunk rack for bikes and barely squeeze a passenger in. That left really
little wiggle room, if we had to get everyone off the road in a worst case
scenario the car would have to make 3 trips back and forth, this would take a
long time, but could work since we are passing through a lot of small towns
that would be easy to shelter in and wait for the car to go back and forth. It
also meant we could have no more than two cyclists off the road for injury or
illness. The major problem was really the stick shift, with 7 of us not knowing
how to drive a stick let alone drive in Europe and a lot of small and steep
streets, that was what made the decision that we needed to find an automatic
van like the one we had originally reserved. It took us until the night of the
28th to find a company that would rent us a 5+2 van, Europcar to the
rescue…hopefully. The catch was it was only available in Madrid. The plan was
to make the sedan work until we got to Burgos on the 31st which is only 2.5 hrs
from Madrid and make a road trip after the ride with a car full of people to
return the sedan and pick up the van.
Before
we left Santiago we did a training ride to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and
back, unfortunately it was low tide and the bay was pretty empty but it was
still a great ride and fun to be on the road with the team. We tested out
navigation which we will do by the Strava app and I can load the routes onto my
Garmin. It worked really well so we are going to stick with that the rest of
the trip and Strava helps make good cycling routes by finding popular roads for
cyclists. We also spent a night going out in Santiago with the full team,
enjoyed the carnival in town and had a great team dinner before we kicked off
the journey.
May 29th-June 1st, Day 1-4
The
first 4 days on the bike have been tough ones. In 4 days we cycled 392 miles,
and climbed over 24,000 feet of elevation. The second day was 132 miles and
11,000 ft of that total, definitely the hardest ride I've ever done but we
managed to get the full team through it, even though we had to bring the last
paceline in with the car following behind to light up the road near the end.
The rides have been tough but still enjoyable. The first couple days were
pretty mountainous with long climbs and equally long descents. The 132 mile day
(day 2) had the most fun descent I've ever had. We followed a small road that
wound around the side of the mountains that created a valley below the main
highway that bridged the gaps between mountain sides where our road hugged the
mountain. It got a little scary at one point when we came up to a tight turn
and the teammate I was following ended up in the mud on the side of the road.
Luckily no serious injury, some bruises and scrapes, and a flat tire but we
were able to get back on the road quickly. Definitely some lessons learned from
the descent which we talked about later to stay safe on future descents, it was
comforting seeing a lot of other cyclists on the road and very few vehicles.
The next two days were relatively flat in comparison. Mostly rolling hills
through the countryside surrounded by farmland. We passed some small
towns/villages with old stone buildings and small cafes, even a church or
monastery that was carved into the side of a cliff and a hobbit house, a large
mound of grass with doors at the base to the inside.
Our
lodging has been AirBNBs and Hostels. A couple of the hostels are actual
pilgrimage houses for those doing the Camino de Santiago, the hosts have been
absolutely wonderful, so kind and generous and love the mission of our journey.
The first one we stayed at was after the long day and we arrived well after
they usually serve dinner but they stayed up to wait for all of us to arrive
and fed us so well, a perfect way to end a long day. While we were eating she
was asking us questions about our trip and our route and she realized that we
all are pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago, our route through northern spain
has been paralleling the Camino route, essentially following the cycling route
of the Camino. She gave us all pilgrim passports that we can have stamped at
the pilgrim houses along the route. We got our first stamp there and second a
couple days later when we stayed at another house. It has been a lot of fun to
wave to the hikers and cyclists doing the Camino, some have stopped to talk
with us when we are on the side of the road too.
Our
roadtrip to pickup the rental car ended up being one of the most stressful
rides ever. We were running late because they served us dinner at the pilgrim
house we were staying at so our expected arrival was just after 10pm in Madrid
and had scheduled to pickup the van at 9pm. We were on the road and called to
warn them we would be late, the lady that picked up the phone informed us they
only give out rentals until 10pm, despite their hours being listed as open
until midnight. So the stress set in that we would get there too late and have
to sleep in Madrid and wait till morning to get the car and drive back to
lodging. We picked up the speed and started contacting Hertz to make sure we
could return the car we had and get refunded for most of our payment sine we
only had it for a week but the Madrid Hertz location does not answer their
phone so we ended up calling a dozen people and no one could answer our
questions, we got transferred to multiple people, given different numbers to
call that either didn't lead to answers or didn't even exist. It was absolutely
ridiculous and a major headache. Finally google maps says we will get in at
10:15pm so we call Europcar ready to beg them to stay open a bit longer for us
to pickup the van, the person that answered the phone this time said they can
give out rentals until they close at midnight, so all our stress and rush to
get there and planning for not making it was a total waste! Still stressed that
something was going to go wrong and we wouldn't leave Madrid with a van we get
the airport, figure out the Hertz return, confirm we can get the van for the
time we need and boom, it's all over, we have the keys to the van, the stress
is melting away and we drown it all in beers at the airport (except our driver)
June 2nd-5th, My Detour
I
took a little detour from the team the morning of the 2nd to fly to Hyere,
France where my friends Dom and Lauriane are getting married. It was an
absolutely amazing weekend. So many friends from the US came out to the
wedding, all making their own trips out of it and taking their own adventures
to get to the wedding, truly a special occasion and more emotional than
expected. Scotty was Dom's best man and had a speech that put some of our close
friends their on the edge of tears, especially Dom himself. I was filled with
joy all weekend, honored to be there for their wedding, happy to be surounded
by close friends in the south of France, just an incredible time.
Now
I am heading back to rendezvous with the team, yesterday they crossed into
France and today they ride to Dax. I missed just two and a half days on the
bike, as they were rained out at the top of a climb that made the conditions
too dangerous to descend. I'm excited to be back on the bike and with the team
again to continue our journey.
