April 16, 2013

Given that we have been anticipating this tour for such a long time it seems inconceivable that we are unprepared. The problem is that there are so many things that just can’t be done beforehand. So the day starts early with a seemingly never-ending list of tasks – I end up in a sort of loop of obsessive behaviour, checking and re checking the same things. We have so many different timers for so many different things – watering plants, feeding stray cats, turning on lights – I worry about batteries running out, nozzles clogging with calcium, power cuts…….. Eventually I have to stop, take a deep breath and leave home. Then the worries really start.

The main problem is that we are surrounded by mountains. There are no flat routes from our house. To walk up the drive from our back door requires a 20 minute warm-up routine. We push the bikes along the kilometre or so of track to the village which leaves us breathless and dripping with sweat. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that after three months of clouds, rain and wind, which have successfully managed to prevent us from gaining any reasonable level of fitness, the sun is now out and it’s hot, very hot. We’ve not actually ridden the touring bikes at all since we returned home from our 2011 tour (we ride racing bikes at home). The cycling computer still showed the data from the last day of the 2011 tour; I find it unbelievable that we actually cycled 138 kilometres on that last day. I find it unbelievable that I’m going to be able to cycle to the outskirts of the village the way I feel today. I can’t quite get the gear changes right, I’m wobbling all over the place because of the weight of the panniers and my disc brakes start to make a horrible noise which just gets louder and louder. At least I don’t fall off like I did on the first day of our last tour. Within 5 kilometres of home Ken has his first ‘multi-tool’ moment, but to give him his due he did stop the howling banshee noise from the brakes.

Fortunately, I remember feeling exactly like this when we started out on the 2011 tour, which helps to steady the nerves and prevent outright panic. We were definitely fitter (and younger) last time but the experience of having done it before helps. We keep telling ourselves that there is no hurry, we just need to take our time and gradually it will become easier. We are on very familiar territory, the route being one we often ride from home (knowing the route is not necessarily a good thing as we also know that there are a couple of killer climbs along the way). I tell Ken at least 10 times that I’m not riding up the hill to Archidona and that I’ll have to push the bike up, but when we get there I find that by going steady in bottom gear I gradually haul myself up. The thing is on a really steep hill getting off the bike and pushing it up doesn’t help that much ‘cos that’s as hard as riding it.

So we’ve arrived at our first stop. It is a place that we have often stopped at for a drink on one of our normal cycle rides from home. The room is fine and we have hot water, however, we soon discover that the restaurant is not so good, which puts Ken in a grumpy mood. We don’t have WiFi so I type this journal entry onto the computer to be added to the web-site at a later date whilst Ken sleeps. I realise that because we have been covering ground that we know well we haven’t thought to take any photos, other than the standard ‘pre-tour’ shot. It is a shame really because we have been through some spectacular scenery, which is particularly impressive at this time of the year – very green after all the rain we’ve had. I suspect tomorrow we’ll wake up to a whole new world of aches and pains, but we’ll see. We’ll be covering some more familiar ground to start with but we should reach unknown territory by the afternoon (hopefully).