April 18, 2014

A combination of small things can come together to create the perfect cycling day, just as it did for us on Wednesday. Equally, small things can conspire against you just as easily. Today was one of the latter sort of days.

We wanted to avoid going through any tunnels on the main road again, if possible. We selected to use an old disused road/track which went up the mountain rather than through it. The road surface was very rough and the climbs many, making for a very slow start to the day.  A rest day has its merits, such as helping to prevent injuries, but the downside is that it interrupts your rhythm. I can fully understand why professional cyclists ride every day, even on rest days, as one day off can make you feel as though you’ve never been on a bike before. The slow start meant that it was gone noon and we had covered only 25 kilometres – disappointing. We took a quick pit stop in a lovely stone hill village, where a group of motorcyclists were keen to discuss the specifications of our bikes. Seems they were keen mountain bikers as well as motorcyclists.

We rejoined the main road again , which had a nice smooth surface; phew! The terrain was wooded hillsides with occasional glimpses of the reservoir below  through the trees.  Shortly after joining the main road we selected a shady spot for lunch. I had high hopes that we would recover some lost ground during the afternoon. It was not to be – the temperature was already in the mid 30s and a strong headwind started to develop. Even the downhills needed us to pedal hard to keep moving.  At 5.30pm we came across a roadside hotel in an attractive stone building, 30 kilometres short of our intended stopping place.  Discretion is the better part of valour, or in this case, sod it, we’ve had enough!