What a crazy day …
Posted from Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.
… after a crazy night!
Last night I went to a pub to see the football match. I met a nice young australian guy and we started talking about Australia which is my next holiday destination. Then he told me that he is living in Girona and is working as a massagist for an australian professional racing team. Girona is a bikers town where many professional teams come for preparation. When I told him about the problem with my knees he immediately knew what I was talking about. He says that this is a typical bikers problem and gave me some very useful tips and tricks about how to treat it. The gods are with the brave and last night they sent me an angel! After the match we went to a concert of a friend of him in another pub and around 1 am I went to my pension, tired but happy.
But the evening unfortunately was not over yet. When I tried to open the door of the pension the key did not enter. They had given me the wrong keys! So I rang all the bells of the building and called their telephone numbers several times, but nobody was there. At the end I decided to look for another hotel, but this was not so easy as they have their local flower festival week and the town is booked out. I was lucky to find a room nearby, I guess normally they use it as storage room.
With all this hassle I could not prepare as usual the route of today. I did it very quickly this morning and must have done something wrong. I followed the navi and it guided me on a small little road which converted soon into an unpaved way. The path was getting narrower and steeper, I had to go off the bike, but I didn´t want to return as I thought that it could only get better. It did get worse. This damned little thing sent me on a “Puig Campana climb”-style strenuous hiking tour where literally no bike can ever go! At the end I had to detach the panniers from the bike, carry my bike on my back steeply uphill through underwoods, go down again to get the panniers and go up again! For the first 7 km today I needed almost 3 hours. I was done!
The only good thing about the torture was that it was very good for the knees. In line with what the massagist recommended me the hiking tour was an exercise that charged different parts of the quadriceps muscle and so discharged the rest.
Now I am in Figueres, see the eggs of Dalí´s museum from my hotel and will try to conquer France tomorrow.
Todays route: 51,96 km
: ) So hast Du doch was zu erzählen!! ; )
Vaya con los de la pension….. No es q te perdiste por culpa del gps y probaste las llaves en un portal q no era? XD…. No se como aguantaste y no te pusiste a llorar…. Yo lo hubiera hecho :'(
Bueno por lo menos no acabaste en casa de un psicopata…. 🙂
Hi Michael
I see a rest day was due – it’s a clear sign & have a rest.
You have made tremendous progress I see, – plenty of ice, legs in the air & a beer helps !
Nice collection of photos too – making great memories.
Enjoy your day & take care out there !
E
Vaya aventuras lo de pensión y ruta de montaña….!! Es un deporte, con la bici en la espalda corriendo. Animo, casí entras en Vive la France!!!
Impresionante… no pensaba que ibas a ir tan rapido la verdad … hoy me he dicho voy a ver como va Michael en su viaje y ya estas casi en Francia 🙂 .. Bienvenido en el sur de Francia … ya me diras cuando pasas por Montpellier jeje.
Hey Mike….coole Aktion, macht Spaß deine Tour zu verfolgen. Drück dir die Daumen, dass dein wacher und starker geist deinen alter Körper besiegt…:-).
Kurz was hier so geschieht: Letzten Samstag haben wir, die AH vom TSV doch tatsächlich die Kreismeisterschaft gewonnen. Nun sind wir am 6.6. in Landshut auf der Bayerischen Meisterschaft. Vielleicht führt dich dein Weg rein zufällig da vorbei…was wäre das für ein Wiedersehen und eine grandiose Party :). Däfferst sogar mitspülln….aufn Be sein Pass.. 🙂
In diesem Sinne….hier noch eine schöne Impression vom fränggischen Fussboll….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cHVyu-h-3o
Viel Glück und Erfolg weiterhin für dich!!
cu, Nolo
Bienvenue en France Michael!! And I suggest, if you have the opportunity once at the hotel, that you listen to this nice French song “A bicyclette” by Yves Montand, and then you hum it while riding, it will give you wings while you go across the French countryside…. and up and down its gentle and less gentle slopes …. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoHjQs6C4UY
Dickas, còmo lo llevas ? espero que estès pasando una buena experiencia. Ya has salido de España y queda menos para cumplir tu reto, ahhh. eso del motorcito incorporado en la bici es una gran idea. Disfruta y te envìo un abrazo
Wise lessons today:
If you trust a computer, you will end with a bike on your back..
Beer is good for your knees.
Cheers!
Wow! Thats the great thing about going on an adventure! You never know what you may run into, good or bad. As long as you arrive safe and sound, and have a good time on the way, is the main things
Und das abendessen????
Resan är belöningen. Der Weg ist das Ziel. Nimms leicht und du bist ja nicht auf der “Tour de France”. Also musst ja nicht der Erste sein, aber Bike am Rücken, was für tücken. Geht bestimmt besser die nächsten Tage. Ach ja, die Australier mögen ja angeblich noch mehr Bier trinken als die Bayern, frag mal den Australier, ob den sein Schlüssel gepasst hat…
Hi Michael,
This sounds really great! You know, I like hiking (as Silvina experienced again in Sequoia NP :() so this sounds like a good trip today to me. Good luck for tomorrow and do not trust the Navi! If need be, use a map (I still do a lot …:)).
All the best,
Andreas
Naja so sind deine Knie ausgeruht sowie dein Bike. Verlasse dich nicht auf deinen Navi.
what an adventure …
now that the first big part is (nearly) done, how many kilometers did you do aleady? and how many hours of biking?