We have finally polished off the Spanish Coast, and are in France. After almost 15 weeks cycling in total and 2,200 kms since arriving in Morocco 21 days ago, we are calling and end to the trip and are now training to Paris tomorrow. This means we now have around 400 kms left to cycle, and will make it back on Friday, slightly delayed due to the need to get Duncan an emergency passport!
In true tour spirit, we had a single rest day in Barcelona, and spent it doing a 3 hour weights session in the gym. Since then neither Duncan or I have been able to lift our heads when sleeping because of the pain in our abs. More work to do! However, a 140km day in the saddle is now second nature.
We saw the Tour de France up close and personal after a long 4 hour wait, still amazed by those guys' speed. After seeing a flat stage we fancied our chances of keeping up, but today we heard the winner averaged 36 kph on a 221 km ride up to Andorra, and have decided it is best left for the pro's! As always, it was not a comfortable day, it rained like hell all day, and all our clothes and kit got soaked, plus it was freezing. Duncan's expensive panniers leaked, drenching the contents. My cheap ones were fine!
The Tour will officially finish at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square at about 7pm on Friday the 17th, and if anyone fancies coming along to see how dirty we have become, you are welcome! The plan is to have a few beers, then get a curry in.
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Barcelona and The Tour
After ten days blasting up the Costa Del Sol, we have made it to Barcelona. Really put in the hours to get here so fast, mostly motorway bashing to be honest which is a bit disappointing, but the fitness has reached a new peak! We can now cruise happily at 28 to 30, with pushes at faster speeds. In Valencia last Saturday, we encountered lots of very enthusiastic Spanish Club Cyclists, who generally went around in pelatons at 28 or so. We felt great overtaking them all with our panniers and bottom-end Sora groupsets! One lad looked fast and was cruising at 35kph, so we drafted him for a while. Serious pace!
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Shortly after, a fourth member joined our little group. We couldn´t really see him, but I tried to talk to him a bit to encourage him to maintain the pace. Turns out my chat was wholely unneccesary because he burnt past us a bit later on. He must have been at least 45, maybe 15 stone too, but he could produce a significant number of watts! He was very impressed with our speed with our panniers and offered to buy us lunch. We dealt!
A good opportunity for me to practice my spanish, a tour of the city, a couple of beers, and two portions (each) of paella later we felt like heroes once again. A cheap lunch.
Now, 1,800kms since Casablanca, good fortune finds us coinciding with the Tour de France. You may have heard of this little race. At a mere 3,500km, it is about half the length of Leg One of our tour, but these guys are incredibly fast and we will be here in Barcelona for the end of Stage 6. We hope to see Lance in the Yellow Jersey schooling all the other competitors once again!
We will be home in about 10 days.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Robbery!
Yesterday was a bad day. Arrived in Alicante around 2pm and found a small park to rest for a couple of hours while it cooled down. Geoff got the mat out and had a siesta while i went and wandered around the marina. At this point somebody stole my handlebar bag, complete with camera, passport, credit cards ect. Geoff also had his credit cards stolen but his bag was not taken. We now have no cards so cant get any money out! I have no id so cant get back into the UK. Perfect.
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
The worst thing is that we have lost all of our photos past Cyprus, including a lot of really good ones from the middle east.
Despite this, the progress has been very good. In the past 5 days we have cycled 618km.
Last night we had a good night out to celebrate the thefts. Geoff thought it would be a good idea to dance on a table with his shirt off and nearly got kicked out of the club.
Duncs
Just thought I´d add a couple of comments. It´s bloody typical that after sleeping rough in the Albanian mountains, kipping on the streets of Beirut, hitch-hiking opposite the West Bank, negotiating with Ammanian businessmen, and getting harranged by angry Greek Shepards at daybreak, all without any incident, we let our guard down in the safety of the continent. No chance of recovery of any of our stuff, and the lack of money is a serious problem. We have a paltry 150 euros left which we had stashed in various panniers, and that´s going to have to last us for a while. We´re used to living on a tight budget, but when you cycle an average of 130km a day, in the heat of South Spain, you need to eat a lot of calories and drink a lot of fluids. As Duncan said, the worst bit is that the only photos we have of the past 6 weeks are what we uploaded (at greatly reduced quality) to the blog. We lost a lot of stunners, including Petra, Damascene markets, and "The Kite Runner" style towns in Jordan.
Needless to say, we´re pissed off!
Geoff
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