Speed records and traveling sola

Today I had a rough day. Sometimes it’s really difficult traveling alone in a country where your language skills are not sufficient to have a real quality conversation. I basically didn’t talk to anyone all day, and it felt pretty lonely.

After dinner I decided to get my bike out of the car and just roll around this Mediterranean beach town. Ah, how quickly riding a bike can cheer me up— I find it truly amazing. A casual roll around town quickly became a ride down the coastal road to the next town—up an over a few bluffs en route. I recorded my top speed in Spain so far, too; my computer said my max speed was 53.2 mph. (Note to self—wear more protective gear when going for a “casual” ride around town, maybe choose shoes other than the flip-flops… especially when you’ve had half a bottle of wine with dinner.) It’s pretty scary I rode 53.2 mph in flip-flops. Yikes. But heh, I was in the zone (that place where you and the bike are one, you know what I mean, right?).

Now it’s nearly 11 and I’m yearning to go to sleep so I can get up at 6 am and do a truly epic ride… but I returned to my room to find that there is a circus outside my window. Quite literally. I paid extra for the room looking out on the Mediterranean Sea—what I didn’t realize when booking is that the paseo where everyone takes a walk after and/or before dinner (which is itself at 10 pm) is right in between my hotel and the beach. There are lots of things going on out there the involve speakers. Ahhhhh, Spain. Of course if you can actually manage to get up early, it’s spectacular riding because everyone else is still sleeping.

The day before yesterday I was in Girona and did a spectacular ride up through the hills. Truly fabulous—I can see why Lance and some other racers spent time training in this area. I was very pleased to see that my 2-hour ride felt sort of like a ride around the block… all this riding around must be making me stronger. It’s funny how once you ride 70 miles, 35 feels like nothing.