I woke up pretty early, knowing I had a big hill to get over first thing. I hadn’t ridden over it last night because I was worried that I would get too cold. I wanted to get over it quickly and early now though, because I knew that if I didn’t I would end up suffering through the heat. Beyond the hill though was checkpoint 3. When I started this race in 2017 I got as far as checkpoint 3 before pulling out, so knowing that I was at least within range of equaling that effort was a comforting thought. Continue reading “Day Nine – A funny thing happened…”
Day Eight – That really isn’t very far!
Today I would be hitting the parcours for Checkpoint Three, but before I reached it I still had a reasonable climb ahead of me – the Passo Valparola. My plan was to get over it before the day got hot. Beyond that, I knew that between the end of the parcours and the actual checkpoint there was a big hill that I really wasn’t keen to go over when it was cold, dark and wet. To try and avoid the heat in the morning and the cold in the evening I thought I should get going relatively early, so I was on the bike well before light, with a fairly chilly 4 degrees. Continue reading “Day Eight – That really isn’t very far!”
Day Seven – Back to the hills
I was sore, and the hills were back. this had the potential to be disaster, but at least it would be disaster in a beautiful part of the world. And on top of that, I had a plan. Years ago I was a dirt-bike obsessed teenager, and used to read every issue of Australasian Dirt Bike Magazine from cover to cover. One line from a review of what they concluded was a reasonable but ridiculously underpowered little bike has always stuck with me – “no power equals no wear”.
Day Six – All my speed and grace…
…was gone. This was probably the lowest point of my ride, while also being a wonderful day. I woke up in a hotel in Zagreb with sore everything. My knees were stiff, my achillies ached, my butt was sore, my feet were still sore and I was feeling very sorry for myself. I took an honest look at how far I had to go and how I was feeling, and concluded that I was unlikely to make it to the finisher’s party.
Day 5 – Into Croatia, and things are starting to go wrong…
I had been pretty happy when I planned this section of my route – it was nice and flat and I thought I should manage an easy 400-450km a day. Serbia had been very hot and the road quality and traffic had both taken a toll, but I was hoping for better things in Croatia.
Continue reading “Day 5 – Into Croatia, and things are starting to go wrong…”