S2 : Day 1 - Coming 'round the mountain

Wow! Day 1 will be a ride I remember for the rest of my life. It was probably the coldest, wettest and slowest pace I have ever cycled. It also had some of the greatest views I had ever seen. By the time we were done, I think we were all awed by the views and were in a little bit of pain and it was only day 1!

Let's start off with a bit of background on how we are actually conducting this bike tour and set the scene for the coming days. From previous day's blogs, we have mentioned that we are cycling down the east coast of Spain, from Barcelona to the southern most tip of the country. We do not have a car following us or any outside support. What this means is that everything we need to use for the trip will be on our bikes and carried until we get tired of carrying it and it will be left behind. Most of our stays are via airbnb, except for Valencia which is a 1 day/2 night stay in lovely hotel Albufera.

So before we get in to the nitty gritty of day 1, let's kick it off with an expanded statistics view of the ride itself. I've added a bit more to the stats area than I did on our first tour last January. Mainly because I am a stat nerd.

Ride Statistics
Date ....................... Sunday January 7th 2018
Strava Link ................ https://www.strava.com/activities/1346279170

Departure Time ............. 8:05AM CET*
Departure Temperature ...... 15C
Time in  Motion ............ 9:13:04 / 63%
Time at Rest ............... 5:19:41 / 36%
Total Time ................. 14:32:45
Arrival Time ............... 10:37PM CET
Arrival Temperature ........ 12C

Total Miles Cycled ......... 75.8mi
Total Elevation ............ 4,470ft

Steve Avg Pace|Max Speed ... 8.2 mi/h | 31.3 mi/h
Shruti Avg Pace|Max Speed .. 7.2 mi/h | 22.1 mi/h
Matt Avg Pace|Max Speed .... 8.4 mi/h | 33.6 mi/h**
Eric Avg Pace|Max Speed .... Unknown - No Strava
Dad Avg Pace|Max Speed  .... Unknown - No Strava
* Central European Time
** Matt's Strava konked out at 70 for some reason, I can vouch he was there for the full 75

The day started out in the heart of Barcelona. After a morning banana we were ready to set off and start burning the tapas and patates bravas from the night before. Little did we know we would be chowing down on patates bravas for the next few days. :) The plan was to head out of the city which is on the coast and aim ourselves south, heading along past Tarragona to Salou. The forecast for the last two weeks had said thunderstorms and rain on our first day. When we left our place the temperature was great for cycling, no rain in sight and we had nervous energy in our legs. As we headed out of the city, the plan was to loop around a mountain and then work our way south east to the coastline and cruise in to Salou.

pre-ride team pic #1!

ahhh ... we were so happy and naïve before it started raining

just finished a the beauty salon

fully packed

The was a bit of a climb and in the distance we could see clouds and an odd drop of rain here and there. As we approached the road around the mountain, we could see that the clouds were getting worse and the rain opened up and we were drenched. Ponchos, rainjackets and layers came out. Thankfully the temperature at this point was ok as the sun was still up. As we went around the mountain, we had a considerable amount of elevation gain and the paths we took went from pavement to packed earth, to gravelly roads to complete mud! The rain was pouring on us and by the time we slogged through tens of miles, some of us completely soaked, some of us with soaked shoes, temperatures falling and by the time we found a place to eat, we were in bad shape. We stopped at a "Supermercat" and cobbled together sandwiches ourselves, just ate bread and had a breather. Wet layers were taken off, others put on, our bags were soaked through in parts, there was mud everywhere and we were aching to get to the airbnb.

I made pix of me eating a "thing" this time around =P

Can you spot the cat on the roof? I just managed to get it leaving

done for the day

Along the next miles we trudged as best as we could, trying to reroute on the fly the quickest route to the next airbnb. Eric had a tough time with his bike that he had just bought in Barcelona for the ride, which led to him giving up at about mile 63 and

heading off to the airbnb ahead of us.

We had been on the road for a long day and since it was a Sunday evening and it was getting harder and harder to find food, the remaining 4 of us, myself, Matt, dad and Shruti, decided to stop, warm up and eat a bit at a cafeteria. The food in these little

shops really are fantastic. I ate crepes, sandwiches, lattes ... was just great. Spirits were a bit up, we were closing in on the airbnb, we had dried off some so we rocketed towards the airbnb.




spirits were rising as we dried off and the sun came out

my sandwich eating "thing" - Shruti trying to warm up



little did we know tht we were 2 blocks from the airbnb

We had made it! It was a great team effort, especially given the mileage, weather conditions and horrible road conditions to start. The waning hours of the evening was set to charging our devices, drying our clothes with blow dryers and the oven :P I made sure it was off before I went to bed.

Overall the views from the mountain were just great and while the road conditions were not meant for bikepacking, if we had had proper mountain bikes we would have loved it. We were all looking forward to heading to the coast tomorrow for the awesome views and a forecast of sun for the rest of the days. :) Now on to some pictures and more stats!

Cumulative List of Items Left Behind
Steve
Day 1 ......... 3 quite large bungee cords in the hotel. They had to weigh at least 1lb
Matt:
Day 1 ......... Super fancy newly acquired bike bag. Held by Ric in Barcelona for our return trip home
Shruti: N/A
Dad: N/A
Eric: N/A

Cumulative List of Animals Seen [ dead or alive ]
Dogs - lots of dogs
Cats - spotted the first one on a roof!
Dwarf horse
Horse
Birds

Cumulative List of Beverages Consumed
Steve
............. Lattes: 2
............. Coke Lights: 1
............. Coke Zeros: 1Matt
............. Lattes: 1
............. Coke Lights: 2
Shruti
............. Cappuchino: 1
Dad
............. Orange Juice: 1
............. Cafe Americano: 2
Eric
- No replies to my request for drinks - 0_o

Team Food Score Board
Patate Bravas Consumed ........... 2
Paellas Consumed ................. 0

Cumulative List of Broken Bike Parts
Steve: Flat Tire - I was the first one the last time too :(
Leon: No front or back brakes
Shruti: No back brake
Eric: No viable bike :P

The ups and downs on these types of roads was extreme

The mud was ... muddy

views were great

push it real good

I promised not to tell Tina that my dad almost killed himself... shhhhhhhh :)

Doc Brown ... back..........to the futureeeeeeeee

both cheesing it up



my baby is clean!