June 5, 2025
To Tossa Del Mar, Spain
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
I'm about done with city riding. We had far fewer ocean views, and plenty of city riding. I was happy to tuck in behind Jacinto and let him navigate. I lost him on one roundabout and had to call to find out which exit he took.
As we left Mataro we saw dozens of cyclists on go fast bikes. A few men greeted me with buen dia. Most passed without comment. I saw exactly two female cyclists. Both said hello. We saw two loaded cyclists. Not together. The first man was younger, and had blue Ortlieb panniers. The second man had white panniers, a white beard, and a white flag that said VIVA xxxx - I couldn't make out the rest. The two loaded guys were going the opposite direction.
My recumbent bicycle continues to. be a novelty. Pedestrians often stop and stare. I usually greet them with a smile and a buen dia.
We didn't ride along the beach much today. What I did see was several beaches with gym type exercise equipment set up in the sand. Leg presses with a view!
We saw a group of middle schoolers with volleyballs heading to the beach. Wouldn't that be a great gym class? We also stopped for a group of smaller school children headed to the beach. I saw a group of special needs adults. Guess where they were going? If you live on the beach, you should make use of it.
It seems to me I saw an unusual number of people in wheelchairs being pushed around, soaking up some sunshine. They weren't together. But I felt it was a notable number. Definitely there were plenty of retired folks out and about. The beach must be the place to retire, or at least spend some time in the sun. I stopped to use a potty at a fully nude beach. It was busy - all retirement age people. I told Jacinto they don't make strong enough sunscreen for my lily white body to soak up that much sun! For some reason that really tickled his funny bone.
I kept thinking that we had two easy days before the climbing started. That was sort of true. I rather glossed over the climb before Tossa Del Mar. Jacinto was happy thinking of it all day long. Finally a chance to stand up and pedal!
If only all of our climbing could be of this quality, Europe would be just fine. The highest gradient I saw on my computer was 8%. I hadn't been looking at the numbers on the GPS much, mostly I've been paying attention to where Jacinto was going, so I didn't get lost. Today I did glance at the current elevation - 13 feet! It went down to zero, then upwards. That gave me a little game to play, watching the elevation numbers increase and decrease.
We were about five miles from town when we finally got to a mountainous enough area that there was no development. That was SO nice. Even though there was only one road, and we were all on it, traffic was polite. We saw just a few bicycles on the climb, mostly e bikes. A road bike rider told me oomph-a. I also had a woman (on an e bike) tell me bravo. Jacinto had no comments.
The downhill into Tossa was not too steep. We are back to the busyness of a tourist town on the beach. It's quite similar to a mountain town in Colorado in the summer. The advantage for us is that businesses tend to be open beyond the traditional hours. We are going to a restaurant that closes at 5 PM. That's our late lunch/early dinner.
Tomorrow we get the majority of the climb over the Pyrenees out of the way. I've instructed Jacinto to find the route with the least climbing and the least population. I think he's in on skipping the big towns (we need to pass Girona), but when I told him google maps has a 7,000 foot climb, he looked happy. Let me tell you that was not the expression on my face! RWGPS says 3,700 feet.
Knee report - I did stretching, ice, ibuprofen, last night. Today it felt almost normal. I could feel it as I rode, but not in a bad way. I'd be interested in a medical person's guess as to what I popped out of place and back in. I will be asking. I'm sure happy that's how things went. Tomorrow will be the test, but I'm hopeful.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 1 | Link |
| Heart | 3 | Comment | 4 | Link |
2 days ago
2 days ago
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 54 miles (87 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 9 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 6 |
3 days ago
3 days ago
In the meanwhile, in Ceret, we have a reservation at Poppy's. Finally we were able to book with them through booking.com. I've now had two emails from them saying that there is a wine garden below their B&B that they do not own, and have no control over, be prepared for noise. Was the wine garden there when you stayed at Poppy's?
I'm looking forward to the dirt crossing. I think it sounds like an adventure. RWGPS has excellent voice cues, I will be sure to listen.
3 days ago
3 days ago