Took a train northeast to Girona this morning to begin our bike trip. Apparently, Girona is a home base to many pro cyclists as the riding is so varied and accessible here. It’s beautiful!
We checked into the hotel and wandered a bit. Lunch, beer, wine… of course; we were meeting at 5 pm for our “intro” ride. I decided after the intro ride, that I would be quite content if that were the extent of the climbs for the entire journey. However, after dinner this evening, I was informed that tomorrow’s ride is somewhere around 3-4 times the climb and it will be “great.” In all truthfulness, my butt was the VERY first one a car would see as it passed our peloton. Being FIRST in this case, is not something to be excited about. Even our support guy in the rear, JP, was well ahead of me, turning around every now and then to make sure I was not on the side of the road…
While I was rather pathetic on the uphill, I LOVE the downhill. I was right on Marty’s butt! How fun is that? I kept thinking to myself that this guy has been in the Tour de France and I am riding on his rear tire. Kinda fun, for a minute… I watched the way he moved his legs as he turned, or stood, and tried to figure out if there was anything I could do better. However, for Marty this was an afternoon “stroll” during which he probably wasn’t even thinking about form or style, just getting these 14 ducklings back to their hotel.
After the ride, We celebrated for a bit in the bar and then walked through Girona to a wonderful little restaurant and dined well on the Spanish version of crepes. Delicious!!
Time for bed. Tomorrow’s ride…