20 May 2012

Well, this was quite a day! Once again I slept in, walked down the street for a good breakfast and finally got started about noon. I headed inland so as not to ride a very twisty road full of traffic along the beach. In retrospect, I wish I had taken the beach route. I still had a lot of traffic. The route I took had many long steep hills. I spent way too long in the lowest gear my bike has and my average speed suffered. I don't even use that gear riding up Walker Pass near my home. On one of the long steep climbs, the clouds opened up big time. There was no cover to be had where I was either. By the time I donned my rain gear, I was drenched, and then the hail started. I continued droning up the climb in low gear which made the rain even worse since it was taking me so long to get to the top of the mountain. I finally found an old barn at the mountain top and took refuge there from the storm. I felt much better being under cover from the lightening all around me but then I started to get cold. I stayed there a couple hours but at about 6pm I knew it would just get colder so decided to press onward. It was still pouring and it was mostly downhill at this point so I wasn't working hard enough to stay warm but I knew I would find a warm room to stay in at the bottom. When I got to Calonge I decided to get a place there rather than ride another couple miles to a resort town on the beach. Seems though there are no hotels in Calonge but I managed to get a room above a bar that isn't too bad and is warm and comfortable. The room is way better than a same priced room in Mexico. Cost was 15€, less than $20. Another day is complete.