Day 17: Riding the mountains

Salamanca to Plasensia // Miles: 85 Feet. 3858

What a tough day. Our biking culture isn’t in synch with the Spanish culture. Our hotel didn’t serve breakfast and no place close to our hotel opened until 10:00. The Spanish start their day mid morning, shut down everything in the afternoon, open again in the evening, and get into full swing around 10:00, just the time we head to bed to get ready for the next day.  Since nothing was open, we left the hotel on empty stomachs planning to stop on the road when we found someplace open for breakfast. The ride out of town was dicey, uneven brick paved streets and cobblestones and I had had no coffee. I was tense, which is a waste of energy. At mile ten our support crew had located a little cafe, out of town, so we stopped for breakfast. It was wonderful, but by the time we got on the road, it was going on 10:00, and we had 70 miles of mountains ahead. The scenery was stunning, the mountains were magnificent, and the heat was rising. By the time we reached the halfway point we had done four mountain passes and the temperature was 97. I was spent. We stopped for lunch at a beautiful mountainside cafe. I had no appetite, no legs, and 42 miles ahead. My spirits were low. I didn’t eat much. When we left the cafe I honestly wondered if I had it in me to finish, but as lunch kicked in I picked up the pace and started counting down the miles. I rode with Jed and we agreed to take turns pulling every mile since a headwind had picked up. At about 12 miles Jed said, “last climb of the day". I was dead. I completed the climb, and with 8 miles to go, I bonked. I had nothing left in the tank to get me home. I counted down the half miles until we got into town and we got to the hotel. I was completely exhausted. We saw the most speculative scenery today. We are in rural Spain. No tourist buses here. The first part of the ride was Kansas. Then it became iconic rural Spain, golden grass, herds of grazing cattle, and groves of vibrant green trees. That was followed by soaring, rugged mountains. And I saw it all from my bicycle. What a taxing but fulfilling day. Tomorrow is a short mileage day but a steep climbing day. I am not looking forward to that. Just five days of riding left to get to the southern tip of Portugal. I am ready to be done, but ironically, I don’t want it to end.