Trust me people If I tell you that today was THE challenge .... day after day you think the major problems are biking and recovering...well not completely. Not getting lost... or getting lost and desperately find your way through the bloody jungle.... that is the real challenge.
Small recap of this final day.
I wake up with an unusual ache all over... legs, butt, head, back, triceps... the only thing that does not hurt are my family jewels :-). The spirit and knowing that I am only 90 miles from destination are good enough to get me out of the door for this last day.
The day started with a big climb right after 5 miles
See little video
on top of that my map told me to turn right in this little ugly and hidden dirt path.... I trusted it and went for it. I was in the middle of the mountains, with a tight schedule, a sore throat and feverish symptoms and that was the only way home.
Well, after about a mile the dirt path was so uphill ( 30% prob ) that my bike could not take it... my legs either... I had to walk and push the bike....THAT was the beginning of the horrors!
After so much climbing and dirt... I am stuck!
I literally threw my bike to the other side, take my shoes off and avoid the fence protections.
On the other side the path is flat but that is not the real problem... I need to deal with the pressure of being where I am not supposed to and find my way out before anyone sees me.
The next miles are dirty and muddy, something that my bike and myself were not prepared AT ALL. Few times I had to clean up the mud from the wheels when the bike was not moving at all!
Still beautiful:
Look at this pics after some clean up.... an experience road biker would puke looking at this... I almost did:
A couple of miles and after 2-3 more small fences.... I can see the official road... but... look at this monster final fence ( sounds like a videogame ):
It took me 10 minutes to figure out a strategy to cross this. Finally on the top right you can see an area where I could go thru.... try to imagine the hustle to carry the bike up there without destroying it (HER :-))!
After this, I was still 60 miles from LA..... I was tired, moody, dirty, smelly, 430miles on my legs and just a huge will to get an hot shower.... I went back on my lady and pushed as hard as I could for this last loooong stretch...
Got to the hotel around 4pm, the DIRT detour costed me 2 more hours but I am so glad I made it... no matter what happened I made it :-).
490 miles, 4 days.... few stupid detours, no flats, average pace 17mph... next time I hope I will have some other crazy dude or dudette with me and hopefully EARPLUGS.... cannot believe I did this without music..... no wonder why I started speaking by myself!
Thanks everybody for the support on FB, Twitter, emails, SMSs, phone calls, Skype, Msn, YIM, damn....
Love ya!
Virgilio
1 comment:
Wow and here I was thinking you were almost there and the last day was gonna be easier... OUCH! Sure hurts to see a nice carbon fiber bike covered in mud... Let's get Lavazza on Monday!
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