Decided for an early start this morning. Was up, ready packed and on the bike by 08:30. Far earlier than normal. 130kph stood between me and Pamplona. I really wasnt sure of the type of cycling to come.
My goodness was it freezing this morning! Temps down to about 13c. Can definately tell im further north now! But what a fantastic morning! Dropping down from the high elevation levels of 1000m to 400m saw me do 30km in the first hour! With 50km done a couple of hours after that! On another high, I passed through the 1000km mark! Fantastic achievement!
But things went for a slow down. The terrain got tough, and that head wind was back. The headwind was back with avengance! Had a couple of minor technical problems, one was an unsual one where the cleat adaptor on my shoe decided to lose a screw. Which meant I couldnt clip into the pedal. I love being prepared and had a spare screw with me, so off I went again. The gears seem to have fallen out of line again, which means, some of them are causing pedal slip and even had a chain de-railment aswell.
Despite that, I pushed on towards Pamplona. The road going in was a nightmare. Full of trucks. The head wind got stronger and stronger. Making it like cycling through treacle. Worse of all, my left ankle started playing up making it painful to cycle. I managed to work away to cycle without it hurting so much and chose to ignore it. Battling through the winds and hanging onto the bike for sheer life as every truck passed causing enough air turbulence to throw me off. Just watching the kilometer markers slowly go back counting down to 0 which would indicate the centre of Pamplona.
The road got worse, it lead onto a motorway! Trucks were pipping at me as if to say "You cant go here!" but the N121 was signposted onto it. It had to be the way, there wasnt actually any signs to say no cyclists alowed. So a 5km blast down the hard shoulder of a motorway and straight back off again. I do not like cycling on those things!
Battling on, Pamplona became close. I got my first view of the pyranese (Leaving those for another day!) Heading down towards Pamplona. The end finally in sight. Just another 10km to go, and what does the road do? Leads straight back to the motorway again. With big signs up saying no cyclists!! What a cycle friendly Pamplona city is! Love it!
So had to double back on myself, and use the GPS to navigate my way into the city. Except, the GPS decided that the best way into the city was across a field. Doubling back on that, I suddenly saw something i wasnt expecting. A huge Jet Plane coming into land at Pamplona airport. I was right next to the runway! Was hoping another would come in to get a photo!
Using a bit of intuition, I finally hobbled into Pamplona city. Navigating city traffic and made it to the hotel. The reception of the hotel was on the first floor of a huge building. So after all the battling and tough cycling today. I was then carrying the bike up a flight of stairs!
But all good, all checked in and a far better hotel than last night thats for sure.
Viola! Leg 2 of Gibrlatar to Yorkshire is done. Im hoping tomorrows rest day will sort the ankle out. I am now at the top of Spain. I have battled mountains, desolate areas with no food or water, head winds, scorching temperatures and burning sun. Spain is almost conquered, but she has just one more obstical to throw in my way... The Pyranese mountains lye before the French border. I will conquer that on Wednesday!
| Todays stats | |
|---|---|
| Start | Algreda.08:30 |
| End | Pamplona.17:40 |
| Saddle Time | 7 hr 05 min 01 sec. |
| Distance travelled | 126.71km |
| Average Speed | 17.8kph |
| Max speed | 55.9km |
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