Day 1: Garmin Gaff

It was one of those nights where it finally felt like I fell into a deep sleep 3 minutes before the alarm went off.

That’s not unusual for me at the start of a big tour; excitement coupled with a healthy dose of mild peril. 

Anyway, we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and headed down to find some breakfast. I had a feeling that the first 70km of today’s ride will be remote, so the breakfast would need to fill us well. 

And fill us well it did, with a superb buffet offering which left nothing to chance. We lavishly forked out for a nice hot espresso, mainly because the free coffee was a) nasty and b) cold. I displayed my displeasure through the cheeky grabbing of a boiled egg on the way out though - I’ll enjoy that at later…

We were joined at breakfast buy a guy also planning to ride the TNR. Turns out he runs one of the bike hire shops in Girona, so probably a decent rider. Also turns out we’re planning to ride it one day quicker than him. Hmmmm. 

After some high level faffing, packing, re-packing and re-faffing, we rolled out 30 minutes later than planned.

After a few hundred metres, we stopped so that I could re-adjust my bags. After another 500 metres we stopped again so I could deal with a flapping strap. 

It was with some celebration therefore that we reached 2km and the road which would lead us to the mountains. With a gentle incline offset by a moderate tail wind, we made reasonable progress, reaching the superbly named town of Lanza Torinese, where we rewarded our effort of getting 25km devoid of major incident with a coke & a coffee. 

I also prematurely stopped my garmin, which was harmless but annoying. Strava will not be neat and tidy. 

Maybe my Garmin was trying to tell me something, as the ride after Lanza Torinese was significantly harder than the ride leading to Lanza Torinese. 

We soon started to feel the climb kick in as the gentle 2% which we’d been enjoying for most of the morning became 5%. Then 6%. Then 18%. 

All of that was just about rideable (noting that Drew had by this time formed a significant and in at gable breakaway) until the tarmac ran out and the gravel started. 

I say gravel, think more great chucks of rock. Difficult for a bike rider, difficult even for an off road motorcycle, at least according to the chap I nearly bumped into. But no trouble whatsoever for the humble Fiat Panda, several versions of which passed with surprising ease. Who knew. 

The gradient remained mostly hovering between 11% and 15% which on that terrain and a bike weighing probably as much as the aforementioned Fiat made for tough riding. Even Drew was walking in places. 

As for me, both legs started to cramp up to the point that I was left in the ridiculous situation that I couldn’t ride the bike and I couldn’t walk with the bike. 

Time for Rule 5.

After a long and excruciatingly slow 6km, I finally arrived at the top, although of course it wasn’t the actual top. Oh no, the actual top was another 3km and 300 vertical metres away from us. 

But the road surface had improved. That is to say that the huge chunks of rock had become smaller chunks of rock. The gradient improved, until it found its way back up to 13% again, and the cows owned the road. Or their toilet, as the case may be. 

Finally, we reached the top. In the midst of cloud so no fanfare or panoramic views, just a 20km descent, the first 8 of which was on a surface best suited for the moon. We soon dropped out of the cloud, and the gravel turned to very pleasant tarmac as we whizzed down dozens of hairpins to the Riparia valley and a lovely 11km up the valley with that tailwind still pushing us along. 

We were both famished, having eaten nothing but sweets, bars and gels (plus a boiled egg) since breakfast some 9 hours previously. 

Not to worry, the campsite was next to a petrol station and a Pizzeria. 

Except it wasn’t. 

The petrol station had become pay at pump only, and the Pizzeria looked like it had served its last Calzone in 1973.

The campsite reception was also closed, so we took it on ourselves to find a pitch and get the tents up, a task which we successfully achieved some 3 seconds before it started raining. 

Next: shower. Or not, because we needed a token from the reception. 

Next: Hang washing on makeshift line. So that the various rain showers can ensure that they are still wet in the morning.

Next: Food. Which was a 15 minute walk along a fairly busy road, only partially dodging a heavy rain shower as we went. At the third time of trying we found a cracking little Taverna and ate like Kings. 

Today hurt. Tomorrow is 10km longer and about 1,000m more climbing. It’ll be fine…