Friday, November 24, 2017
Another day of riding. Just 75km and no significant pressure to accomplish anything.
I have a goal to hit 1000km for the month, but I really only started in earnest on Monday due to all of the tourism and boat repositioning. So that means I have to do about 100km a day to hit the target. I have six days left and 450km to do. The difficulties relate to my losing so much fitness through October and early November, and then trying to do big miles. As well the days are very short now and the temperatures are chilly before 10am and after 4pm. Between it is pretty consistently 12-16C, and there is lots of sunshine. Finally there is eating on the bike. I need food to get through 100km and by 12:30 or so everything is closed, even if I am in a town. If I don’t eat I slow down very fast (which trains me to work without food), if I carry food with me (normally do this), then I can maintain my speed.
The weather won’t hold forever so I am trying to put the miles on without injuring myself, getting sick, or starving myself. With less than 500km left I should be okay for the month. Tomorrow I may try a very long ride again if the temperatures hold and I can get motivated.
Today I climbed into Crispiano then dipped into the valley below and back up to Montemesola. The view from there was beautiful (sorry, no picture), and the descent was really fun. From there the route got busier and the roads rougher. But I was back to the boat by 2pm and had a relaxing afternoon for a change.
That’s it. Then a walk to get groceries and take in the sights.
I am beginning to spend a lot of time planning for the return to Greece. Jinhee returns on December 1, and then the weather starts to get rough again. The trip over (in 25 knot winds) was rough, so I am hoping we can get some better weather, but we have to be in Athens before the 15th, to pick up Megan from the airport, so we have some planning to do. Over the next 3-4 days the weather will clarify a bit so we know how long the winds will last, but hopefully the wind (and waves) clear by the 2nd or 3rd. Otherwise we will go on the ‘best’ looking two day window.
I guess it isn’t clear, that when we cross, we will go back to Corfu, and then begin passages through to Athens and that should take about six days of daylight cruising, and that is dependent upon the weather as well. Some of the interior passages can be made in heavy weather (the boat doesn’t care), but on open water, we prefer smoother sailing.