The Ride Begins!

To Lloret De Mar, Spain – 44.1 miles, 11.6 mph, 975 ft

Well, the bike ride has finally begun.  We decided to take it a little easy on our first day, opting to stay by the coast for a flat, 44-mile ride.  An hour or so was spent this morning re-organizing while eating bread, jam, and yogurt. Finally, at 10:16 we were off… at 10:17, we stopped... to pump up the tires. 

In any event, it all worked out.  Getting out of Barcelona was not a problem. The bike map program we're using (Komoot) mostly routed us along dedicated “cycleways” at the side of the road or on paved strolling paths along the beach.  

At mile 13, I thought I was being smart by choosing a narrow “sidewalk” along the right side of the road instead of riding in the road or on the left-hand sidewalk.  We quickly found that the width between the wire fence along the train tracks on one side of the path, and the cement barrier along the highway on the other, was just barely enough for the bikes and the bags... until we came across the periodic cement footing for light posts.  Soon we were removing and reinstalling the panniers every 50 ft.

I was convinced all our effort would not be in vain and we’d be able to cross to the other side at the next stop light…but I was wrong. Turning the bikes around was not an option, so we finally made the decision to give up and braved the four lanes of traffic, shuttling bags and then bikes to the other side.  Clearly, we’d just have to bite the bullet and ride in the road, which for some reason seemed particularly daunting at the start.  Once we got going, though, all was good and we ended up with intermittent shoulders the rest of the way to Lloret de Mar.  

Once in town, a few wrong turns and a phone call found us meeting up with Jaume, (pronounced Jaime), our WarmShowers host for the night. WarmShowers is a bike touring website that puts bike tourist in touch with locals willing to provide a space to spend the night.  We've been lucky enough to host three times the last six months in San Jose. Although Jaume, and his wife Moni, have a very compact apartment, they welcomed us with open arms.  Despite its small size, their home is very organized and well appointed.

Both Jaume and Moni have traveled through Europe and overseas.  Just this spring, they traveled to New York with friends.  They definitely went out of their way to make us feel at home as we scattered our belongings around the apartment.  

We were treated to a delicious, traditional meal of fresh bread (with tomato, garlic, olive oil, and salt), sliced meats and cheese along with an amazing Catalonian Spanish omelet almost 2 inches thick. What a treat to spend the evening with them on our first day of biking.  Thank you, Jaume and Moni.