Day 11 to Gihon
14 September 2023 Day 11 is my final day of cycling -a modest 46 km day with one jumbo climb
Well, it looks like a relatively easy 46 km day compared to what I’ve done for the last nine days. If you look at the big bump down the road there that is the 400 m vertical climb over a couple of short kilometers up to Alto de La Cruz. All of you electric bike riders I hope your batteries explode !
Getting up that big hump in the middle which was actually a mountain - it took me three hours to go up one side and down the other. Then into the valley afterwhich you’ll see the little hump on the elevation map that took me another 75 minutes to go up to reach the pass to begin my descent into the big city of Gihon!
Oof-dah. I rode most of it in first or second gear. I did have to push the bike a few times and I chose to get off and walk a number of other times. I was just so darn tired peddling in that first gear at 2 miles an hour it felt good to just get off and walk.
That one gear on that one sprocket that I always laughed at over the years on other peoples bikes - do you know the one the size of a dinner plate - but I do not laugh now ! I methodically clean and polish this sprocket every day after the end of my daily riding - this and its neighbor were my favorite gears over these last 10 days! (I hope my road bikes at home don’t see this post)
I am finally growing accustomed to the daily climbs
I couldn’t resist taking a snap of this little beauty at the top of todays’ big climb - the mountain- five beautiful, petals, subtle coloring, and less than a centimeter wide. My reward for summiting the mountain called el Cruz at about 2 km an hour.
Meet Jesse!
My day started out awesome having a breakfast with a friend that I met last night after I finished up dinner when he invited me to sit with him and have a glass of wine. He is walking part of a Camino alone, but has to return home for a bit, but may come back to the Camino after his friends’ wedding is over. We had a chance to finish our conversations about life in general and his plans as he tries to work out what’s next in his life. His name is Jesse and he’s from the Netherlands. At 29 he’s already lived a fairly amazing work life spending some time as a tool designer for scientists at CERN! He builds tools to help fabricate tools to help make the things that go into the super hadron collider! His other incredible job was working for an elderly gentleman who is one of the godfathers of quantum computing technology, that even Google is trying to integrate in their platform. I followed along pretty well as he described that the temperatures for the computer have to be pretty close to absolute zero for the computing magic to work.
If I understand right, a fully functioning, scalable quantum computer could perform some calculations exponentially faster than any modern computer enabling it to run simulations --essentially instantaneously.
Anyway, he’s trying to figure out what’s next and is hoping a Camino will help him find that new direction. I encouraged him with a simple favor a quote of mine: “ live a great story”. He clearly has a very bright future. Jesse, give me a shout out this fall or winter and let me know how you are doing and whether you returned to finish the Norte
Meet Casey! And her brand new Kona steel adventure bike!
The other interesting person I met was the first American I chatted with so far meet Casey from Indiana who’s working and living in Washington state currently. she is riding her Camino alone and intends to do the entire Norte by the end of the month, and squeeze in the ‘dessert’ Camino ride to Finsterre - the end of the world. I asked if she brought her own bicycle and she said yes you can ship them along as a regular piece of luggage with no additional charge although she was very worried about damage. She simply remove the wheels and the rear derailer and wrapped everything in tons of bubble wrap, and kept her total weight under 50 pounds. No damaged occurred to her beautiful all steel Kona Rove model. She is very proud of her purchase last year! I looked it over. It’s a beautiful and fairly light bike and as I looked at the drivetrain, she said “yeah I know it has no climbing gears but I keep looking for them multiple times a day” We compared notes on how to get out of town, and back on the Camino and her mapping program was going to lead her in a completely different route than I was looking at, and off the official Camino Road, but I passed no judgment. We both laughed, and agreed will probably see each other on the climb of the mountain but we both had to eventually encounter, scale, and cross.
NOTE: with all of the fuss around carbon fiber, steel bicycle frames, have gotten bad rap, but they actually have structural and ride qualities that many find far superior to aluminum or carbon. In fact, my good friend from riding the famous RAGBRAI (great bike ride across Iowa), Richard owns a couple of them that he had hand built -one of which he rode in his Ride Across America in 2022 at age 62. This by the way is a truly amazing story and I put his hyperlink here if you want to read an epic tale of determination. Site: https://sites.google.com/view/richardsride/home it’s a must read in my book! Visit his site and give him an attaboy!
After meeting Casey, I stuck my head in the meat market - clearly ham is kind of the deal in Espana- zoom in on the details of the offerings. Whatever you buy, they’ll slice it paper thin for you on the spot. Point is they are not into the thick slices (American) anywhere I’ve been or seen or eaten.
So the rock riddled gravel road I just finished came to this intersection of the paved road and a foot path across the road going straight -no Camino markings whatsoever. So now what do? I went straight and it turned out to be the correct decision. A short cut. go figure
And 30 minutes later, I come around the corner and there it is, the ocean once again, and my final destination on the Norte -Gihon
After checking into the hotel and getting cleaned up, I quickly had to make a call back home and wish my lovely wife a big happy 39th anniversary which we will celebrate after I return.
Today constituted the longest biking day by distance and total time in the saddle. I usually finish riding by three but today it was 4:20 p.m. At the risk of stating the obvious with the fatigue of a long and wonderful day on the bicycle, I typically work on the blog, take a siesta, figure out how to get some serious calories in the gas tank, (I’m running a calorie deficit due to a depressed appetite) and then hit the sack usually by 10 last night being an exception due to meeting my new friend Jesse from the Netherlands, and getting to know him..
I never turned down the opportunity to meet somebody new, who is also traveling alone. I asked him to please check in with me late, fall or in the winter and let me know how he’s doing as I would like to wish him well and encourage him with whatever new direction he chooses to go in
La playa at Gihon. All of the northern Spain beaches are absolutely fabulous with great sand and good clear water
Back at the hotel it occurred to me. This is my last proximity to the ocean and even though I’m still recovering from the stomach bug some days ago, I knew I’d be disappointed if I didn’t go down to the beach and walk in the ocean one last time.
It was awesome.
Highlight of the day: I have to admit it was the intensity of the effort to pull off this 50 km section most of which occurred in a beautiful pastoral setting.
Sure beats a stationary bike at home.
“If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self. There is no place to hide and so we are found.”
~ Terry Tempest Williams
Jesus knew all about desert places, Jesus liked desert places. We should all have a desert place to go to from time to time
