On the Road - Bob and Gail: 9. June 9, 2019

Our Internet connection is terrible so thus the delay in getting out the blog. It seems to work best at 5:30 in the morning so I have been writing at night and posting the following morning. I am also finding that the more photos I add, the longer it takes to send so I will keep this one a bit shorter, just like the ride we did today.

The day started with a bit of rain which quickly turned into a light drizzle. We all pulled out our rain gear and said “let’s go.”

As promised we did have a shorter route of 35 miles, but we did have approximately 2500 feet of climbing. Oh and by the way, remember I told you we had an anticipated climb at a 17% grade on the schedule for today? Whew, thank goodness it was only 14% for about 1/2 a mile- whoo hoo! And yes, it was tough but I feel like I am getting stronger each day.

Almost all of our riding today done on back roads where we saw plenty of olive trees and farmland. And yes we had lots of twisties both up and down and a treat of one very long downhill of about 8 miles. However, this was not the day to fly down these wet roads, so it took us a bit longer because we took our time. It all came down to safety over speed.

We took a short rest break after the big climb and then up and over to Nyons and our picnic in the park. The rain had stopped and the spread the tour provided was remarkable with offerings such as ratatouille, fresh tomatoes, green beans, chicken and even a salmon and egg pâté, also sausage, an assortment of cheeses and desserts to die for. I did my best to try and not to overeat, but I lost that battle in short order!

We took the short route home and Still had time to do laundry. It was a very good day!

See the big climb on the first part of the ride, that’s where the 14% came in, and then we were treated to the big downhill.