Wow, great ride today. We left Delphi and almost immediately started climbing. There was virtually no break in the grade until we got to the top. 3,000 feet of climbing. However, the sun was shining, the temperature was in the 60’s and the views were fantastic. On the other side of the mountain was one of the longest downhills I have ever ridden. It seemed to go on forever and the whole way we have great views over the valley below.
Once we got down, there was a stretch of ups and downs until we got to lunch. Just before lunch a group of us stopped at a coffee shop and sat around and raved about how beautiful the ride was. At the lunch stop there were more views of the snow covered mountains in the distance. After lunch we started climbing again for another 1,200 feet and then another long downhill heading into the town of Lamia. This stretch was a real reward for all the climbing today in that it was a very straight gradual downhill through the fields leading into the city. In total today we did about 5,400 feet of climbing over 98KM. A wonderful ride.
Lamia is a city of around 100,000 people. The name Lamia evidently comes from Greek mythology as the name of a woman who turned into a child eating monster after Hera killed her children when Hera discovered that Lamia was sleeping with her husband Zeus. Odd name to choose for a town.
Tomorrow our doesn’t have quite as much climbing but is much longer. In fact it is the second longest ride of the tour. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable as today.
