Today was 100KM and climbing 4,100 feet and it was easy. I guess I am getting stronger. And lighter. My Garmin reports the number of calories I burn on each leg of the trip and although it is not perfectly accurate, the internet says that it is about the most accurate measure short of measuring the power output directly. Over the past five days of riding I have burned, 5,053, 6,236, 4,186, 4,627, and 4,843 today. That is a lot of calories and my waist and love handles are disappearing. I just need to do this for another month or two to get to where I should be. The only problem is that my thighs are now probably too big for most of my pants back home. I may have to switch to kilts.
We went over the Alps today. At least over two passes. The ride was beautiful but the traffic was terrible. We were mostly on major roads and they were two lanes with big trucks, campers, busses and a lot of frustrated and rude drivers. We were honked at, yelled at, and cursed at as we climbed the mountains. I had a bicyclist try to pass me between a truck and me. The truck brushed him and he hit me. We both stayed on our bikes but he was stupid to try and pass at that point. Barb was behind us and gave him a piece of her mind. Later, Barb and Richard and I were on a pull off from the main road to talk about the route and a car tried to squeeze by and hit my hand with its mirror. And, finally, I was flying down a big downhill and someone tossed the liquid in their drink at me as they passed which hit my face at about 30 mph getting in my eyes, on my glasses and hitting my Garmin. The result was not being able to see for several seconds as I was flying down the mountain, and causing the Garmin to change screens so that I missed my exit.
Michael downloaded the route to my Garmin today so that I had the route in front of me all day which was great. When I missed my exit the Garmin rerouted me so that I eventually got back on the route. Despite all the drama it was a great ride today and the Alps are now behind us.
Tomorrow we go to Munich and lose two more riders and have another day off. We really don’t need the day off but we can explore Munich.
