You may recall that earlier I titled a blog with the definition of adventure. It included ” hazardous activity”. The primary hazards on this journey thus far have been Covid ( yes, we are all tired of it 😔) and winds.

The tour group has a strict Covid policy: symptoms you test, positive test you isolate yourself from the group for a minimum 7 days. So a positive test is a huge bummer…you have to find a place to stay for 7 days and then travel to rejoin the group. Right off the bat, two friends with whom we celebrated Jim’s birthday, came down with Covid within days. We were so sad for them and worried since we spent a lot of time with them. Every sniffle or sneeze ” Oh, no!”. Fortunately they got through it and are back to riding albeit with some residual fatigue (they are still much faster than us). Two more riders have since tested positive. We are counting on our latest booster to keep us healthy.

The headwinds have been a huge challenge.

We had what seemed like a long day with headwinds on day 5 but it was nothing compared with the day of the video above. We were supposed to ride 163km ( about 101 miles but only 2 riders out of 30 made it the whole way. The portion that Jim and I rode had crosswinds initially, enough that I was blown off the road dozens of times and had to stop for any on-coming truck because the draft would suck me right across the road 🥺. The route and wind changed a bit and it was a slog of a headwind. All of the staff and riders agreed that it was the worst wind in which anyone had ever ridden.

We’re on a rest day today and we are all hoping that big winds are behind us (tailwinds 🤣) for a while. Tomorrow we start climbing so at least it will be a new challenge and source of whining!

Since this is a blog about challenges I also want to touch on the various types of unpaved roads that we have encountered. Some have been quite rideable, but others have been more “whine worthy” and leave the neck, wrists, and particularly the “sit-upons” less than comfortable. Possible descriptors include rocky, corrugated, cobblestone-like, dusty, rutted, sandy. I will continue to add descriptions as we go 😇.

My soul is purged, and tomorrow looks to be a beautiful day 🚵‍♀️🚵‍♂️!!

Thanks for joining us from the comforts of home 🏡