Please keep up the ride reports. They are most interesting, and you are on a rare adventure.

Did the Tour de Mesa (Phoenix) route again and found it to be a little easier except for the last climb up Usery Pass.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73100574

Another training ride for the Tour de Mesa (Phoenix)


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73375115

For some reason I just didn't have "IT" today. I did the whole ride but much slower and it felt like I was doing 7 percent hills all day.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/73710442

A bit of over training, I would guess. Your body is screaming for some recovery time.

Sounds like a very energetic way to get around Phoenix, and very hot, too. Good luck with your training and the race, Phil85207

Andalucia!
 

Now in Ronda, Andalucia. I got as far as Aranjuez, south of Madrid, but decided in the face of lousy weather and headwinds to take a train to Jaen, about 160 miles south. Was very glad that I did, as the first two thirds of the route were flat and boring and cold and wet, even from the train. Then things got interesting. The usual problem in Jaen: I couldn't find a way out - hit a Freeway on every attempt. And since the main freeway is low down, and Jaen is on the side of mountain, that got old quickly, so checked into the Youth Hostel, which was part of a spa complex with a pool that seemed to be continually filled with fat old people doing water aerobics. Remind me not to ever wear swimming trunks again! In Jaen I finally found a bookshop that sold Michelin maps (Spanish towns seem to be notably devoid of bookshops). Three cheers for that. Plus a bike shop owner who knew how to get on the Via Verde, a Rails-to-Trails track to the west, and could give coherent directions to get to it. Three more cheers! Rode the entire Via Verde to Puente Genil, 120 km in 1.5 days. Anyone else thinking of riding Spain, take note: the Via Verde is NOT on the Michelin map, the maps provided by the tourist office do NOT show how to get on and off it in the towns and it is impossible to find out anything about where such a route goes once it leaves the province you are in. The weather is now beautiful, and the old railroad track a delight, tho' not always well-maintained. Little coffee shops in many of the stations. Met a Swiss fellow at the one in Cabra who had been walking for 11.5 months: Switzerland to Santiago to the Moroccan desert, now back to Santiago, then on to Rome by Christmas. He had done 11,500 km.

Stayed the night at DonaMencia after riding 52 miles: at the end of the trail I had a horrendous (when fully-loaded) climb out of the valley to Lora de Estena, which is on a Freeway. Here a friendly motorcyclist told me about the service roads for the freeways, and how to get on this one: apparently all the freeways must have one, but they are outside the fence and look like farmer's tracks. This got me to La Roda de Andalucia, where they pack La Espanola brand olives, which I think I have seen in my local grocery store. Then a nice easy road (well, one steep 3 km hill) to Campillos, where I stayed after a 72 mile day. Another note for travelers in Spain: lots of things are closed on Saturday, so eating may be difficult. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday unless it is tourist-oriented: i.e. a roadside cafe in a beauty spot - these are 50% more expensive than the non-touristy equivalent. Today only 40 miles, and so exhausted that I was shivering at the end of the day: I had to ride over a 3000 foot pass (885 m) which was not marked on the Michelin map: but beautiful country - around the Embalse de Guadalteba (reservoir), beneath Teba, lying like a crumpled handkerchief on a saddle between the Sierra Subbetica and the Castillo de la Estrella. Then a 17 km continuous climb past Cuevas del Becerro, a small town that sits on the edge of cliff. From directly beneath the town there springs from caves a full-grown river to plunge down a series of spectacular waterfalls. Finally Ronda, a town divided in two by a vertical-sided slot that must be 200 feet deep and has a spectacular bridge across it. From the south side of town one looks over cliffs that must be 800 feet high across the mountains between here and Algeciras: I think I'm taking the train, though. It looks like a spectacular train ride, and the only bicycle route that doesn't put me in Freewayland apparently is 4 times more hilly than today's, and there may be no places to stay: 68 km of climbing on a 6-8% grade and a bed in the hay doesn't sound so good! Besides, my original intention was to ride the Spanish coast north: this week has been a bonus because I was told you can't take a bike on a national train, only on the local ones. I may NOT be able to ride north out of Algeciras, though - it's all mountains and freeways: I'll give you the answer to that in a few days.

JohnBerry: Sounds like a great time. Are you taking any pictures? I would love to see some. What an adventure!! Great going.

Ditto - I wold love to see pics, and thanks for posting.

DnverZ:

I'd love to post photos, but it asks for a URL (www.blahdeblah, etc) and I don't know how to post direct from my computer. It would seem that I would have to open a Flickr account or something like it, and post from there. Can you give me some help?

I should have some good photos from today - I did 54 miles, which included an 1103 m (3618 ft) pass, and ended with my having to push the bike about 1 mile up the impossibly steep street leading into Arcos de la Frontera, where I am staying the night. It's going to be interesting going down those cobblestone ramps tomorrow morning!

John

You have two options:

1. Reduce the size of the picture using whatver software you might have to less than about 100K, and, using the "Go Advanced" feature at the bottom right of the "Quick Reply" screen, upload them directly to BFN and the message you are writing from your computer. A good free easily availabl graphics program for this is Irfanview www.irfanview.com recognized world-wide as an excellent graphics program. Simply resize the picture under the "image" tab (about 800x600 pixels), and then save as a jpg file, choosing about 75% compression - you will see the slider on the right as you go through the save process. Then upload the pictures using the built-in program at BFN, under "manage attachments" under the "Go advanced" tab, as described above. They will then show on your BFN message as a thumb nail, enlarged by clicking on the picture.

2. Place your pictures on something like Flickr or another photo web services and, copying the enlarged picture (not the thumbnail) URL from the Flickr or other site - and they generally have a special place to copy the URL - and insert that into your posts using the "insert image" tab at the top of the reply area.

Or, I would be pleased to post a few pictures on BFN for you if you email them to me - dnvrfox@aol.com

Hope this helps.

JohnBerry, go the the Quick Reply

Click on the Green Square (7 th Icon under the Quick Reply Heading)
There you may post pic from your computer.

Thanks - that's a new one to me. Much easier.

I really think my trouble is allergies more than over training. I have been off for 4 days not and still feel like poop. I am going tomorrow I don't care how I feel. I can't stand sitting around the house anymore or I will go mad.

Some photographs of Spain
 

Now in Lepe, 12 milesfrom the Portuguese border, on the south coast, after doing two 100-km days in succession.
I'm going to try to post some photoshttps://picasaweb.google.com/1110357...05261127303586http://picasaweb.google.com/11103571...05435684391874[IMG]picasaweb.google.com/111035710558417825046/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6ym4bz_866kQE&pli=1#5588505667182615058[/IMG]http://picasaweb.google.com/11103571...05878190405586[IMG]picasaweb.google.com/111035710558417825046/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6ym4bz_866kQE&pli=1#5588505789194489922[/IMG]

Obviously, that didn't work. I also tried DnvrFox's method, but it will take some work as the files are too large.

I'll try again tomorrow,
John

Keep trying, I can't wait to see them.

Sinced you are posting in this forum I gather you are over 65 and a fellow Elder. If that is correct, based on my experience I think you'll find 4 days recovery isn't near enough. If you have seriously stressed yourself 10 days plus is more like it. Above all don't do what I did; ride hard and then go out and work hard on tasks that stress the legs. OOOOOO!

Nice, light exercise like walking or swimming is more the ticket.

I wonder if they make an oxygen bottle on wheels that can fix behind my bike.
Maybe a Oxygen Backpack, would that look cool?

No, I'm OK. Just kidding. I just hate the long sleeve white shirt!

10 days? Unless he actually has "overtrained" - I mean the real definition - I really doubt the need for 10 days.

It's official. I have the flu. I have been fighting it off for a week now. Am taking antibiotics and can only hope I have enough to do the event. Between the pollen and this bug I guess I lucky to be doing as good as I am. I have had much worse flu's so I hope to recover quickly.

Not sure what the "real definition" is. All I can say is that if I'm in discomfort to the point of having difficulty walking as a result of biking, or snowshoeing, etc. I don't recover in a mere four days. It takes longer, much longer.

"Overtraining syndrome frequently occurs in athletes who are training for competition or a specific event and train beyond the body's ability to recover. Athletes often exercise longer and harder so they can improve. But without adequate rest and recovery, these training regimens can backfire, and actually decrease performance. Conditioning requires a balance between overload and recovery. Too much overload and/or too little recovery may result in both physical and psychology symptoms of overtraining

Symptoms include:



Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
Mild leg soreness, general aches and pains
Pain in muscles and joints
Sudden drop in performance
Insomnia
Headaches Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
Decrease in training capacity / intensity
Moodiness and irritability
Depression
Loss of enthusiasm for the sport
Decreased appetite
Increased incidence of injuries. "

Read more . . .

Ahhh...That overtraining.

In my case it was a situation of the brain writing a check the body couldn't cash so it took out a loan. Then the brain forced the body to take out a second mortgage. After 7 days the loan hasn't been completely repaid, but close.

Maybe that's why I had the worst cold I've had in years, eh?

Found out why I’ve been hurting so much!
I got Diabetic Neuropathy!
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dia...opathy/DS01045

BUT, that’s OK; I’ll work with it, around it or thought it. I will stay hard until the day I die.
I have all the special shoes that look like “duck feet” and what ever. So I’ll just keep going maybe a little different then before, may use the machine more often but I’ll stay hard!

Everyone try clicking on this link. You should see the pics.
http://picasaweb.google.com/11103571...05261127303586
Then scroll thru the pics with the <--- ---> arrows at the top of the picture box.

Thanks Dnvr and RonH for helping people see the pics. It's my second night in Portugal, in Albufeira on the south coast. My progress westward has slowed down due to consistent 10 knot headwinds and lots of quaint towns to stop in. Went through Olhao, the main fishing port of the area, today, and had a snack of Octopus salad, Delicious. Also bought 5 tangerines in the market for 14 cents! All of a sudden lots of English spoken, lots of Irish pubs, as this is a big holiday area. I hope to reach Cape St. Vincent, the SW tip of Portugal, on Wednesday morning. The only real drawback has been that there is only one road along the coast, and sometimes it gets like riding on a freeway. I'll try to post more pics.

Sorry to read that you have the flu, Phil:

Thanks for the Photos. Wish I were with you. What great memories your making. More Photo please.

Sorry to hear of your dilemma. I sometimes like to feel sorry for myself cause of a minor set back, and then I want to smack myself cause other have real issues and have a better attitude. Lets hope you are able to get in under control and in not be a deterrent to cycling.