We got out for a short and easy spin on a loop around the hotel today. The catch was my rear derailleur was all kinds of wonky after an apparently rough ride in the belly of a 777. It was manageable to find a gear or two to allow for an easy ride and Mr. Erickson fixed it up after we finished the loop. So I should be able to put some power into the pedals and not worry about the chain slipping and shredding in a half-shift as we get going on our first real ride of the trip.<\/p>\n
It took us a while to get back in the groove of reading the supplied maps and directions that we get with the trip. Do we go left? Or do we go right? I thought we were supposed to be on the right side of the church? We found our way through some vineyards, with white grapes dangling in the wind and rows of drying corn crops, before a short but stiff climb that gave way to a fun descent below a thick canopy of trees. Thankfully the climb woke the legs up a bit. The first half of the ride it seemed like it took a ton of effort to even do 15 mph. After the climb the legs started to come back from their coma for us both and we were able to cruise back to the hotel much easier.<\/p>\n
Even though you’re riding on roads with traffic moving at 50-70 kph, you don’t feel like you’re going to get killed for pushing pedals. Even when the cars are cutting it close, for some reason there is some sense of respect and restraint in their passing on the narrow winding roads. It’s kinda nice.<\/p>\n