With a title like that, I realize I need to jump right to the story. I will cover the boring stuff, like how we slept, toward the end.
Today we decided we really wanted to avoid cars. It is just so much more peaceful. And so I planned the day’s route using a mountain biking profile on my route planner. It has successfully kept us off most roads. Today’s ride started off in a glorious fashion. We left our Airbnb on a crushed gravel trail in light rain. Early in the ride, Natalie noticed a small side road on the opposite side of some train tracks. We made our way to that and it was perfect. It was paved, and we hardly saw another soul, let alone a car. Eventually, we got to a construction detour which ultimately had us pushing our bike up a very steep exit from a tunnel. But it allowed us to stay out of all the traffic. I was feeling quite good with my route finding. About halfway through the ride we were on single track trails and roads through densely forested areas. The rain picked up a little, and the trail conditions started to deteriorate. We are on a very large, difficult-to-balance, heavy, tandem recumbent bike with slick touring tires and 60+ pounds of gear strapped to the sides, riding a single track mountain biking trail that has turned to greasy mud. We had a single fall, and that feels like an accomplishment. Eventually we ended up on a small poorly maintained muddy road with large puddles every few feet. Natalie did most of the pedaling and I used my feet to keep us upright. Sometimes we’d have to go through 3-4 inch deep thick mud, and sometimes I’d have to place my foot in an ankle-deep mud hole to keep the bike upright. Progress was slow but we persevered. So much for my route planning prowess.
After more than an hour of very slow progress, we finally popped out in a small community with some industrial looking architecture. I noticed a person who looked like a dock worker (or similar) and he had a hose. With his permission we were able to wash massive amounts of mud off our bike, clothes, and shoes. We stuck to bike route 5 after that, arriving about 2 hours later at our Airbnb. We only have 2 Airbnbs left after this one.
This is the third of three Airbnbs where we reserved a room in a house instead of an apartment or house to ourselves. There are just not that many options around here. This is the second of the three where the host couple went on vacation, leaving us the house to ourselves. In most ways that is good, but it is a little weird to be in somebody else’s house, set up for their normal living, without them here. We did get to meet one of our hosts tonight before she left, and she was very helpful and welcoming.
We really enjoyed the Airbnb we were in last night. Both of us slept great. I think some of that had to do with being extra tired, but also some of it had to do with the weather being quite a bit cooler. We woke up to 45° weather. It’s surprising to think that we started this trip in 90° heat, and now we’re finishing it just above freezing. It probably stayed in the 40s and low 50s all day. At least Natalie doesn’t have to worry about me overheating…
Tomorrow is another relatively short day, with several larger climbs to slow us down. We will stay in that Airbnb Saturday and Sunday, attending church nearby. And then we ride to Geneva on Monday and try to figure out how to get this bike boxed up.
We are winding down with our last few rides, and it is fun to think back on the scenery we’ve experienced, the good luck we’ve had with weather (for the most part), and the fun people we’ve met. Most of them have been our Airbnb hosts, but we’ve met a few wonderful non-host people, like the gentleman today who let us use the hose to wash up our very muddy bike. Again, it is a reminder to watch out for each other, even those who are not yet our friends.
