Day 3 to Melide and rest day

26 May 2016

We started the day so well-paced, but then as the kilometres ticked along you started outpacing me. Only a little to start with; so little that I didn’t notice. But an hour in and I could barely see you in all your blueness. Then things started getting nasty. The taunts, the jibes. I was the one on tired legs, you’d not cycled the two earlier days. That didn’t seem to matter to you. You could have just left it and gone off into the distance but you wouldn’t, would you? Well, screw you, Garmin Virtual Partner. I’ve now found the menu option to turn you off, and I’ll never have to see your smug blue dot again.

Glad I got that off my chest. As you may already be able to tell, yesterday, the “short” day (55kms) was quite tough going. Let’s just say I was looking forward to the rest day today. A lazy start to yesterday involving two breakfasts (I didn’t have a choice, it was bucketing down so I had to wait for the rain to stop), it was less wet than day two, but my legs were questioning my sanity in another day of riding after 235 kms the two days before. Tough it was, but worth it when I arrived in Melide with nearly 10% of the distance covered, I found a locals’ restaurant complete with a roll of paper for a tablecloth. As I asked for the bill two overflowing plates later, the waiter was very insistent I drink a coffee liqueur or two with him instead. Not quite what I had in mind for a lunch stop but it was surprisingly tasty so I shan’t complain. It certainly made the wobble to the bungalow a few kilometres away more interesting.

Today’s rest day has been exactly that. I had a lie-in, a leisurely breakfast with booking.com to book hotels for a few nights’ time, lunch in the same café because it was easier than moving, then a little bike cleaning and maintenance. I’m now sat in my front porch looking out on to this view while tapping away.

A photo posted by Tom McAdam (@tmcadam) on

Tomorrow is going to be a good test of things to come. My rough plan is 4-day rotations of 110kms, 110kms, 50kms, rest day and it’ll be the first long day in the next round of travelling, so it’ll be fun to to see what my legs think to this plan.



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