The next few days were billed as Tough, Tougher, Toughest and Insane. They got the order badly wrong and annoyed a few people.
After a wonderful rest day I decided to do the whole Tough day, especially as it was my first attempt at 100 miles, my longest in the UK was 65 miles. As usual the morning was great, very cool and I could stop to enjoy the scenery. After lunch it got hot, really hot and the road turned nasty. It was certainly over 40 and the road started to melt, certainly my tires got covered in tarmac and then dirt when the Turkish lorry drivers drove up your tail and then beeped twice loudly forcing you onto the softish, hard shoulder. By the break at 120 km I was tired and hot but there was only 45 km to go so I continued with Isabel. We stopped at every piece of shade which was often not for miles or was the pathetic effort a road sign offered. We had frequent showers at the hot springs and I gave up and drank the spring water whenever I could. The road was really evil by now: the sun was hotter than ever and the black tarmac made it really hard work. Worse I got a text from Mike saying he was in 5 hours ahead of me! At least he had a room. We eventually turned off to reach the hotel to be greeted by the usual Tour D’Afrique tease, 2km uphill to the end. Mike walked down the road to greet me and I have to say I was really proud to have done my first 100 miles.
I thought I’d do half the Tougher day so I could save myself for the Toughest Day. It proved to be the best decision as so few people finished and Mike said it was one of the hardest days cycling he has ever done. The 80 km to lunch was hard with lots of uphill but done in the cool of the day was perfectly manageable. It was very hot by the end and I can’t tell you the pleasure you get from pouring freezing cold water all over you body after riding uphill in 40+ degrees for several km, nothing beats it. We had a wait for a lift at lunch but 10 of us crammed into the minibus and set off. Along the way we met lots of really weary riders who had all run out of water so we gave them what we had from our own water bottles. At 30 km after lunch I called Mike to find out our hotel room and was stunned when he said he had 30 km to go and had never ridden so hard in his life. He climbed about3000 meters in total; there was an 18 km climb after lunch, tiny down hills that took minutes and straight into another climb, all on the same evil roads as yesterday and even hotter. We passed him and he was determined to continue. At one point he was so desperate to cool down he took off his shoes and sat in an irrigation channel.
The minibus made it to the hotel eventually; the trucks, which are ancient go downhill in first or second gear to save the brakes and stop overheating were a long way behind us. The hours wore on and no sign of Mike just a trickle of riders saying it was hell. Mike eventually made it, he had been on the bike for almost 12 hours, only 7 finished. It was amazing to see him ride in such conditions.
The evening entertainment was an engagement reception in our hotel which was in the forecourt of the local petrol station. I can’t say we were very excited to see the sound system, the drums and hundreds of guests arrive when we are normally all asleep by 9.00 pm. It was though a lot of fun and some of the group joined in the dancing, which at one point was around the petrol pumps. Thankfully they stopped at 10.30 pm, an evening to remember for the happy couple?
The problem the group had the next day was if the previous hellish ride had only been Tougher what would the next day bring. It was a long ride 178km and the vast majority of people exhausted from the previous day and wanting to keep something in reserve for the Insane day either rode the bus the whole way or just rode after lunch. I rode from lunch but Mike of course rode the whole day and had a great ride if he had not been so tired. There was lots of downhill and open plains and none of the hell from yesterday. Even from lunch we realized it had been mis-labeled and was actually the easiest day of the four.
We stayed at our first Bush Camp and were given instructions on how deep to dig our holes when we went to the loo. There was also a stream nearby so most people wandered off with their soap and towels for a really satisfying bath in the cool water. You just kept going until you could see no more white bums or had a lookout. Mike got up in the middle of the night and saw a beautiful night sky full of stars and even some shooting ones. It really was fun, though I didn’t learn about the snakes until the next day.
So the insane day dawned and the rider instructions went up. The terms like hairpin bends, sheer cliffs, hamster trails and dirt roads put off large numbers of people from doing the whole day, including me. I also wanted to get in early to make sure we had a hotel room: Mike was exhausted already and needed the rest day to recover, especially this early in the trip. The drive was astonishingly beautiful through huge gorges with a full river below, houses clinging to steep mountain sides but we were all really concerned about the riders and road conditions were hairy to say the least. We need not have worried. To a man everyone said it was the best ride of the trip, fun, beautiful and worth every minute they were on the road. The only complaint was many were too tired to do it justice.
We all enjoyed Yusefeli though Mike and I hardly left the hotel complex that had a pool, restaurant and best of all air conditioning. The town itself is interesting as it has been under a death sentence since the 1970’s when plans were proposed to build a dam which would flood the whole valley and leave Yusefeli under water, nothing has really been built or renovated since. You could go river rafting or All Terrain Vehicle Tours but there were no takers. There was also hunting on offer with at least two local gun shops doubling as the local off-licenses.
After a wonderful rest day I decided to do the whole Tough day, especially as it was my first attempt at 100 miles, my longest in the UK was 65 miles. As usual the morning was great, very cool and I could stop to enjoy the scenery. After lunch it got hot, really hot and the road turned nasty. It was certainly over 40 and the road started to melt, certainly my tires got covered in tarmac and then dirt when the Turkish lorry drivers drove up your tail and then beeped twice loudly forcing you onto the softish, hard shoulder. By the break at 120 km I was tired and hot but there was only 45 km to go so I continued with Isabel. We stopped at every piece of shade which was often not for miles or was the pathetic effort a road sign offered. We had frequent showers at the hot springs and I gave up and drank the spring water whenever I could. The road was really evil by now: the sun was hotter than ever and the black tarmac made it really hard work. Worse I got a text from Mike saying he was in 5 hours ahead of me! At least he had a room. We eventually turned off to reach the hotel to be greeted by the usual Tour D’Afrique tease, 2km uphill to the end. Mike walked down the road to greet me and I have to say I was really proud to have done my first 100 miles.
I thought I’d do half the Tougher day so I could save myself for the Toughest Day. It proved to be the best decision as so few people finished and Mike said it was one of the hardest days cycling he has ever done. The 80 km to lunch was hard with lots of uphill but done in the cool of the day was perfectly manageable. It was very hot by the end and I can’t tell you the pleasure you get from pouring freezing cold water all over you body after riding uphill in 40+ degrees for several km, nothing beats it. We had a wait for a lift at lunch but 10 of us crammed into the minibus and set off. Along the way we met lots of really weary riders who had all run out of water so we gave them what we had from our own water bottles. At 30 km after lunch I called Mike to find out our hotel room and was stunned when he said he had 30 km to go and had never ridden so hard in his life. He climbed about3000 meters in total; there was an 18 km climb after lunch, tiny down hills that took minutes and straight into another climb, all on the same evil roads as yesterday and even hotter. We passed him and he was determined to continue. At one point he was so desperate to cool down he took off his shoes and sat in an irrigation channel.
The minibus made it to the hotel eventually; the trucks, which are ancient go downhill in first or second gear to save the brakes and stop overheating were a long way behind us. The hours wore on and no sign of Mike just a trickle of riders saying it was hell. Mike eventually made it, he had been on the bike for almost 12 hours, only 7 finished. It was amazing to see him ride in such conditions.
The evening entertainment was an engagement reception in our hotel which was in the forecourt of the local petrol station. I can’t say we were very excited to see the sound system, the drums and hundreds of guests arrive when we are normally all asleep by 9.00 pm. It was though a lot of fun and some of the group joined in the dancing, which at one point was around the petrol pumps. Thankfully they stopped at 10.30 pm, an evening to remember for the happy couple?
The problem the group had the next day was if the previous hellish ride had only been Tougher what would the next day bring. It was a long ride 178km and the vast majority of people exhausted from the previous day and wanting to keep something in reserve for the Insane day either rode the bus the whole way or just rode after lunch. I rode from lunch but Mike of course rode the whole day and had a great ride if he had not been so tired. There was lots of downhill and open plains and none of the hell from yesterday. Even from lunch we realized it had been mis-labeled and was actually the easiest day of the four.
We stayed at our first Bush Camp and were given instructions on how deep to dig our holes when we went to the loo. There was also a stream nearby so most people wandered off with their soap and towels for a really satisfying bath in the cool water. You just kept going until you could see no more white bums or had a lookout. Mike got up in the middle of the night and saw a beautiful night sky full of stars and even some shooting ones. It really was fun, though I didn’t learn about the snakes until the next day.
So the insane day dawned and the rider instructions went up. The terms like hairpin bends, sheer cliffs, hamster trails and dirt roads put off large numbers of people from doing the whole day, including me. I also wanted to get in early to make sure we had a hotel room: Mike was exhausted already and needed the rest day to recover, especially this early in the trip. The drive was astonishingly beautiful through huge gorges with a full river below, houses clinging to steep mountain sides but we were all really concerned about the riders and road conditions were hairy to say the least. We need not have worried. To a man everyone said it was the best ride of the trip, fun, beautiful and worth every minute they were on the road. The only complaint was many were too tired to do it justice.
We all enjoyed Yusefeli though Mike and I hardly left the hotel complex that had a pool, restaurant and best of all air conditioning. The town itself is interesting as it has been under a death sentence since the 1970’s when plans were proposed to build a dam which would flood the whole valley and leave Yusefeli under water, nothing has really been built or renovated since. You could go river rafting or All Terrain Vehicle Tours but there were no takers. There was also hunting on offer with at least two local gun shops doubling as the local off-licenses.
0 comments:
Post a Comment