Oy

Another successful day.

Ruby has learned that when she hears me say “Oy” that means that the corner we have just gone around has delivered us to the base of yet another big rise.

While it may appear that we are doing the English equivalent of a fully supported, all-inclusive week of cycling in Majorca, I have to say that this is, in fact, pretty incredibly hard.  Now that we are (finally) within sight of Plymouth (24 miles tomorrow), that takes some of the burden off for a few days. Liv and I can really use it.  The unrelenting nature of the adventure thus far is quite taxing, and we will work to limit this issue as the adventure continues.  The ritual of arriving (finally) at wherever we’re camping, setting up camp, getting the meal cooked, cleaning up, and then attempting to figure out how far we can go tomorrow, where we can sleep, where to procure food, all that.  Sadly not all info is correct as we have ably demonstrated, and so all plans have to be back-checked with the internet assuming that we have cell service, etc.  Then up, break camp, cook, clean, load bikes, and convince the kids that the next place will also be fun and worth the effort.  Then pedal for all you are worth, and repeat.  Obviously there are wonderful sights to see, and things to experience together along the way, but I think the word “unrelenting” would be very descriptive of our first few days...

Speaking of unrelenting, we tried some new tactics today, as the route was again quite fierce.  A full half-mile of climbing in 4 miles once we left Exeter found us again pushing our bikes up the road.  For those following along at home, the MTB equivalent would be the climb up to the beginning of the “New Groove” trail, except that instead of some ultralight carbon bike, I think Ruby and I tip the scales a little over 400 pounds, and Liv and Lyle should be closer to 300.  That’s a bunch to keep moving up very steep terrain.  Today’s new method was to dump the stokers.

They can walk almost as fast as we can ride at this point, so it wasn’t a burden for them.

There were still pitches that we couldn’t ride even solo, so some lovely walks in the woods were had.  Adding insult to injury, at the top, they were doing some logging and had the street closed.  The man with the truck blocking the road suggested that we just needed to ride back down and loop around and up a different way.  I said that having just walked a great distance pushing a bike with small children, perhaps we could warrant an exception.  He was adamant, explaining that yesterday they had let cyclists through and his boss had “gone mental” and yelled at him quite a bit for it.  I eventually got his boss on the phone, and through shear force of need, was able to convince him to let us up as long as we were quick.  The loggers were indignant as we cheerily rode by as fast as we could, but we just kept smiling and riding.  Gave the guy 20 pounds to buy the first round at the pub tonight in hopes that it would smooth things over...

Through it all, the kids have remained in good spirits, and while they prefer to know that we are going to an actual extant campground with food available, they are coping with the uncertainty well.  Not to say that there aren’t any low blood sugar tears at somepoint in the day (sometimes for the kids), but they are getting into the groove of this trip and continue to make their own fun at every opportunity.  This old bridge in the forest was defended with a long broadsword battle over lunch -

Until finally someone got whacked in the hand.

Fun is being had, much work is going into making that possible, and we are learning how to make the next stages in France more sustainable.

Wish you all could be here tonight listening to the birds on this vast field as the sun slowly sets behind some hills we will inevitably need to climb tomorrow...

- Dave