Cycling

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Cycling

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guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

Cycling

Hi guys, I am just letting you all know that I will be going away for a month and probably wont be able to keep in touch.

I am flying out to Girona (costa brava) on tuesday with my bicycle and hope to reach Hecho in the Spanish basque country in two weeks time and return with multiple crossings of the pyrenees in both directions.

I am not fit for it at all so I expect a tough time in the first week trying to do around 150 km a day over the mountains. I was going to look for flamemco in Andalucia this year but the money didn't work out and I probably need some time away from the guitar and my life to get things into perspective.

Hopefully when I get back I won't be quite so grumpy.

PS Mr. Jim Opfer I may be looking for a guitar when I return, the cheapest thing worth playing. If you have any suggestions then I will be pleased to hear them, I have been playing a piece of S### for too long.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the summer too.

David.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 22 2007 13:03:39

JBASHORUN

Posts: 1839
Joined: Jan. 23 2005

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

quote:

I expect a tough time in the first week trying to do around 150 km a day over the mountains.

Good luck, Guitarbuddha... that sounds like a real challenge! But hopefully it will allow you some thinking space. I could do with the same sort of thing, as the routines of daily life can take their toll on my mentality. Hope you come back feeling refreshed and positive.

Jb

_____________________________

¡Si esto no está en compas, esto no es el Flamenco!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 22 2007 21:44:58

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

Hey David, sounds like fun. Have a safe trip.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 23 2007 1:29:49

guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

RE: Cycling (in reply to JBASHORUN)

Cheers.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 23 2007 21:59:49

Jim Opfer

Posts: 1876
Joined: Jul. 19 2003
From: Glasgow, Scotland.

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

Have a great trip, look out for your finger nails and don't break any bones.
Yes! I'm sure there is something here for you.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 23 2007 23:07:06

Matic

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul. 3 2006
From: Slovenija

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

Have a great time there on your bike!

_____________________________

vengo de los san migueles
si no me caso este año que yo
me caso el año que viene

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 23 2007 23:32:04

guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

RE: Cycling (in reply to Jim Opfer)

Hi Jim, hopefully I will be breaking hearts not bones

.

Thanks Matic.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 24 2007 0:35:08

edgar884

Posts: 1975
Joined: Nov. 16 2005

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

Good way to find yourself man good luck

_____________________________

May we find God through Flamenco instead of Angels and Demons

www.gabrieledgar.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 24 2007 4:40:09

TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

quote:

I am not fit for it at all so I expect a tough time in the first week trying to do around 150 km a day over the mountains.

Hmmm...this throws up red flags

This is something I wouldn't attempt without being prepared and fit. However, if you feel you must do this, then please be careful and listen to your body. The last thing you need is a heartattack. Goodluck! I'd love to experience this.

_____________________________

Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 25 2007 13:59:37

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

I wonder how the trip went?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 19 2007 22:28:53

guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

RE: Cycling (in reply to Francisco)

Hi everybody, I am home and safe. The trip went really well. I had done this kind of thing before and my body remembered quickly how to tolerate the long hours on the bike.

The scenery was amazing and I met some great people. There were some instances of pretty poor hospitality paricularly in Hendaye on the French coast where they wouldn't let me into the campsites and there were no hotel rooms available in the whole town. I ended up walking half the night to Urrugne and sleeping in the public toilets for three hours being woken every fifteen minutes by the bells of the adjacent church. But eventually the next day I found a place to rest in Saint Jean de Pied de Port where they were so warm and friendly and helpful in the Pilgrims Refuge.

I think I cycled around three thousand kilometres in my four weeks on the bike ( six days on and one day off ). My resting heart rate has dropped from 87 to 52 and I have lost at least ten kilos.

I've just been saying hello to my guitar and for once she seems to be quite forgiving of my neglect.

Fortunately on this trip I had no crashes ( I wrote off a bicycle seven years ago in the French Alps and just two days later, descending Mont Ventous in Provence way too fast, I crashed the replacement ) I guess I must be getting a little more cautious .

I went through three tyres on the back wheel and six sets of brake blocks, and fifteen inner tubes ( thanks in part to the discraceful roads between Girona and Perpignan ) miraculously the wheels stayed true and apart for minor adjustments the bicyle withstood all that I put it through easily.

My best day was after leaving the pilgims refuge I climbed from St Jean De Pied de Port to Argeles-Gazost. I cycled 180 kilometres with one medium sized Col (mountain pass) called the Ostrich and then a long climb towards Lourdes before I attacked with gusto the mighty Col D'Aubisque ( 19 kilometres of hard climbing with a thirteen percent section in the middle to really let you know that you are alive ). On this day I could not get tired and my breathing was so slow and light and the bicycle felt like part of me. These days are few and far between.

On another day I cycled to the Col de Envalira which is the gateway to Andorre and the climb from Prades in French Cataluny lasts eighty kilometres and takes in three Cols. I forget the name of the first but I do remember the two hours with no water at 39 degrees C with no shade carrying heavy packs to reach the summit at around 1700 metres above sealevel. Then things cooled a little for the Col De Puymorenes rising to 1980m. Then finally the Col de Envilara which at 2400m which I arrived at at half past nine in the evening as night fell, temperature 1.2 c. It was certainly cold as descending at 60kpm drenched in sweat wearing shorts and a summer cycling top with nothing but a lightweight goretex cycling jacket I descended the 15k to the first hotel I could find and begged for a bed and a meal. I will never forget the sensation of feeling the tendons in my hands and wrists creacking once I had lost all sensation in my extremities and the outline of the read ahead in the moonlight as willed the hotel to appear.

The trip was everything I had been hoping for. I cant wait for the next one.

Regards to everyone and thanks for all your concern and interest.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 25 2007 16:11:40

Ailsa

Posts: 2277
Joined: Apr. 17 2007
From: South East England

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

Welcome back - got any good pics of your trip?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 25 2007 17:13:53

Matic

Posts: 603
Joined: Jul. 3 2006
From: Slovenija

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

This sounds amazing.
Welcome back.

_____________________________

vengo de los san migueles
si no me caso este año que yo
me caso el año que viene

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 26 2007 10:17:58

guitardode

Posts: 114
Joined: Jun. 29 2007

RE: Cycling (in reply to guitarbuddha)

HI
Trip sounded great! really think all creative artists should fling everything aside for a spell of excercise and fresh air to clear the body and mind (a kind of detox)
so on return you feel clearer about things, often we get so engrossed in things we lose the magic of a thing we feel most passionate about -the great wilderness opens not only your eyes but makes us appreciate being alive

_____________________________

GUITARDODE

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 26 2007 10:52:18