Piqeras- somewhere just after the top of the biggest mountain I have ever ridden in my life- 65km. The world is so wonderful; between Piqueras and the top of a huge mountain 65 km north along the Albanian coast in particular. I am siting on my second beer still in my riding gear after a 14 hour day of grunts, sobs, laughs and wonder. We left early and got to reap the reward of our uphill effort yesterday afternoon in the dawn light. The downhills are so steep that I now have some understanding of how some of the Tour de France guys have flown off mountainsides. The views and atmosphere this morning were unforgettable; I sobbed my heart out while going down one incredible mountain, thinking about the beauty of life, how lucky we are to have a family who cares about us, the potential of humans and the big bug that just body slammed into my forehead. Chatting over olive, fetta and tomato omelettes, Marie gives me tools about how to face my fear of cows. It turns out that fear wasnt very constructive earlier in the day when I zoomed too wide around one of the salivating, horned beasts on my side of the road and into the path of an oncoming car. But I survived because we are blessed. I tried so hard to keep that idea that we are blessed in my mind while we cycled the biggest mountain of our lives this afternoon. Everyone has been warning us about it since we arrived in Albania yesterday, and when we saw this 1200m high, 20 km long uphill zig zag, we understood what all the fuss was about. But not really even then. Not until we reached the top, dancing in the dark in the clouds with a toothless man and his family selling honey on the side of the road. It began with some very steep uphill sections. So steep that Maries front wheel couldnt stay on the road. I took some of her load on my more front heavy bicylce and then sat wide on the road behind her so that traffic past us would see me first and wouldnt be shocked by her little wheelie show and lack of steering control. My mind was in psycho mood as I pumped up these staggering mountains and the thunderstorm clouds looming at the top of the mountain we were about to climb just added to the natural insanity of the place. We passed a rubbish dump, where the side of a cliff face was rainbow with litter. Kids came running out from their canvas made homes, with bare feet and matted hair, running across the road to blow us kisses. Their families must sort through the rubbish and find objects worthy to sell or keep. They couldnt have looked more happy. We had another icecream break at about 1, but we didnt realise we might need more sustenance for the mountain, which took us from 230 until 8 to ride this powerful and awe inspiring giant. I cant begin to accurately explain in words what happened this afternoon in our minds and bodies and the amazing atmosphere created by the Albanians. But I will try. We were stopped by workmen to pose with them in pictures, given hoots and screams of encouragement by old men, girls sticking out the sun roof of their cruising car pulling a brand new jet ski, kids peeking out at us with wide eyes of wonder from the backseat and some people wavering across the road with their bedazzled stares of wonder at the two girls with power is peace stamped across their arms, charging up this monster mountain. The sound of burning breaks wafted in the air. Marie collapsed about halfway up, laying on the ground causing lots of cars to stop and check if she was still breathing, while concurrently checking out the fairy tale view. With each long zig zag of road, we were looming higher and higher over the coastal towns of the morning. I told Marie to stay playing dead and went and got us some free sandwiches and bananas and water from concerned motorists. We dangled our feet over the edge, admiring the ever changing colours of the landscape. Back on the bikes, I saw a channel nine news car and did a stop sign with my hand. He screeched to a stop and sprinted over to tell the curious man that everything was alright, but we are doing a peace ride from Greece to Spain and want to be in the Albanian news. He gave me his email and told me it would be possible. We kept riding, and then fifteen minutes later he was back again; the reporters wanted more information and will meet us along the road in the next few days. Awesome for the peace project! We Reached the top just as it was getting dark and realised I had lost my back break pads. Along with this, Pos was having serious trouble connecting the handle bars with the turning of the wheel. We had stopped a few times to tighten screws and realign the wheels (very proud to say this). But the problem didnt go away. Marie rode behind me down this wildly steep mountain with her backlight flashing in the dark and my right hand straining to hold on to the front breaks. Luckily there was a kind of forest lodge a few ks down, and we had two beers and half banana before crashing on the mountain we had just spent so long getting acquainted with. What a Friday afternoon!
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 12:03:22 +0000
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