My new cycling challenge (you're going to laugh...)

In October I walked 178km in 8 days (part of the Camino de Santiago that crosses across northern Spain, the part we walked was mainly through Galicia). Part of the walk included a 8km climb up to 1000m at 7.5%. We walked every day from around 7am to 5pm, with stops it was 6 hours of walking. Even though it was October and should have been autumn the weather was really hot and we didn't see a cloud for 6 of the days let alone any rain. The walking was not really that hard, although carrying 7kg on your back you certainly notice the difference. Unfortunately I developed blisters on the first day - not any little blisters either, giant blisters that covered the whole of the bottom of my heels. Blisters that needed to continually be drained by sewing a length of cotton into them (a wick). It was really difficult to walk and I used up a lot of compeed plaster but in the end had to make a cushion out of folded up tissues and then just grit my teeth. On my birthday I really wanted to give up, but we were still 6 days from Santiago and pretty much in the middle of nowhere and really couldn't think how we could fill up the days until our plane flew back to London. So we kept going and we got to the end. Yay!

Hmm...maybe this is what caused the problem???

Anyway, the blisters have been taking a very long time to heal. All the dead skin recently peeled off completely leaving all new baby soft skin underneath. Not that you can tell to look anymore, but they are still really sensitive to walking. Normally I drive to my daughter's school drop her off and then walk into work and back at the end of each day. Its about a 35-40 min walk each way. But when I walk at the moment I soon feel the notorious "hot spots" I came to recognise, alas too late! So I have been cycling instead but its really just a 10 min ride, and I prefer to do more exercise than that each day if I can. So I decided to take advantage of no school drop off during the school holidays to park my car further up the hill (we live in Summertown but my daughter's school is in Rose Park) and ride in from there.

So yesterday I parked in Stonyfell and rode in - lots of fun, down the hill, hardly any traffic, for some reason got every green light through the city and didn't have to stop between Hutt St and Gawler Place. But I wasn't really looking forward to the reverse journey. I know that lots of you will say "they're not hills" but if you've been used to just scooting across Victoria park then they are hills. But actually, it wasn't that hard. I just took my time, rolled along in a suitably easy gear and didn't have to stop at all (something I had sort of expected I would have to do). I reckon that the walking I did in Spain probably did teach me that to get to the end you just have to keep going, and it might not be as hard as you think.

So what challenge should I try next? (You know I'm not really serious right? - personal challenges totally aren't my thing - there has to be more of a reason to it - or else no reason at all...:)

6 members like this

Comment by snappy_don on January 6, 2012 at 9:04: Best reason I can think of for cycling is that it means NOT walking. It's faster, more relaxing, breeze in your face, oh and NO BLISTERS. You'll be racing ET up those hills in no time. (hmm, there's a challenge for you)

Comment by Rob (Chewbacca) on January 6, 2012 at 9:15: But Snappy.....will have to let ETs tyres down first
then challenge him :)

Comment by Travis Gottschutzke on January 6, 2012 at 15:44: i've always wanted to walk the camino...my beloved and i are planning to do so at the next holy year for st. james...about 2021 :( but if pennies allow, maybe sooner ;)...and then there's the matter of two young children *sigh*

i almost posted a little while back a trailer for a new movie called "the way"...looks brilliant, is set on the camino and has cyclists at one point! :)

Comment by Tiny Avenger on January 6, 2012 at 16:08: Hey Travis, You should totally do it, but I don't recommend taking children (not young ones anyway) they would be really bored. We were originally planning to push my daughter along in a croozer (bicycle trailer) converted to "pram" mode - but in the end we were able to palm her off to the adoring grandparents (win win). It wouldn't have been fun for her at all. Unless the holy year is particularly important to you, you might want to consider going in a different year as numbers absolutely skyrocket at that time. Even when we were there in October the last 100km (the minimum needed for a compostela) were quite busy (nice busy) and the refugios/hostels quite full from relatively early in the day. There were heaps of cyclists on the camino too, but you only saw them once (moving so much faster than walkers) whereas over a few days you quickly get to know the other people walking at your pace. ET (my husband) fancies going back to do the rest of it, but I don't think I would, though looking at photos of pilgrims today it did make me feel more "reminiscent" towards it (now the blisters are finally starting to heal!)

Comment by easytiger on January 6, 2012 at 16:44: @Travis - the problem with going in a holy year is the potential of getting to your daily destination, only to be told there are no beds, and having to walk to the next town (2-10km further on). Our feet were pretty cooked by the end of each day, and I can't imagine something less I would want to do.

The first 200km and the last 200km are said to be the best, and the meseta (the middle bit) quite monotonous. 33 days walking is quite a mental and physical undertaking. We met an Italian woman who twisted her ankle very badly 10 days in, kept walking on it, and then couldn't "walk" the last day into Santiago - which for us was the ultimate reward for walking the previous 7 days. Very spiritually uplifting even for those not doing it for religious reasons.

@tiny - sorry for making you cry on your birthday :( but we got there! Let's see what happens when you try Norton Summit for the first time!! If you don't get to the top, at least there is the option of riding back down the road to the pub while I go and pick the car up! Or I can tie a rope to you and drag you up as penance for suggesting such a dopey idea.

ps. I said I would go back in 10 years and do the whole 800km on a MTB tandem with the monkey. We'll send you to flamenco and spanish cooking lessons for the 8 days!!

Comment by Patrick O'Kane on January 6, 2012 at 16:55: Amazing feat (feet) ET and TA. I can't believe I've never heard of this walk. I was raised a catholic, I even spent a week on holiday at Corunna which is less than 50kms away watching a soccer tournament and never even visited the place. amazing what one can learn on AC.

I can see an TA NS AC event looming.

Comment by Travis Gottschutzke on January 6, 2012 at 17:32: @ tiny and @easytiger we very briefly entertained the idea of taking our kids...very briefly :) and yes! the possibility of shoving one in a trailer of sorts was entertained...but it just seemed too much - and to be honest, my beloved and i are looking forward to something for ourselves to accomplish...i've been in love with the camino for years - its spiritual, historical, natural, social, travel values all rolled into one :) i am very envious and look forward to meeting you both one day to talk about it...i don't know anyone personally who has done the walk, either a portion or the whole length...and yes, you certainly give good advice re: the holy year...i think we really need to consider what's important, what comes first

nearly every book i've read on the camino talks about the "middle bit" as perhaps the greatest challenge...it tricks pilgrims into its apparent ease due to the flatness - having spent a lot of time riding in flat, nearly characterless country in the north of victoria, i get that kind of pain and monotony - not to be taken lightly :)

Comment by Gus K on January 6, 2012 at 18:30: The challenge? Dare I say ride all the way in to work and home?

Also, bicycles were invented for a reason. To stop people from needing to walk!

Well done on the 'holiday'.

Comment by easytiger on January 7, 2012 at 11:45: One of the momentos we brought back - a peregrino ciclista

The Way trailer looks pretty funny - there were a few whackos that we had to lose. They probably said the same about us!

My new cycling challenge (you're going to laugh...)

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