So far this trip we've been able to avoid the big hill climbs but not this one. The first day riding north out of Sarande, Albania was, despite our fears, idyllic. There was zero shoulder but traffic was light, grades were very manageable and views awesome. Much to our surprise the Albania drivers were reasonably cautious and gave us a good berth. The country has a tradition of private car ownership going back only 25 years, so we expected far worse.
The next day, from the seaside town of Himare the road immediately shot up at an exhausting 15% grade. By the top of the initial stretch I was pushing my bike. Claire, with two additional gears was able to ride to the top. We continued along in this vein, doing in total 600 M of climbing and then we came around the corner and saw the final 900 M climb (photo above). We felt reasonably strong going into it but I was totally bagged by the top. Just before the 2nd switchback I felt my first leg cramp coming on. Somehow I got to the top without a full on cramp setting in but I had to push the final leg. (Note: A feeble excuse I know, but my bike is weighing in at somewhere between 90 & 100 lbs.)
Claire, the stalwart, rode to the pass.
Though the ride back down to the coast was almost continuously downhill, the slightest uphill had me walking or I would go into a full blown cramping. The last 6 km on the flats had me spinning behind Claire as she 'dragged' me into town. A bit of a swim, lots of stretching and mutual leg massage and we can, we hope, ride this morning. Let's hope we don't have too many of these ahead of us.
The next day, from the seaside town of Himare the road immediately shot up at an exhausting 15% grade. By the top of the initial stretch I was pushing my bike. Claire, with two additional gears was able to ride to the top. We continued along in this vein, doing in total 600 M of climbing and then we came around the corner and saw the final 900 M climb (photo above). We felt reasonably strong going into it but I was totally bagged by the top. Just before the 2nd switchback I felt my first leg cramp coming on. Somehow I got to the top without a full on cramp setting in but I had to push the final leg. (Note: A feeble excuse I know, but my bike is weighing in at somewhere between 90 & 100 lbs.)
Claire, the stalwart, rode to the pass.
Though the ride back down to the coast was almost continuously downhill, the slightest uphill had me walking or I would go into a full blown cramping. The last 6 km on the flats had me spinning behind Claire as she 'dragged' me into town. A bit of a swim, lots of stretching and mutual leg massage and we can, we hope, ride this morning. Let's hope we don't have too many of these ahead of us.