51km / 2 hours 23 min / 507m gain

(For my reference: Komoot estimated 1 hour 44 min and 400m gain (assuming road bike speeds, I guess))

It was a very easy ride today.

It rained last night, so I decided to stay on the road today (which is a much faster ride). I don’t want to deal with the mud, and I don’t have a spare belt in case this one breaks. There were few cars since I was in the middle of nowhere and on back country roads. I kept my jacket on all day because of the icy wind with this cold front.

I am staying in a small village, so I biked another 5k to find a gas station grocery store to stock up on food. I managed to find a car wash and cleaned up my bike.

I am taking Thursday off, so hopefully, things will dry up. However, the weather doesn’t make that look likely, and Friday is currently forecast for rain. We shall see.

What else?

• I randomly stopped at this Church, which was very pretty with many relics…
• I think I saw a fox, but it could have been a cat (its legs went piter pater, though).

63km / 4 hours 13 min / 461m gain

(For my reference: Komoot estimated 4 hours 59 min and 420m gain (without mud))

Today was intense!

Last night, I slept like a baby. I was overlooking the Douro River, and the hotel was comfy. It drizzled for the entire evening. I had super intense dreams.

Unfortunately, the rain created some mud, which was like super glue due to this region and made for some very intense moments today.

I had to stop and scrape mud from the bike several times, and my back wheel slid out a few times (luckily, I caught myself). My belt came off 3 or 4 times, which has never happened. I think the mud and small stones were putting pressure on it.

Then my belt broke just 4km from my end stop.

I think the mud and pebbles got between the belt and gear, which had too much pressure and snapped. It has been on my bike for around 4 years and lasted far longer than it was supposed to (I think they are rated for 10,000km, and I’ve done more than 2.5x that).

I carry a spare belt with me, just in case. I need to clear the mud better for future mud sessions and walk the bike if the stones are getting between the gears and belt.

I tried to put on the belt out in a field, but I’d never done it before and couldn’t figure it out. I decided it was better to walk and roll to the endpoint and do it there. About 2km from that point, it started raining on me, lol!

I reached the little rural apartment and found a faint 4g signal for some YouTube tutorials. I didn’t realize the frame came apart to get the belt in the right area. Seven screws later, it is fixed!

I am worried that I stripped one of the little screws, though (a problem for future Ben). I also no longer have a spare belt, which might be a problem for future Ben. Why can’t we make better screws that don’t strip so easily?

What else?

• I surprised a pretty big deer.
• Some little quail birds ran along the path.
• I had so much mud flinging up by the wheels that it went in my nose, mouth, ear, and eye.
• So many beautiful views and wine fields today.
• So quiet out here… my mind feels relaxed.
• My energy levels were finally at 100% today, even if my butt is sore.

I stopped in Guzman, Spain, tonight!

It is so tiny that there are no grocery stores or food options. I only have carrots and nuts, so I wandered in case I missed something. I stumbled upon an artisan store that told me to ring the doorbell, and I did!

A lovely man and his wife came out to open it up for me. He is Portuguese and from Porto (close to where I live). He runs a restaurant in the next village and is a Sommelier. Next thing I know, he is having me try some delicious vermouth he brews and a glass of local port-style wine he makes (and his wife gave me two amazing cookies).

He told me that the town is famous because of a book and showed me the book. I kept thinking Guzman sounded familiar, and I realized I had seen the book in several Shepherd articles and maybe the NYT a while back about this famous cheese from here. The book is called The Telling Room (bought on my Kindle).

I walked out of the beautiful artisan store with a bottle of local wine,  two packages of the famous cheese, local sheep pate, and local jam. Plus his wife was kind enough to offer to drop me off some bread later today after she gets back from the store, so kind!

Great stop! The cheese and wine are so good!!!

46km / 2 hours 35 min / 101m gain

(For my reference: Komoot estimated 3 hours 11 min and 100m gain)

It was an easy ride today; I got an early start, so it was much cooler. The route was as fantastic as yesterday. I did have one spot where the path disappeared, but I found a detour a few blocks away.

I stayed in Tordesillas, Spain, last night! I wandered around a bit, ran into a few history signs, and realized that the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed here. I remember learning about this in high school, where Spain and Portugal divided the rest of the world between them.

70km / 3 hours 45 min / 408m gain

(For my reference: Komoot estimated 4 hours 33 min and 330m gain)

Lindsey and Calico drove me to the start of my route this morning. It was weird to have an audience, as I usually start my rides solo!

We got a late start with breakfast and checkout, so I didn’t get going until 1130am. It was a beautiful sunny day, although a bit hot (UV of 7).

The route was 90% gravel and FANTASTIC!

The perfect trail for adventure. There were tons of fast, smooth gravel, random sand pits, double track with overgrown bushes blocking the way, large chunky routes where I had to go very slow, and everything in between. A lot of very careful lines so that I didn’t fishtail out of control as parts of the path went from gravel to sand.

Spain is such a beautiful country… I wish we could live here!!! I have to come back to more of Spain for gravel routes, as the roads are amazing (just look at the pictures below).

I went past plenty of wine today, fields of different veggies and wheat, and lots of scrubland. I didn’t see any snakes today, but I did see 3 huge fish in the river that were probably 2.5 to 3 feet long.

My route today ended near Valladolid.

I am staying above a bar in a small town (only 25 euros a night).

For my end-of-ride lunch at said bar, I had Havana Club 7 (thanks to Laura for introducing me to my favorite rum!), a coke, morcilla (I love blood sausage), tortilla, and some bread (picture below). Life is good!

For Mother’s Day (and a weekend adventure), we stayed in an amazing 12th-century castle near Salamanca (here is more info on the castle on Wikipedia).

It was quiet, peaceful, and just a really lovely weekend. Calico stayed in a room with me, so Lindsey got some alone time. And Calico and I got some together time. He showed me how he styles his hair and helped me with mine. I also learned he is terrified of lightning, so I tried to explain how that works (not sure if that helped).

I randomly found it as Lindsey had offered to drive me closer to my Spain-to-France bike route to help make it possible in the limited time I had for the ride. I am always looking for unique places to stay!

Before I left, I had to fix a few things on my bike…

• My rear hub was broken, so I replaced that before I left (huge thank you to the local store for that work). The new hub feels so much better and there is a very long story there. Hopefully the spokes are all good, he checked the tension on Friday and fixed a few.
• My rear tire was worn out, so I replaced it. I also swapped the front tire just to have some extra grip, given the high amount of gravel I am doing. I will swap the front tire back when I get home until it wears out.

How did I train for the ride?

Because I decided to do this last minute, I didn’t get as much training time as I would like. Even worse, I got sick twice in this period (which didn’t help).

• Week 1 – 9 hours and 40 minutes of riding.
• Week 2 – 5 hours and 8 minutes.
• Week 3 – 2 hours and 27 minutes. Only one ride in Bordeaux over Spring Break as things got crazy.
• Week 4 – Then zero rides… I got a cold the last week in Bordeaux.
• Week 5 – 6 hours 39 minutes.
• Week 6 – 9 hours 21 minutes (2x 3+ hour rides)
• Week 7 – 10 hours 48 minutes (3x 3+ hour rides)
• Week 8 – 5 hours 36 minutes. I got sick after a 4.5-hour ride on Monday. I think Calico gave me his chest infection, but luckily, we are both well now.
• Week 9 – Around 6 hours of training. I kept it light as I was exhausted. I started my bike tour on Sunday.

What did I pack? 

Read the rest of this entry »

This was on my list to do before we moved, and I finally finished the full thing today! Woohoo!

What is it? It is a 49km long rail-to-trail conversion between Viseu and Santa Comba Dão. This trail is my daily ride, and I am pretty spoiled.

I did 101km in 4 hours and 36 minutes with 619m of elevation gain (there and back). I took it nice and slow as I have been training and just trying to get a lot of hours in my bike seat.

I realized that if I want to do a bike tour, I need to do it now, so I will take a trip across Spain in mid-May (we are moving this summer, plus we are visiting family in the USA).

I will start in Salamanca and bike across Spain, through Zaragoza, up around the corner of the Pyrenees to a small town called Ille sur Têt (in France). The weather should be cooler, which will help, given Spain’s intense summer heat.

What are the stats?

• ~1,050km
• ~8,500 meters up and 9,310 down.
• The route I’ve mapped should be 70% gravel and 30% pavement. Hopefully, the gravel is a little more defined than in France, as I found myself hiking through random forests with no path a few times in France (not to mention the field routes that didn’t always work out). But that is also part of the adventure!
• I will do it over ~17 days of riding. I will try something new this year where every 5th day is a rest day and see if that balances me out. I get so excited that I overdo it in the first 7 to 10 days.

Training?

Because of the late start and dates I was confined within, I didn’t get as much training as I would like. It would have been better if I had not gotten a cold over our Bordeaux spring break. It won’t be as bad as my Portugal Camino tour in 2021. And I’ve got two more weeks to train, so hopefully, I can get to a good spot.

Why Ille sur Têt?

There is a fantastic French bike company that is based there. I will do a bike fitting with them for a custom frame for a new bike (gravel)! Then I will take the train with my bike to Bordeaux, finish signing on our new house, park my bike there, and fly back to Porto to organize the move. Huzzah!

Almost one year ago, we did our first father/son bike adventure weekend! We decided to do that same ride as it was so beautiful (and I hoped to do more).

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t as good this year, and we had more cold, rain, and trail flooding. The river was high compared to last year. And since Calico has been sick and has a nasty cough, we kept it easy with a lot of rest. I was also pretty exhausted as I was training for a bike tour and physically exhausted.

We had fun and spent a good chunk of time just relaxing/exploring.

What did we get up to?

Thursday

We woke up early and drove 2 hours later to our little Airbnb.

We hopped on our bikes and did a 20km ride over 1 hour and 35 minutes.

This was our warm/sunny day, so we didn’t want to lose it. We went to my favorite ice cream place in Portugal and then crashed. We were both pretty exhausted.

Friday

It was supposed to rain all day, so we drove North and explored the Minho River and coast. We stopped at Jeni’s dinner for some onion rings, a milkshake for Calico, and delicious burgers. Randomly, we ran into some visitors from Arkansas at the dinner :)

Saturday

We waited for the rain to clear and did a 26km ride over 2 hours and 26 minutes. We had fun even if the trails were somewhat flooded! The sun came out by the end :)

Sunday

We thought about biking as it was sunny, but Calico’s cough didn’t improve, and we were both tired. So we played a bit of soccer and drove home.

Good times! I am looking forward to some new trails this summer :)

We are moving to Bordeaux after Calico’s school term ends… so we drove there to check out neighborhoods and have some fun. We toured the school he is going to be at next year, ate a lot of delicious food, and walked around a lot of neighborhoods! It is a really cool city!

The only bummer is I got a head cold the day after taking Calico to the beach (we dug a fun hole in the ground). So, I only got one bike ride in for the entire two weeks. Oh well, I am looking forward to more rides once we get settled.

We went to an illusion museum, which Calico loved!

And somewhat crazily, we are buying a house…

I had arranged for us to see some houses and apartments to get a feel for the market. We knew that in a year, we were likely going to be looking to buy but had planned on renting (a really tough rental market, though). We walked into the 3rd house we were looking at and just loved it. It is close to Calico’s school, a giant park, and the perfect distance from the city center. We made an offer on Easter Saturday weekend, and now we are doing the paperwork. Hopefully, we can pick up the keys in early June! Fun!!

It is HUGE compared to the very small apartment we are renting right now. It has a wonderful outdoor area (although small), and the kitchen is well done. And we are excited as it has a huge 3rd floor bedroom for guests when they visit. I can’t wait to move in, especially as I am going to buy a record player we’ve been saving for!!!

As it warms up, I am trying to do more weekend adventures with Calico (and I am trying to do a better job in Winter to get us both excited about suiting up and going outside). We went on a nearby trail ride I found on All Trails, did some climbing, saw a snake, and talked. It was fantastic!

I love this bike!

I’ve put over 22,000km on this bike in the last 4 years, and it has been rock solid.

What tours have I done with it?

• Our 2020 European road trip
• My 2021 Camino Portuguese tour
• My 2022 Via Francigena Italy tour.
• My 2023 Bordeaux to Paris to Mont St. Michel tour

Plus, all my day-to-day rides. I’ve taken it on gravel as much as possible and done some pretty insane routes through fields and forests on tours.

The back hub did crack slightly last year. The Tout Terrain guys said there was a structural problem with the design, and I bought a much stronger replacement from them. Otherwise, it has been problem-free.

I got it equipped with a Pinion P1.18 (internal gearing), and I hope never to use a chain again. Internal gearing is the best! I just have to swap the oil once a year, and it is such an easy setup. I’ve used the same Kevlar belt for 4 years, and it might have another 4 years in it.

The only thing I’ve changed is added a Thudbuster ST seat post, swapped in new puncture-resistant tires, removed the front rack, and switched the seat a few times.

I highly recommend their bikes; pretty amazing touring bikes.

Calico and I had a fun weekend!

We drove over to Nazare and stayed in an old windmill from the 1870s. We hiked, grilled, started fires, cooked, played with knives, and watched some movies. We had a blast! And we ended it on Sunday at the beach playing on the sand dunes in front of some beautiful waves. The 3rd floor of the windmill was the bedroom with a big window overlooking a beautiful view.

The only bummer was somehow I screwed up navigation and went 2.5 hours north, then almost 3 hours South on Friday. It should have only been a 2-hour drive…

I am excited for 2024! We’ve got some big changes coming…

We plan to move to Bordeaux (France) once Calico finishes the 2nd grade (in late June). We will be sad to leave Viseu. It is a beautiful place full of amazing people and nature. It will be tough for Calico since this is the only home he knows, and all his friends are here. We are ready for a bigger city, and we know more about what we want from a long-term home.

My big 3 for the year?

1. Build a home in Bordeaux. This is a big move with a lot of moving parts.
2. Live a life full of adventure! I am hoping to do another big bike tour this year, but I am waiting to see if that is possible while doing this move. I am planning some smaller long rides in Portugal. I am also planning some weekend camping, biking, and weekend trips for Calico and I. I’d also like to plan a biking trip with my dad, see my brother and his family in July, plan a trip to Ireland with my mom/tony that we keep delaying… but until we get the move done I am not sure if that is feasible in 2024.
3. Keep working to keep my energy, stress levels, and overall health in a good place (some specifics in this post).

Bonjour 2024!