The Last Week of the Tour
It's Sunday which means its the start of another Tour week - in this case week 8, the last week of the tour. Wow! Shanny gave us a little pep talk this morning - make the most of these last few days, enjoy the company of the great people we've met, congratulations because we're the first (Tour) to ride from Paris to Istanbul. I certainly agree with all that - these are all really great people in the group and some I hope to retain as lifelong friends. I'll miss
the Tour but also am ready to go back.
Sheila says there was a big bonfire last night. They had 2/3 smores – no graham crackers. Must have been sticky business. But the weather was nice and a full moon over the Sea was beautiful. Unfortunately I missed - not enough sleep yesterday and a slight touch of some bug.
Today started out foggy and cool - two layers for me. The bug, water or effects of fresh food bothered me a little bit, but I am lucky so far. Jim is down a second time, Craig was down yesterday, Kerry got it again - nasty stuff- fortunately it usually lasts only 24 to 36 hours.
Today was a hilly day starting with the ride out of the Camp Mosquito Haven. Down near the beach where the cabins were the mosquitoes weren't too bad, but back in the woods by the entrance the swarmed all over.
We had rolling hiils up to the lunch van and they weren't too bad. Just a lot ups followed by downs. We followed Route 9/E87 again. Some traffic and lots of tour buses but few big trucks - probably because it was Sunday. I rode by myself most of the way to lunch. Chuck charged ahead and Daniel left earlier and I couldn't catch him. Sean and Shanny passed me about 2/3 to lunch. After lunch we had a little downhill, then the BIG hill. We passed "25K" painted on the road as we started to go uphill. Eventually as we pased 20K, 15K, 10K, 5K, 1K, 300, 200, 100 I realized they must have had a race on that hill recently. Before that we figured there would be a development or casino there. That was a tough hill for me today - no legs. I finally caught up with Daniel at the hilltop and Shanny came up at the same time. At the top was a little drink stand, so we rested there awhile. Fortunately that was the last uphill for the day. We had a good fast downhill for 10K or so then flat into Pomorie. I drafted behind Sean and Shanny there - luckily they weren't going too fast – probably because Sean had turned around and did 10K back up the hill. He really liked the downhill on which he got up to 72K.
Tonight our campsite is at a small motel just above the Black Sea about 100 yards away. A few people are camping but most of us are staying in the motel cabins. These are nice compared to others we have had. The cost is 32 lev per unit. Since Chuck and I are cheap we got the twins at 8 apiece(4 euros) and Brian got the full size room to himself. He's still suffering an injured nerve in his leg and needs to stretch out. We're trying to convert the Tour to the Constant Comfort Tour (no more camping).
Went out to check out the moon rise but too early or too cloudy. Sean looked at my bike re clicking noise from crank area. Changed my cleats but neither of us is sure that was the problem.
Time for bed. Good Sunday.
Phil
Here's our new itinerary from Pomorie:
Malko Tarnovo
Kirklareli
Day off
Saray
Tayakadin
Istanbul
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Posted September 18, 2005 by Tour Participant
Bulgaria |
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