Monday, April 8, 2013

Day 2 Heraklion to Tzemiado


47 Miles, 7,520’
Yesterday was fairly windy, but for the loop we did it wasn’t too bad. Today, the wind was howling, and it seemed like all we did was climb all day. A long day in the saddle without that many miles to show for it. Warm again, and the combination of heat, climbing, and incessant wind can wear you out.

Lots of variety in the climbs; had an 800’ 1 mile 15%+ wall early on, and finished up with a climb to 3,000’. On the last climb we were constantly dealing with the wind, and we knew the pass at the top would be a wind tunnel. But we had no idea how bad it was – I stopped just short of the pass to take some photos, but had to lean into the wind and hold my brakes to keep from getting blown over. When Lorilei stopped, her bike was blown almost parallel with the ground, ready to take flight. We all ended up walking the last 20 meters to the top and over. I’ve never been in gusts that strong on a bike!
But, good ride overall; road surfaces have been good to excellent. A lot of very quiet roads all to ourselves. Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/47841807

Looking back near the top:
 
Into the wind tunnel:



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