Nigel has been pouring over Google maps making the finishing touches to our route to Barcelona. Now he has shared it with the rest of us, the trip feels very real. There are definitely butterflies in the stomach looking at the maps of the French towns and cities on route, some unknown and others vaguely familiar from school text books and years of watching the Tour de France. Dropping the little yellow man onto our route in Google Street View and taking a look around, it's very weird to think I'll be there in just a few weeks time.
What Nigel has done for us is link together the AirBnB bookings we have for each night. These were selected based on our original outline plan of 100 miles a day which was plotted in Komoot. Nigel has then tweaked it further adding food stops along the way, hunting out local Lidl or Carrefour supermarkets. As part of our trip is over the Easter weekend, we'll be relying on the major chain stores when local pâtisserie and other shops may be closed.
There is no doubt the 110 miles a day is intimidating. To put it in perspective I averaged 116 miles and 8.5 hours cycling a WEEK over 2022 as a whole. We're going to be doing that a DAY in April! For seven days in a row!!
In preparation for this challenge I have increased my training since Christmas and so far this year I'm averaging 11 hours a week, covering 160 miles! (I do a lot of mountain biking so mileages can be deceptive as you obviously don't go as fast or as far off-road.)
Day 6 is looking especially EPIC! 124 miles climbing 3000m into the Pyrenees.
Also!: The recent news of snow in Barcelona gives me the jitters with just 5 weeks to go. Imagine what the mountain passes will be like! Storm Juliette: Cold snap leaves Barcelona covered in snow - BBC News
Here is a day by day break down of the route (including ridewithgps.com links):
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