08/18/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 10 : Il fait chaud aujourd hui

This Is the first time that Janet has designed a big portion of our route. She drew several separate « chunks » and then I linked them together. Now that we are riding these sections, it’s easy to forget who drew which part to give credit for another awesome section. I commented to Janet how I don’t think we have ever had 7 days of sustained « everything is perfect » riding in our touring history. There is always some sort of commute between beautiful sections. Not this time (well, until we got to France)… 🥰

The morning was great - all the way to Bossòst

Oops! Just saw Janet’s backpack is open. 🎒

This may be one instance where having Type 1 diabetes is an advantage. I’m carrying insulin, and as an experiment, I’ve been taking some of my injections directly into my shin. The absorption is different in that part of the body (it’s less, so I need more insulin for the same amount of food). Let’s see if that helps it heal faster. Interestingly, if I inject a mere 0.5U into my quad, I can eat quite a bit of roadside berries. But even 1.0U in the shin doesn’t buy me much food. 🍲

Heaven in Spain! Enjoy it while it lasts!…. 🇪🇸

This guy had a massive drone for checking out the fauna. 🦌

An excellent coffee stop - bathrooms, electricity, caffeine, et ma jolie chéri. What more could one ask for? 😊

"Tu parles français ?" I like to keep the feed semi-educational, so now that we are in France, let’s do some French! Restaurant = Restaurant Sweatshirt = Sweatshirt Weekend = week-end Omelette = Omelette And of course another important vocabulary word: Lingerie = Lingerie (bonus: bikini=bikini). I think we’re going to do fine here. See, you’re already speaking some French! I have been studying for 2 months by listening to podcasts. I haven’t studied a lick of grammar, which Janet will testify.. but I can already understand a significant portion of these beginner all-French podcasts by listening like a baby! It is really fun for me. After college, I could feel the vacuum in my brain - no longer being filled with new concepts and challenges. It was a strong absence. Now, it has been so many years, the atrophy has slowed, but the desire to learn new stuff is still there. It is difficult, but all the best things in life come from some form of challenge, right? 🚲

As soon as we got to France, things were different. First, there were lots and lots of cyclists! And almost none of them using motors anymore. Unfortunately, there was also a major increase in traffic and some death-defying driving. Two times I saw a car driving mountain roads and nearly lose control. It was terrifying. I can’t believe how many cyclists we have seen in light of the local driving style. Also, everywhere I look, there are signs about the Tour de France. It’s a big deal here. Let’s hope these drivers chill out! 🚗

Janet and I were wandering around town looking for water. Having a tiny bit of French in your repertoire is kind of like having a new smartphone - you’re excited to try it out, but maybe a bit afraid to fully test it and delve into the menus (menu, also a French word!). Anyway, we found a so-called fountain, but it looked more like a fire hydrant. A woman saw us struggling with the crank and said, « Je puis…bla bla bla bla ici ». Enough for me to reply « oui, s’il vous plaît ». And then she took me into her home and filled up our water bottles. « Merci de m’avoir aidé » i said. By the way, m’aider means « help me » and when you say it, it sounds like « mayday » like pilots say when they are crashing. Ok, that’s pretty meaningless, but it was still exciting to do something with the last two months of study! Janet studied French in High School and even took some classes later, so she has been helping too. She’s always good at grammar. 🎧

Topical insulin for wound healing - fascinating!

Boris F.