08/19/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 11 : I know why babies cry

Today going up the hill a cyclist was slowly catching me. In one ear I had my French Podcast and I prepared by whispering « bonjour » using the best pronunciation I could muster. When we were side by side, I said, « bonjour! ». It sounded great. He replied (in hard to understand English) « English? ». One word and my accent betrayed me! Even though the listening is going well, the speaking is proving to be really tough. Maybe this is why babies cry: They can understand what adults are saying, but the adults don’t understand them! Baby thinking: « Föc, man, how many times do I have to ask for my bottle? » ——

Speaking of French, I got several opportunities to test out vocabulary today. For example, I got to the top of the first col and thought it would be nice if I ordered a coffee for Janet so it would be ready when she arrived. I said to the guy, « bonjour! Je voudrais un espresso pour moi et un café pour ma mari ». So I asked him for an espresso for me and a coffee for my (female) husband. Fortunately, he let that one go…. But he didn’t bring the coffee for my husband either. When Janet arrived, he did offer her coffee with milk, which she prefers, so it all worked out. When it came time to pay, I asked him, « Combien vous dois j'ai? » which means, « How much do you owe I have? ». This gave him a good chuckle and he was kind enough to give me a quick French lesson. I liked this old man with the lonely coffee shop at the top of the mountain. ———

I didn’t tell you yesterday, but we kind of had to do an emergency stop. It was really hot and Janet wasn’t feeling well. Each climb was taking everything out of her. Finally she was depleted, so we took a seemingly less than optimal campsite behind a church. It actually ended up being a great night because the church bells stopped at 7:30pm. Whew! Janet has been pushing herself a bit too much trying to appease me, so we decided we need to make it easier for her. “I am 67, you know,” she mentioned in the evening. Janet keeps going like the Energizer Conejo, so it can be easy to forget this fact about her age… I can’t think of any 67 year olds as hard core as her. ———

In one section, I rode over the mountain while Janet took the valley roads. We met on the other side of the mountain. Fun for me and less climbing for Janet. Win. 🏔️

Yesterday was tough for Janet. My thermometer read 108F on the bar for a while. She was giving it her all. After the emergency stop, we tried to figure out a plan. We researched busses, car rental, hotels, taxis, Uber, hitchhiking… nothing was really going to work. Resting in a hotel would have been the best option, but even that was looking difficult and hot (air conditioning is rare here). So we finally tried an experiment: the tow rope. We connected my rear bag to her front bag and set off maintaining strong tension on the cord. It ended up being surprisingly good. In no time, Janet was chatting to me about Spain and Cols and her usual happy self. I found it to actually be easier than the tandem because the combined weight of our carbon bikes is only 40 pounds versus the 50 pounds of the tandem… and the extra rolling resistance of 400 pounds rolling on 26 inch wheels. We had finally found a solution to what looked like a grim problem! 🚴

That’s the Janet I know! 🐯

Today’s ride in France was excellent. Yesterday, the partial climb we did had a lot of traffic. Today we avoided traffic by finishing the first climb early… and then the rest of the sections were just great with no traffic like Spain again. Happy! 😃

Sometimes the ride gets “stuck” in the GPS. So today I broke out the Raspberry Pi and made a little campsite computer station. The Pi is an computer that is about as powerful as the top of the line MacBook Pro from 2007. It swiftly fixed up my GPS watch and got the file out. It’s much nicer to post to Strava from camp while relaxing than trying to do it during the next mornings coffee (while breathing in cigarette smoke from your neighbors). Also pictured is a folding keyboard and a micro router. This set of equipment is tedious to use, but it allows me to do work or complete projects that can’t be done on a phone (computer only). Also, all together it weighs less than a pound. 🖥️

Janet says “I don’t need to set up the tent!” And off she goes to sleep! Et voilà ! 😴

Love your adventure posts! For your Raspberry pi setup, what are you using for a display?

Carol D.