09/13/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 36 : Esta vez su estrategia no es igual

Our first "col" of the day. A col is a pass (in French). In Spanish, it can be called a "coll" or "alto" or "puerto"... Janet has been diligently keeping track of all the passes we have crossed- and they are starting to add up. --

We have been falling behind on our target pace a little bit. I thought we budgeted 24 miles per day but we still aren't making it. One of the conversations I had with Chema over coffee the other day was a story I told him about how we tried to spoil my niece and nephew by taking them to amusement parks and stuff... but the most engaging part of the trip for them: they spent 3 hours trying to build a campfire. He had a similar story about his kids. They went on a big RV trip, and the thing the two kids remembered the most was that each night the four of them would play cards to see who got the better of the two beds. If you don't think about this, you might say, "that was the most interesting part of the trip!?" I think it is instructive, though. I need to focus less on trying to finish the "line" we drew on the map... and focus more on letting experiences happen as they come. Who knows; maybe we will end up doing everything we planned! There are some less climby stretches ahead... but if we don't, that is ok too. --

We came to a church which we christened as our home for the night. It has an unlocked foyer that seems to be designed for sleeping in (once you add sleeping bags and a tent). There is a window with bars going into the locked church with this slotted tube. Curiosity got the better of us: Was this some sort of game where you drop in coins and something happens? Maybe you get a prize or a stuffed Jesus? Maybe more of the candles inside will light up? Will the Mary effigy do a little dance? We tried twice. 0.15€ poorer, nothing magical happened... but we felt less guilty about sleeping inside. Hope God doesn't think we are too cheap. --

Tech talk! I bought my Epic Evo used. It was top spec, but it seemed like they cut the steerer too short. I had been calling around for an extender - pictured. It looks hideous and feels like I'm riding a cruiser bike. My hands have less pressure and feel better, but now there is more weight on my butt. Maybe too much. Optimal height would be somewhere between this and the previous setting (which is impossible until I get home and can buy a used Fox 34 and sell this one). Also, I suspect that this bike would be more to my liking with a 100mm fork instead of the 120mm fork. My old race bike had 80mm and it was FUN and snappy. This one definitely feels sluggish by comparison. I had to ask the guy at the bike shop to cut the extender because otherwise it would have been another inch taller (yikes)! He agreed to do it, but insisted on installing the part on my bike. That is something I did NOT like! He was kind of a "brute force" mechanic - fumbling and forcing his Allen keys into the bolts at risk of stripping them. I had to kind of push him away while insisting that I could put it on. It was kind of weird, but at the same time, it might be the Spanish way. --

Home for the night at a church. Since we just passed September 11th, I wanted to tell you a little story about a song called "The Messiah" by our favorite singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona. Maybe I already told you this, please forgive me. In the year 2000, Ricardo Arjona released a song about the Messiah "coming back." In the lyrics, the messiah lived in Manhattan and had partners in Afghanistan. This time, his strategy was going to be different. He is preparing an attack - and nobody knows the date. The Pentagon accuses him of being a terrorist. A cloud of doubt shades out the sun. And by the way, he talks with God every day using the internet. This song came out in 2000 and it triggered an FBI investigation of Ricardo Arjona - how did he prophesize the 911 attacks?! Of course, it was a coincidence. A strange one, don't you think? Link below to related article. --

I feel blessed 😇 to have a sweetie who finds a way to keep us happy and safe, whether it’s taking a quiet back road or saying a prayer 🙏 ! Keep it cozy, back to sleeping 😴 in our tent 🏕️ on the mountain 🏔️.

Jim S.