Day 1 - Barcelona to Berga

Planned Mileage: 64.47 miles
Actual Mileage: 81.45 miles
Temperature: 33C
Top Speed: 47mph
Start Time: 08:10am
End Time: 16:05pm
Total Saddle Time: 7hr 55mins

If anyone had any doubts about the difficulty of this challenge, then today would of answered it for everyone. In hindsight, maybe an easier starting day would of been better, however, the group have managed to complete Day 1 successfully (well most of the group anyway!)

We left the hotel in Barcelona at 8:10am and we were just 50 yards into the journey when we had to stop due to Luke having Garmin issues. We then worked our way through the city centre, which was hard going due to the millions of traffic lights which decided to turn red as we approached them. 11 miles into the journey, and we had our first puncture - Luke was the unfortunate rider on this occasion.

2 miles later, and guess what happens - yes, Luke had yet another puncture. Those who predicted that everyone would complete this challenge except Luke could be onto a winner!

6 miles later, and Luke causes the group to stop again! Not a puncture this time though - instead a spoke on his front wheel decides to pop out - so after a quick change of wheel, we are back on our way. The team then tackled some steep hills before stopping for a bacon roll, only minus the bread; seems like bread is very hard to find in Barcelona on a Saturday morning. Instead, the crew substituted bread with Welsh Cake instead.

We then set off for what was one of the best parts of the journey - downhill, which was a welcome relief after the hills experienced earlier.

The team then stopped for lunch, which was a very nice Leek & Potato soup with baguette - turns out the villages outside Barcelona can bake bread! After setting off from lunch, the team are brought to a quick halt again, as a chain came off one of the bikes - before you say it, this time it was not Luke but Paul Simmons instead.

We then proceeded to climb up even more hills - I think the team have completed about 7000ft of climbing today. Anyway, 68 miles into the ride, Luke suffers another puncture at the bottom of a hill. As the rest of the team were already far in the distance, Luke manages to thumb a lift on the van whilst his tyre gets replaced and is duly transported to meet the rest of the team. We think he needs to go out later tonight to make up the 2 miles he was sat in the van!

We finally arrive in Berga, just after 4pm and the team look well and truly shattered. They are now off for well deserved cold showers, before heading out for some food and beverage.


Before

  

After