The Kumano Kodo
The park was just as good in the morning, even better actually, the toilet was a functioning toilet... better than the none functioning one from day two... it was a squat toilet tho… but we are not going to discuss that again. By now I had established a bit of a routine, up, coffee, food, faffing around, start riding.
The start of the ride was pretty good - remember that 2km 45minute climb from the night before...? I headed back to the town, I needed supplies and my electronics were not electronic at this point, just lumps of weight. So it was back to the convenience store to charge and very slowly resupply... I probably hung around for a hour, enough to charge the electronics, lights and power banks (a little, but enough).
I hadn’t made the coast yet but I was only around 50kms away. There were a couple of climbs, one was a pretty tough 250m elevation gain over 3.5km - 7% average… maybe I will just ride at 4.6km/h…
Down to the ocean, got there around 1pm had lunch at a local place. Food was a bit blah but the location was great. More charging so a slow lunch again - not faffing, just pretending to faff.
I eventually started moving again but things with my knee had deteriorated - it had become a significant 'ouchy-boo-boo.' Yes, it is a thing.
By 3pm I was moving very slow, one legged pedalling really.
The question was do I continue and keep ticking off the kms? The weather was warmer and dryer and there was still almost three hours of daylight. Or stop and rest/treat the knee somehow?
It was around 5:30pm when I woke - the tiny thermal sleep pad was fantastic on the concrete... maybe fatigue helped :) My knee? I couldn’t tell, I think at this point I dropped the saddle 5mm, (I was running out of things to try). I started riding and it was still (what felt like) grinding; I was running through my various option and actions taken - cold water, hot water, massage, rest... strapping maybe? But I’d opted out of bringing the physio type support strapping due to weight and volume, I had gorilla tape but the practicalities...? They seemed limited.
Maybe a heat pad? I stuck one on under my knee warmers - it helped. Not sure if it was the pressure initially, or the increasing warmth, or the seat adjustment but sure enough my knee wasn’t grinding and now seemed to be tracking straight again. Pain still, but more manageable.
Time was ticking, I felt like I was falling behind... So with a rested knee, I thought I would make a push for the ferry - 170kms or so. 6pm, good riding conditions, warm(ish), not damp... Without any major climbs I hoped for 10 hours... The road had tracked inland - more hills, more humidity, and cold... the one heat pad on my knee became...
- two on that knee.
- one on my other knee
- one on each of my feet
- one in each glove
- one on my sternum
- one on my lower back... and
- one zip tied to my phone... to try and stop the battery draining too fast.
10 heat pads...
...And 12 hours, it had been a long night but my knee had survived, maybe even improved somewhat.
I cleaned up and changed at the ferry terminal; plugged in my electronics again - I had a hour to wait, ate some crappy food, and probably drank a coffee. We started loading at 8:15, 8:25 I plugged in again... 8:30 I was out... until the ferry docked and I was politely told to ‘get off the boat’.
Still groggy I slowly navigated to the next important destination - food. This is when I discovered how accurate the ‘Blue-Dot’ tracking program was (MapProgress)... I spoke to wifey after breakfast - “Did you eat a burger?” she asked.
“Er... yes...”
“I discovered I can look at satellite images and zoom in...”
“Oh...” I said, wtf I thought...
“I think Amy went to Starbucks...”
Hmmm... Starbucks coffee...
Can you imagine, I am half way around the world on this epic 10 day, bike-packing ultra endurance (you can put quotations around that ‘ultra’ - there I just did it for you) event... riding sometimes in what feels like the middle of nowhere and wifey can see where I am grabbing breakfast...?
Wifey was also telling me how she had been cold in our bed. "I had to put an extra blanket on..."
"Aww... diddums... were you cold in your house, wrapped up in a big duvet, with the heating and fireplace on... and your extra blanket...?" Ha! No, I didn't say that at all... that was the voice in my head, and I (currently) had that voice under control.
But wait... this is the start of day six...
And Strava? 228kms today... but only 223 calories.
And Strava? 228kms today... but only 223 calories.
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