Autumn Riding in Europe

I was reflecting on the differences between my last long ride across Europe in 2008.
A few factors:

• the days are much shorter
• the temperature is a bit cooler, meaning there is not much motivation for early starts (after the later sunrise) as it has been quite chilly on some mornings
• this is a solo ride, so time must be allowed for finding hotels, including the possibility of leaving time to get to the next town sometimes.
• I am carrying all my stuff rather than it being in a van, slowing the climbs noticeably
• time is "lost" when slowing, or pausing, to check navigation and sometimes make changes to the intended day's path
• when feeling tired there is no nearby peleton of fellow riders in which to shelter from the wind.

All these combine to reduce the available hours for cycling and the average speed.
In addition when there are things to see as I often do, so there are more non-riding days.
So rather than a ride across Europe, it is a ride between places of interest when there is likely something to be discovered, and the weather reasonable, otherwise the train.

Currently in Barcelona for 5 nights, including today's day of rain, then south.

And on blogging

I had developed a pattern of writing my blogs at night after dinner whilst alone in my quiet hotel room. The wifi issue interfered with that pattern from time to time. Being on-line to sort out photos and formatting is also important.

Now in Spain. The sunrise is late as they are west but on the same time zone as most of Europe. They live at night and eat late, so the time for blogging needs to be re-thought.