Rain, Wind and Hills

Rain Wind and Hills
We made it to Crete an island that we at first compared to our home island (Long Island), mostly due to it's long narrow shape, however we learned that Crete is 2.5 times as big as Long Island. Over the past couple of days we have been taught some lessons.

Lesson Number One: Wind
We arrived on Crete by ferry, as one might imagine how you arrive on an island, at the wee hour of 6am after a night of restless sleep on the ferry floor. 3/4ths of our crew was feeling slightly under the weather and the closest place stay was over a mountain and down the coast. We took off sleepily peddling into the valley, the mist raising off the olive trees as we passed them. The sun slowly started to shine emitting a purple orange haze over the peaks of the mountains. As we started to climb the sun emerged and the air was still. I thought about how the weather was perfect and riding on Crete was amazing. We were in for a good week. After traveling up one often goes down, so down we went. The down hill was glorious with large straight sections where we clocked some fast speeds. Emma reached the highest at 72kmh (44mph). We reconvened at the bottom and bought some snacks and food for dinner not knowing what the campground town would have. While waiting outside all slightly delirious from the early start, lack of sleep, long climb up and unconditioned bike muscles (lack of bicycling on our island vacation) we lingered outside the shop for a bit. Whilst lingering we heard a shot, which scared us all half to death. We all looked around for the source. We soon found that Georgia's tire had blown. A quick fix and we were on our way. We made it to the camp ground, a lovely beach front establishment. We settled in. The next morning we awoke (I am not sure any of us were actually asleep) to howling winds. We all laid in our tents hoping that everyone else was thinking the same hung that it would be crazy to ride. Slowly we emerged, a consensus was made, we weren't going anywhere. The wind continued to blow gusting hard, probably 30mph at least. It seemed like a hurricane. We were happy to have wind block from the campground and a communal kitchen to cook with. We agreed that we would wait and see what would happen the next day. The next morning we didn't even get out of our tents we simply yelled to each other, "there's no way to ride in this." Grounded again. We knew we couldn't bike, Gen even mentioned slightly jokingly that it was hard to walk in the wind let alone ride a bicycle. Luckily on the third day we woke to calm skies and were able to ride. However we still encountered strong head winds, which are more menacing than steep hills.

Lesson Number Two: Hills
Crete is Mount Everest compared to the flat Long Island. This says it all. On our second day of riding we headed up into the hills, well they are really mountains. We stared to climb gazing upwards and sheer cliffs and rugged landscapes. Even in the distance we could see snow capped mountains. We climbed for the entire day gritting our teeth, clenching our handle bars, and pumping hard to get up the various twists and turns of the mountain road. Em even said at one point her stomach muscles were trying to peddle. There was even still a head wind taunting us, forcing us to peddle down the couple short declines we encountered. It was the type of day were you are no longer peddling with your legs but with your mind. We shacked up for the night in a small mountain town, just where the road turns downhill (for the most part). The next day was glorious we flew down in seconds wiping the turmoil of the day before completely away. Crete will get us in shape quick.

Lesson Number Three: Rain
Em recently read that Crete has 300 days of sunshine. To say the least we found some rain, it is the end of the rainy season. Our fourth day of riding was beautiful, we all really enjoyed it. While smoothly riding downhill along slowly sloping river valley we chatted about how much we liked it, how much we enjoyed the beauty of Crete. The Crete we rode threw these past couple days is a blanket of olive tree fields sprinkled with yellow flowers and a touch of sheep and goats, interspersed with wild rugged looking mountain landscapes and small villages. We laughed and reminisced as we turned a corner and started to climb, our pace was halted our cheer interrupted. We had a late start in the morning wanting to check out a map store and a bicycle shop, so we had a lot of miles to cover in a shorter time. We continued to peddle hard. Rain drops started to sprinkle our heads. When the rain really started comping down I stopped to wait in a large town under some shelter. Georgia arrived next, she had to pee and went off on a mission. Em and Gen appeared soon after. "Georgia's peeing I" said first. Em retorted quickly "I just fell really bad.". The story was recounted. Em was traveling around a downhill corner and in combination with the slick roads spun out. She slid thirty feet down the hill still attached to the bike. Gen saw it all, cars slowed and luckily didn't hit her. Emma's fine, as she say "I'll heal my gear wouldn't." She ripped her pannier, which is now nicely repaired, or so we think. The combination of rain was curse but also a blessing, it made her slip but if the road wasn't wet she probably would have been a lot worse off. Pavement is sticky in combination with fast moving flesh. We are lucky she is okay and happy to be on the road again with showers passed.

Pictures: Gen looks small compared to the looming mountains; Gen and Em with their Valentines Day gifts; Some Valentines Day graffiti; Emma's heaven , a map store; and Gen and Georgia's morning surprise.