jon.bike

As I was riding south to Sagres, Portugal on a scary highway as the wife shoulder was ending, I rode by two bike tourists taking a photo break. I waved and zoomed by but then one of them, Luca yelled out to me, “hey! English?!” Feeling relieved he knew English I yelled back, “Only English!” Then he said, “Where the fuck are we?!” I laughed and we started glaring at our phones to get oriented. We found a nice route off the scary highway and rode together for a few miles. We made small talk and then Luca got a phone call. I was feeling like I needed to make more miles, so quickly said “I’m gonna go now, good luck!” Luca asked me what my average speed and daily mileage was. I told him I’m not keeping track.

Despite my faster pace, we found ourselves at the same campsite a few days later in Sagres. Laura suggested I spend a day there instead of keeping on riding. I thought about it a bit and decided to stay. It was hard to resist the urge to make miles. Luca and Laura had made a few other cycling friends the week before and they had rented a house not far from where we were camping. They invited us to a homemade lunch that day and I was invited as well. I felt nervous about joining a crowd I didn’t know, but I knew if I didn’t go I’d just be sweating it out at the campsite alone.

We rode our bikes about 20k over to Figuiera where their friends Fati, Caroline, Sandra and Martín were staying. We had an amazing lunch in the most mediterranean backyard I’d ever seen. I also had sardines for the first time, which are not for my taste, but I don’t think it’s the cook’s fault.

Then we walked about 1k down through a grape orchard to Figiera Beach. We hung out there for a few hours. I stayed in my cycling clothes the whole time, being stubborn about sunburns. There were several people nude on the beach though; that felt a lot like Europe me!

I hadn’t even heard of Cádiz until I heard that Luca and Laura were planning to finish their bike tour there. I decided I’d go through; it was along the way up the coast basically (initially I was planning to go north from Lisbon, but my friend Ben convinced me to go to Sagres and the Algarve).

The next day I thought I’d ride to Tavira, close to the Portuguese/Spanish border. Instead I was feeling stronger and went all the way to the border, only to get trapped in Portugal for another night since I’d missed the last ferry to cross over the Guadiana river into Spain. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t get across, but also a sense of accomplishment for traversing the bottom of Portugal in a single day.

The next day I rode into Seville where I stayed for 3 nights (more on that another time). Then I rode down to Cádiz.

It turned out the Luca and Laura were also going to be finishing up their tour in Cádiz the same day I was arriving there. After a bit of scrambling I found a room in a hostle in Cádiz for the same price as the Airbnb I had in Seville. Cádiz is small and expensive.

Luca and Laura and I met up the next day I Cádiz and we got to spend another day together exploring the oldest inhabited city in Europe. We connected about the challenges of bike touring as a couple (I had just done this in May). We all agreed that bike touring is very stressful on relationships. We compared our approaches to bike touring. Luca and Laura took a more relaxed pace with extra gear and stopped to see attractions often. Meanwhile I would just blow through towns and skip meals to make miles. I think both parties longed for the other’s approach.

I hope to see Luca and Laura again sometime on another bike tour. They’re a good model for how to actually “make” the miles I’m riding.

I stopped in at a supermarket in Comporta. Right then another bike packer named Nicola and his dog Dalton rolled up. He asked about my bike and we started chatting about bike packing. He told me he’d been bike packing for the last 3 years in Portugal and Spain.

I was immediately intrigued because it was my first day bike camping and I was nervous about where I’d wind up sleeping that night. I decided, “Hey this is my first day, do something crazy.” So I asked him if I could pitch tent at his camp that night. He said sure, and we rolled over.

As I was setting up my tent Nicola offered me a beer. He said he got a lot of food and drinks from the “recycled food” area at grocery stores. He showed me six pack of beer and a 5 gallon bag of red wine. I was impressed with how resourceful he was. The beer tasted just fine too.

Nicola was living simplest life of anyone I’d ever met. All he owned was with him at that camp. Just him and Dalton, riding around, free camping wherever. He didn’t have a job, phone, watch, street or email address. There is no way to contact him. He said he calls his mom about once a week using strangers cell phones. He doesn’t use any maps; he just asked locals about how to get to the next town and what’s there.

I asked him what he did for money. He said he had 5€ total at that point. When he needs money he makes crafts out of things he finds on the beach and tries to sell them. Or he goes to the supermarket and returns carts for tips for a day and he’s set for a while. There was no hint of yearning. He didn’t want a bigger lifestyle. He was content getting just enough as he goes.

The next day we had coffee at the beach and I headed further south. Nicola and Dalton go at a pretty slow pace because Dalton runs while Nicola rides. (that’s right, Dalton is a badass dog)

The next day I thought a lot about the difference between me and Nicola and a homeless person. I felt so spoiled with all my cycling gear. Maybe Nicola is homeless, but he is happy.

I made it to Lisbon a few days ago. I’m staying in the oldest neighborhood of the city, Alfama.

I’ve been recovering from jetlag and exploring a bit. I was so glad that my self-packed bike didn’t get damaged on the way over; all thanks to this video.

Lisbon has excellent bike paths. I rode along the coastline here from the April 25 Bridge down to the Vasco da Gama Bridge.

The apartment I’m staying in seems to be between a child daycare playground and a drug dealer. So, I’m hearing a lot of interesting things day and night. It’s quite annoying really, but I can live with it for a few days. It makes me want to get out of my apartment 😀

In a few days I plan to load up my bags onto my bike and leave Lisbon to ride down to Sagres.

Happy Birthday Diane!