[post of
Sunday 2nd of September 2012]
Since
yesterday we stopped midway the stage, today we have to get over 100 km
counting what’s left over from the Shimanami Kaido and what we have to do for
today’s stage. Luckily through the Shimanami Kaido it’s easy to cycle. Better
said, luckily Ainhoa can cycle easily through it. Gabriel’s bike is nearly
gone. The bigger disk of the back wheel doesn’t work; the medium one only gets
you to put one gear, plus another gear on the small disk. The chain keeps
getting off and, as if that wasn’t enough, we also face a strong wind blowing
us backward. Would Gabriel’s bike last any longer?
We finish
up the Shimanami Kaido with the last 6 km as we cross the last bridge. We
arrive to the Imabari and visit the castle there… as if we had extra time to
spend wondering around, and there weren’t people waiting for us. Far away, we
see dark clouds announcing a storm… just what we needed!!!
From Imabari
to Niihama is pure plain road but Gabriel’s bike doesn’t get over 12 km per
hour, when it goes well. We cannot go on like this. Gabriel says that we’ll
stop at the first mechanic we see and, as always, the kamis are listening to us; five minutes later we see a mechanic for
bicycles along the road. Without thinking in what time is, we stop by and show
the bike to the mechanic; he practically fixes it up instantly. The cassette
had moved and the chain was getting off because of that; we had to change both
of them, revise all the gears, a little check-up… and the bike is brand new! We
move from 12 km/h to nearly 40 km/h, and we’re ready to get to Niihama before
night. Then it starts raining or, better said, pouring down like hell. At some
point there was so much water that it reached up to our calves. We’re soaked
with water, it’s already dark, and we have to find the house of our host, which
we find at 7,30pm. Hot shower, lovely dinner, some beers, and we’re recovered.
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