Pushing

There comes a time in every bike trip when continuing becomes less and less a question of will, and more and more a question of just putting your head down and getting on with it. Today was one of those days. Had we ridden yesterday rather than stopping in Haro, we would have had a lovely, wind-free day to head westward towards Aranjuez. No such luck. Windows of good weather tend to be very short at this time of year, and by the time we got started this morning, heading down to Santo Domingo de la Calzada to meet up with Julián (right), the wind had picked up, the clouds had moved in and the time to get upset about the weather had long gone. There was no other option except to keep moving westward as best we could.


And keep going and keep going and keep going. Even though it took an hour to cover the stretch between Santo Domingo and Grañón, which is just a couple of kilometres. Even though the skies opened up outside of Belorado and the rain fell horizontally, cold and icy, like having someone push handfuls of thumbtacks into your face. Even though hail (yes, again) provides you with a highly unusual but still good reason for wearing a helmet.

And there's nothing you can do but keep pushing on, really. Because what else are you going to do? You can't give up. You can't pack it in. You have a job to do and the only thing that you have to is keep going. Tears solve nothing (though it helps get rid of the rage and frustration at not being able to do more). You just keep moving and remember that you're not going to reach a bed, a hot meal, a place to change into dry clothing if you sit at the edge of the road and cry.