The Algarve Trip's been done!! Read about it...
Well, we did it! 520km to the Algarve with only 15 hours of pedalling, 5 flat tires and one sick Canadian (sore throat the whole way, upset stomach at lunch on Day 1). Despite that little adversity, though, it was EASY! I guess we were in good shape.
The trip started April 25 at 7:30 am in the cool fog of Sao Joao da Madeira, just south of Porto. The fog lifted after a couple of hours and we had sun the rest of the way. It got hotter and hotter and I was in shorts and tshirt most of the way. Each day was about 5 hours riding in the morning, followed by lunch and another 2 or 2.5 hours in the afternoon. Didn't take as long as we thought, which was really nice. We had a car with us along the way to carry our extra water for us, so we stopped every 2 hours or so to change our water bottles and continue along the way. Most of the ride was fairly flat, so it just rolled along at a great speed (average of 33 or 34 km/h).
We got to the Algarve (Albufeira, between Lagos and Faro) in sun and probably 25 degrees, spent the next day on the beach and eating some wonderful food - Portuguese and Brazilian. After the day on the beach, since we just wanted more, we did a 36 km ride just for fun!
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