It’s 8am and I’m rushed out of the wierd Irun Albergue… Some would say “kicked out”. It felt like that anyway. So in protest, I took my sweet ass time to find the border and get on my way… the start of the day was a bit frustrating, I think there is a direct correlation to the amount of sleep I get and my mood the next day… because I got near to zero sleep in the twenty bunk room where all the fifty plus year old pilgrims took turns to go to the bathroom and snore… I also did a bit of snoring… didn’t want to be left out.

I needed a good day… not that I deserved one, but I needed one all the same… maybe I deserved one… I’m not quite sure how that works…

The morning ride was good for the first 17kms and then my front tire went half flat again… it was kind of holding air but also kind of not… I googled and luckily I was about 4kms away from a bike shop… I pumped the tire up as much as possible and counted down the metres and seconds to the shop… made it! This little shop was a real rollercoaster… at the entrance the guy saw me and started waving and talking in Spanish telling me his objections that I couldn’t understand… I protested and said I just need a new tire, pointed to them on the wall… silence, he looked at me and then went over to the wall, and then let me in the shop, and then warmed up a little more, and then set me up at the back of the shop to change out my flat and I even got a coffee hahaha! What a rollercoaster… also he showed me how to put my fat tires back on and literally did it in under 5 seconds… what takes me half an hour to do!!!! My mind was blown!

Today I get to share a room and a bed with a very animated old French man, so I will make this days update quick… morning was a nice ride with some climbing but nice… in a place filled with cyclists, like the hardcore kind, got a lot of waves and was ignored as well… rest of the day was tiring… and had to deal with a lot of traffic… and was very tired and hungry for the whole afternoon… I stopped a bunch and tried to refuel but didn’t get good… also front tire lost air on a descent and I have one of those tubes with sealant in it so I guess it fixed itself???? I don’t know and it’s bugging me…

The morning ride was so fantastic… 30 odd kilometres of just dedicated bike paths and walking trails… all the way into the heart of Bilbao… so many waves from other bikers, saw another guy loaded up like hell and felt good about my set up :) that dude probably lives on his bike though… anyway the ride was awesome, I even got a section that was on the coast and perfectly paved and so easy to navigate… One road all the way into town… It feels good to not have to look down at your phone map for long periods of time and just ride.