It Begins- The beginning ends

Well today I woke up to find myself in Rome, the last two days or so of traveling just feel like a blur or sitting, waiting, and flying.  We  arrived in Rome last night around 9 pm CET, and then with getting to the apartment we are staying at time quickly got away from me.  I tried to write a post late last night, but I decided going to bed sounded far better.  So I decided I would just write a quick post while my espresso brewed (percolated might be more correct... I googled how to use a percolator so hopefully it turns out good) in the morning.  Our last flight went well and all the traveling and such is now done with, we now have two days until we start biking (that is only slightly terrifying...).  Today we will be picking up the bikes from the shop, and walking around Rome a bit, as well as buying some essentials we didn't bring with us (oh and we need to get money... Ran into some issues with the ATM at the airport, so hopefully we can find some working ones in town).  I will try to write a post tonight after we get back from our wandering.  For now I will leave you with a picture of our first meal in Rome... 

 

 

It was late, everything was closed and that is all we could find in the apartment.  We hope to do better tonight.  That's all I have for now.  All the best and until next time.

 

n.b. The espresso turned out drinkable... But I think the term sludge would be more descriptive, and potent very very potent.

 

It Begins- Quick trip to London

Hello everyone! Ben and I decided to hop in to London during our lay over today, since we had to leave security anyway.  We grabbed a train and ended up at Victoria Station which was right by Buckingham Palace.  We decided to do our first touristy thing and walk to the palace and see it, and since we somehow have a special ability to visit locations during large events, we happen to get there just in time to watch the elaborate changing of the guard, along with about 1500 other friends.  It was pretty neat to see, but nothing too special.  Although as we were walking away from the throng of people I realized how glad I was that we were not doing all the touristy things, it was just so crowded. 

After the palace, we decided to hit up a pub, called The Phoenix Pub and Eating House, and grabbed a couple beers and lunch before catching our back to the airport.  The food in this little pub was great and the beers really refreshing.  It was interesting to observe, though that the beers here seem to be a lot lower ABV than the beers that we are used to in the States, around 3.5%-3.7%.  Well that is all I have for now, we are now just waiting for our flight to Rome to depart in about an hour and a half.  If I feel up for it I might write a quick post when we land and get to the apartment to let you all know we made it.  After today, I image the posting will become more so on a once daily basis.  All the best and until next time!

It Begins- We made it to London!

I think the title pretty much says it all, we made it to London safe and sound.  We landed about an hour ago, and we are currently waiting for the train into London to see a bit of the town and grab some lunch before our flight for Rome leaves.  The flight over the pond was largely uneventful and quite pleasant.  Below is a picture of our lovely plane, a small little puddle jumper.  Norwegian Air was actually quite nice, food was pretty good, the plane was nice, and the overall experience very pleasant.  That's all I have to say for now, I'll try to check in when we get back from London.

It Begins- Sitting in Boston

Hello all, so quick update we are sitting and waiting in the Boston airport (which is awful by the way... Crummy wifi and hardly any places to charge devices).  We are all checked in though and good to go.  We will be boarding in about an hour and a half.  So just a few more minutes to go and then we board Norwegian Air to fly London.  We have mostly been passing the time getting the last few things set up for the trip, and such.  You may notice on the blog a new page with interactive maps, which means I think I figured out how to incorporate them.  There are two maps of the routes we will be taking one for the Mainland Europe section and one for the Scotland section.  These maps should show you the route and elevation profile all while letting you zoom in and see the route more accurately and precisely, in case you are curious through what all towns we will be biking.  That's all I have for now, until next time.

It Begins- On the way to Europe

Today marks the day the trip officially begins.  I am sitting on the plane right now to Boston (no joke, you get free wifi on JetBlue with an Amazon Prime subscription), where Ben and I will meet up for our flight to Rome (well London then Rome).  Last night I had a nice little send off party with the family, enjoyed some delicious steak and great company.  I appreciate all the kind words and bests wishes.  I look forward to seeing them all again in about 7 weeks when I get back from this trip.

In terms of the trip, we are pretty much all set, or at least as ready as we will be at this point.  We still have some work to do for Iceland, but we have plenty of time in Boston and in London to figure out the rest of this stuff.  I will probably be writing a couple more posts today, they will just be brief little updates on how the traveling is going.  I also imagine I will be doing some work on the blog editing some pages, and seeing if somehow I can upload more of like an interactive map of the route (no promises but I will give it a shot).  Well that's all I really have to say for now, till next time.

4 Days 5 Hours Until it Begins

Well the title of the post pretty much says it all... There are only about 4 days and 5 hours (that is only 101 hours) left before I leave from Dallas to begin the traveling to Rome.  Kind of a daunting fact really, but I am ready and I am really excited.  I have been packing and repacking my panniers running through checklists to try and find out what I am forgetting (which I am sure there is something, there always is...).  I have not been riding on my bike at all since the last time I posted.  I have been really busy with moving people, selling stuff, and just generally getting ready to move back to Dallas, right before I leave for this Euro Trip.

Since my last post, Ben and I have done a fair bit of more planning, and at this point have most of our lodging locked down for the trip, which is a really nice thing to have finished.  The trip itinerary page on the blog has been updated and practically reflects what we will be riding.  That being said though, Ben and I have been talking about maybe breaking up our 115 mile day by spreading some of the mileage on the day before, that way we are not doing more than 100 miles for two consecutive days. Ben and I have also been working on trying to figure out what to do in Iceland and trying to figure that stuff all out.  We have not been too productive in this regard, as I have and will be really busy the next few days with moving and such.  But we have many hours sitting in airports and on planes in our near future so, it should not be too hard to figure out the rest during that time.  Well I think that is all I have for now, I just wanted to post a quick update.  My next post will probably be on Wednesday when we are leaving.  

Oh yeah and one more note, I graduated yesterday so that is awesome!!!

Update 05/05

Hello all.  Today I wanted to write a quick update as it has been a while since I last posted anything. This last weekend, unfortunately, the weather was very poor.  So I spent Saturday and Sunday in the gym at school just riding on the stationary bike.  One of the notable aspects of this weekend though was that we got the rest of the route to London planned, and put out feelers for lodging for that whole part of the route.  Also, I decided this weekend to buy SPD clip-less peddles and shoes.

The weather did improve come the week and I started to bike a bit more.  My first ride was Tuesday, and it was the first time I have ever ridden with SPD clip-less peddles.  It was a very short ride, and I am proud to say that I didn't fall. 

On Wednesday I did a bit longer of a ride around 40 miles.  This was my first longish ride with SPD clip-less peddles.  This time I did manage fall... I got to the top of a hill and was going to step off, and forgot I was clipped in... and I just kind of tumbled over.  Overall, though the ride was very successful, and riding with the new peddles did mark a notable increase in my speed and hill climbing ability.  Wednesday's stats will be at the bottom of this post.

Today, I just did a quick 10 mile ride and a couple rides to school and back.  All in all uneventful. The ride was cut short overall though since I met up with some friends for some beers around Golden.

The other big decision that Ben and I made was that we have decided to stop our ride in London.  We decided that we will ride into London and immediately catch an overnight train to Inverness in Scotland.  From there we will do short rides through the Scottish Highlands and Loch regions stopping at a couple Whiskey distilleries while we head South.  After about 5 days of riding, we will end in Glasgow and take a train back to London, where we will spend the last few days relaxing in London, before heading out to Iceland.  Once we get everything more finalized, I will post this information into the itinerary and post some more information on the route we plan to do in Scotland. I think that is all for now, some exciting days ahead.  So for now until next time.

Stats:

• Distance= 39.96 miles
• Time in saddle= 3 hours 6 minutes
• Elevation gain= 1669 feet

Elevation Profile