Kocaçeşme > Biga (94km)

[Originally posted Oct 10, 2014]

Katy here.

I have no qualms about it.  I am currently sitting in the lap of luxury at the Biga Palas Hotel in Biga, Turkey at 10am on Friday morning.  Where is Clayton you ask?  He left at 8 am and is slogging his way to Bandirma, Turkey; 75km northeast of here through a 25 km/h headwind and depending on the road, a crosswind which is actually much more terrifying than a headwind. (More on crosswinds later.)  We aren't splitting up permanently, we aren't getting divorced, we aren't ending our trip, and we aren't even mad at each other -- a pretty successful decision if you ask me.

Lap of Luxury in Biga, Turkey at Biga Palas Hotel.

One day left to Istanbul. 

Since Albania we have been fighting a mild headwind but the past three days it has gotten pretty brutal.  Add our arrival deadline to Istanbul to meet our shiny new DT Swiss hub, 300 km and you have quite the recipe for tough cycling. So I signed up for the noon bus departure for a whopping 5€ and told Clayton I would meet him in Bandirma where we will take the two hour ferry into the heart of Istanbul.  Plus my right knee has also been bothering me a bit so I am happy to take an addition rest day via a bus. Don't worry. My  knee should be fine.  Clayton on the other hand wanted to push onward and since it is possible for him to continue with the bike, why not? He will just get a few more funny looks with the empty seat on the back which isn't much considering all the funny looks we already get.

Vastness of Turkey

Gelibolu to Çardak ferry. Going in the backdoor to Istanbul.

Turkey has been great so far.  The Turks are incredibly hospitable.  Have you ever had a gas attendant bring you a chair and tea just for showing up?  However, their English could use a bit of work.  However, since we are the foreigners, our Turkish is what could use some serious work. In all the countries we have been to thus far we have been able to relatively understand some part of words and signs, but here in Turkey we are out of luck.  Luckily for us, we like trying new things and randomly choosing words on paper.

Tonight we will arrive in Istanbul.  There are many amazing things to see and we plan on spending 4 or 5 days so much more to come.

Quick note on the cross wind.

Picture this: A major wind is blowing us to the right so to compensate we lean hard left and pedal.  Chug chug chug.  Don't forget to picture our dependable frame bag which acts as a sail on our rig creating more drag to overcome.   Chug chug chug. Then whooosh... a Semi passes and shoves all the air forward and blocks the cross wind which then creates a vacuum and our tandem bike gets sucked to the left--right toward the Semi.  Then whooosh again, now the Semi is gone but off we go back swerving to the right with the cross wind. Put this on repeat. Quite terrifying. The redeeming thing is we have had a huge shoulder on a nicely paved road here so we are still being safe.

Clayton has done an awesome job captaining our tandem in all sorts of conditions and the cross winds lately are no different. I don't know if he has gotten much credit for it but it is tough work.  Those bags on the front are heavy and I am definitely confident in his ability. I am also glad it isn't me in the front!

Breakfast is included at the Biga Palas Hotel. Quite the spread.

Breakfast close up. Even french fries for breakfast. What?! This is a first. How many cheeses do you eat for breakfast?