We got off to an earlier start than I thought necessary with a hotel breakfast at 0630 and in theory a bus departure at 0700. We finally left at 0745 which made getting up at 0600 seem even more pointless!
Once we were underway actually getting out of Tehran didn’t take that long and we were soon passing even larger half-built complexes of apartment blocks
Michael made an interesting observation that it seemed to be the steal-framed blocks which were stalled, while concrete-only blocks seem to still be progressing, so we wondered if the sanctions had prevented the flow of steal necessary to complete things.
Stops at two police checkpoints, for a pee break, fuel for the ute carrying our bags and we were eventually at our ride starting point shortly before 1100.
The plan had been to have lunch then start riding but that was revised slightly to ride for 15km, have lunch, then continue, so once the bikes were unloaded the lunch truck set off to flag the route and get set up while we got ready and had rider’s meeting, for which a number of local people joined us
I’m picking it was all lost on them, but they listened all the way through.
The riding section of the day is about as straight forward as the driving section had been – follow route 32 until we get to the hotel on the right then set up camp.
Stage 93 route notes
As we were about to set off Phil discovered that he had a flat tyre so Michael and I helped him get that changed and sorted before we departed. The first few kilometres were out in the countryside, but we soon got into the edge of Qazvin where they’re in the process of building a new elevated road above the current road and consequently creating traffic mayhem which we had to wend our way through.
It’ll be great when it’s done!
The lunch truck had also got caught in the traffic so although we’d been pretty slow leaving even by the time we got there lunch wasn’t ready so we hung out for a while with a group of children who were riding and roller-blading up and down the pavement.
While we were at lunch the wind increased somewhat and it looked like it was going to be behind us when we set off again, but in the end it was much more of a side wind than anything – and boy did it get gusty at times!
I gradually overtookĀ most other riders and ended up heading into camp with Jackie, Erwin and Paul (who returned from his holiday from his holiday in Tehran) to find we’re in a semi-enclosed courtyard under some trees – as TDA camps go it’s not bad, and I’ve managed to position myself right in the back corner so that I’m as sheltered from the wind as possible.
The advantage of camping at a hotel is that we have two rooms between us where we can use the bathrooms, where there are plugs for charing things, and even outside in my tent there’s WiFi so I can get this post done š
Even with only a short ride the late start and the generally mucking about that’s gone on today it was still gone 1500 before I was in camp which made for a relatively short afternoon by the tie I’d got my tent up and had a shower.
It was ‘fish night’ tonight so Erwin and I swap dinner allocations – he generally hasĀ a vegetarian dinner but does eat fish but Mark knows to cook for the same number of vegetarians, it’s just I have that dinner instead of Erwin. After a cup of tea Michael and I wandered off to the store up the road for an ice-cream.
That said, I think it’s going to be fairly cool overnight tonight – I’d put my fly on, but had intended to leave it rolled up however I’ve just pulled the sides down for added warmth – I’ll let you know in the morning!
Riding data
View from my tent
Not up to much tonight!
Well, fancy seeing seismic isolater in er… um… wherever you are right now.
Fancy indeed! It was the outskirts of Qazvin in Iran, about 120km north west of Tehran.