In summary
- very cold morning, -2ºC as Michael and I set off together as the last ones out of camp
- progressively overtook most people along the way – almost caught up with Grant, but let him get ahead again and saw nobody else at lunch
- hills, hills, and more hills, then awesome long downhill through a gorge (later in the day)
- head winds from ~50 km which made it feel even colder
- stopped by a Turkish man in his German-registered Mercedes – not idea what he was on about, but he seemed might enthusiastic about us riding to Istanbul
- lunch set up the wrong way round with the shelter on the windward side of the van – doh!
- Jordan had fried up onions, tomatoes and chorizo which made for fantastic sandwiches (especially with cheese in) and they’d made a huge pot of apple tea which really helped with the cold
- town at 80km was manic as it was market day so people everywhere
- only rain of the day I avoided by sitting at a coke stop (bakery at one end, mini-market at the other, and çay-hall in between full if men playing cards – some sitting outside smoking, one of whom was a retired taxi driver from Istanbul who spoke really good English (much to the surprise of some of his friends it appeared) so we had a nice time chatting while the rain came and went
- had understood there was one (steep) climb at the end of the day but it turned out to be three!
- hotel for the night and Roger and I have gone halves on rooms of our own to get things dry
- took a wander round town which is really quite pretty
- walked up to the citadel above the town where I met many of the year 9 students from the local school (it was Saturday, so no school) a couple of whom spoke some English, but very typical 15y.o. kids
- couple of beers at the hotel, then dinner at nearby cafe – never been moved through a restaurant so quickly we were ‘in and out’ in about 20 minutes
- tent etc dry and laundry done by hotel so packed by bag and had an early night – these long(er) days of climbing take it out of you!
Stage 107 route notes
Riding data
| Total distance: | 124.72 km | Total Time: | 06:49:19 |
| Max elevation: | 1700 m | Min elevation: | 1094 m |
| Total climbing: | 1591 m | Total descent: | -1686 m |
| Average speed: | 18.28 km/h | Maximum speed: | 55.80 km/h |
View from my ‘tent’
Citadel above the town from my hotel window
At least the 15 year old boys were smiling – from experience they do that a little! Makes their mothers grab into the fact they’re going to be okay!