March 22, 2012

Day 2 - still traveling!

I arrived in Zurich at about 7am local, I don't know if that is 2 or 3 am at home. I just know it doesn't feel quite right. I took a 3 minute subway ride from one terminal to another then found the business lounge. At the counter I was told that there was no gate designated for my flight yet, but that it would probably be in terminal A. I had almost 3 hours to kill. I had seen Heather from our group when I boarded in Montreal but I haven't seen her since, I expect that I'll see her again when I board the flight to Malaga.

At the business lounge I put my name down on a the waiting list for a shower and got a WiFi code. I quickly finished up my day 1 blog and emailed it to Linda along with some pictures. Then I surfed the net until my turn was called for a shower. That was nice, being able to clean up and shave while travelling. And I didn't have to squeeze into some mini airline version of a washroom either. Then I finished watching the movie I started on my last flight. That took me to 30 minutes to boarding so I took a walk through the terminal and headed for my gate which was finally designated. Inside the terminal there are Ducati motorcycles everywhere, some kind of exhibition of their latest models and race bikes. I know lots of people who ride motorcycles, but most of them ride Harley or cruiser type bikes. These Ducatis are much more my style. If I didn't already have an addiction to riding bicycles I could definitely see myself riding one of these. They are beautiful. There were lots of places to window shop - name brands were everywhere I looked: Cartier, Breitling, Gucci, plus all the usuals.

I finally boarded my last flight at about 9:45. I had an aisle seat but the middle one has a shelf in place of the seat, and no one showed up for the window seat. So when boarding was complete I scooted over to the window and had the row to myself. Snacks and drinks were offered, then we had a full meal. The meal was chicken with pancetta, julienne vegetables, salad, roll, cheese, and a dessert. And a beer of course, I was offered "a Swiss beer or Heineken", since Heineken is the worst beer I've ever had I tried the Swiss and was not disappointed. Afterwards I was offered coffee and chocolates - how Swiss is that? There is nothing special about business class on this flight. The seats are the same size though no one has a neighbour right on their shoulder. Not sure if economy got the meal or not, I expect that they did. But the service is pretty good. 

 

Finally! Arrived in Malaga. At the airport they, of course, taxied to the furthest gate. It was a long walk to baggage collection. I fully expected to have to go on a hunt to find my bike but soon it was coming out with the luggage on the carousel. I think it took the luggage less time time to get the baggage area than it took me to walk there. Impressive. Not so impressive for Heather who was on the same flight but had to wait until the last thing had been sent through. At least it wasn't lost. I found Richard waiting outside arrivals along with Gerrod and Colin, and Andy's daughter Nathalie. There was another group arriving on another flight shortly so we waited for them. Before long Jamie, Roxanne, Francine, Dan, Tim and Erika had arrived. (But there was some luggage missing: Colin's suitcase and Jamie's bike?)

Back at the camp (or Inn, or Resort, whatever) I assembled my bike and others did the same. We wanted to get a ride in this afternoon. There was some trouble with Roxanne's seatpost binder, but eventually we had it sorted and we headed out. As Richard put it, it was a ride to nowhere, we headed out on a short loop to get the blood flowing, and for Andy to get a feel for the relative strength of the group so he could better prepare for our rides. There I was doing all the familiar routes from near Andy's place, a year later. Yes the hills are just as hard as I remembered. But it is oh so much better than riding the rollers in the basement. Prior to going a few of us got to know each other and there was the usual banter about how poor shape people were in, so I'm calling bullshit on some of these people. They are way stronger than they lead me to believe. They know who they are. We rode through the local towns and through the quarry, with some nice winding downhills to add some spice. Richard explained to Gerrod about the usual sprint to the gas station at the end of the ride. Gerrod seemed determined to take it, and I was fourth wheel behind Gerrod, Dan and Richard. As Gerrod took off the front I noticed that he wasn't accelerating anymore. So I went for it and beat him to the line. He called foul, that the finish line wasn't specified. Fine, I can do it again tomorrow.

This was a lot later than our usual rides would be, and it was already cooling off. Some people got in the hot-tub, I took a shower and got ready for supper. Promptly at 8pm dinner was served: Salmon with potato salad, salad greens, wine, and fruit salad with ice cream for dessert. (I forgot to take my camera with me to dinner, Linda will not be pleased;) We sat around gabbing but not for long. Most of us were missing sleep from the last couple of days of travel. But we did take the time to figure out that we were doing 140k tomorrow, with The Church of Pain as the major climb, more on that tomorrow.

As I sit here, in bed at 11pm, I realized how quiet it is. This is vacation. This is fantastic.