March 20th - Back in the saddle
Mood:  not sure
Topic: Ruminations
Runners who are especially dedicated to running talk about the "runner's high" - a Zen-like state which allows them to basically zone out and think of nothing but the task at hand when they're out running. It's what I need now, but the truth is, I've been parked in front of my laptop for six hours, working on the website and the blog.

I had a rough weekend. It got off on the wrong foot on Friday when my editor at the local paper had a (fully justified) go at me for being exceptionally late with an article... and then to top it off, I had words with my boss about whether e-mails should be written in bullet points or in full sentences. (What can I say? I'm a former ESL teacher. Bullet points are for wimps who can't handle their non-defining relative clauses.) First time out in three months on Friday night (watch dem gin&tonix); ran into an old boss; the guy I hit on hasn't called me; superhangover on Saturday; then another sarcastic e-mail from the editor this morning about the article. And it struck me yesterday that, for the little money I get writing for this particular paper, I might as well strike out on my own and do my own thing.

So here it is. I'm not saying that it's going to be the best blog you've ever read in your life, but I hope it proves to be informative and fun, that it inspires you to get back on your bike and to travel around - one of the greatest uses of bikes...and you don't have to pay some guy in Boston tons of money to set you up with a trip. Between the website and the blog, I hope to provide people who want to travel by bike with some practical information on how to get across Spain on two wheels. Obviously, those of you who are dedicated cycle tourists aren't going to sweat the small stuff; you're used to sleeping rough in forests, camping, fixing flats in the middle of nowhere.

And I'll give you the inside line on what it's like to have one of those terminally cool jobs - cycle touring guide. It is a cool job, but it's a hard one, what with having to manage personalities, a boss who's having his first go at being a boss (and has some days which are better than others) and all the other technical stuff which doesn't flip you out when you're on your own, but which takes an especially cool head when you've got a whiny housewife from Florida, two teenagers itching to take the bike apart, and a couple who got into a little too much vino tinto at lunch. It's fun, but I would be lying if I said it was all fun and games. Sometimes the funny stuff doesn't come through until six months later, when you hear from a colleague that they had to dig the dad out of a ditch in the Dordogne because he fell off the road while riding drunk....or the whiny housewife walked off a tour of Ireland because she didn't realize that, whoops, Ireland is hilly....just like the Camino de Santiago is.

At any rate, I promise to keep THIS blog current. I promise to include as much information on biking in Spain - road racing, mountain biking, commuting - as much as I can; and, through the website, I'll do my best to keep you up to date on the development on new routes, new laws and new tendencies on biking in Spain.