#91: 1,400km of cycling, climbing 14,000m of elevation over 78 hours of saddle sores
Happy Friday! Okay so it's not actually the day of Friday, but I reckon 'Friday' is more a state of mind...
How do you sum up two weeks of doing almost nothing but cycling and refuelling?
We've cycled from Ljubljana in Slovenia, through the hills of Croatia, the plains of Hungary and the free ice creams of Romania to Sofia in Bulgaria. That's about 80 miles a day for 12 days, with one day off in the middle to stumble around Timisoara in a daze and eat.
Sitting here now, in the cool of the shade of a fig tree, it's time to wonder what will stay with me. Memories being what they are, what I write in the next 20 minutes may very well come to define my whole experience. So strap on your safety goggles and let's see what comes.
Thighs of Steel are an extraordinary collection of people. As their tagline says, they cycle really far and for good reason. The first half of that sentence should not be underestimated and the second cannot be overstated.
Even with my experience long distance touring - when cycling around Britain I averaged over 70 miles a day for two months straight - this trip was tough. The days are relentless: from dawn to dusk we were solely focussed on delivering 100-140km of safe group riding.
Together we cycled 1,400km and climbed 14,000m of elevation over the course of about 78 hours in the saddle. No one was left behind and, thankfully (almost incredibly), there were no serious accidents.
We faced 34 degree heat (hello heat stroke) and rabid dogs (only one bite) as well as thunderstorms and sandstorms. Every day was a ride into the unknown and every wild camp spot was found with crossed fingers.
But it worked. And it didn't just work, it worked with good humour, patience and enormous generosity. Not only on the part of the indomitable core Thighs of Steel team and our fellow cyclists, but also from all the people we rode past along the way.
The Romanian kids who spent their pocket money to buy us all ice creams, the old woman in Hungary who passed us a huge bag of fresh plums, the countless doors that were opened so we could fill our bottomless water bottles, the man who gave us a watermelon, the mineral water factory owner who gave us free samples, the mayors who gave us permission to camp on football fields and on the grounds of a holy spring, the Slovenian family who let us pitch in their garden and welcomed us with a basket of fruit, the Bulgarians who taught us the words for 'water' and 'please'.
A journey like Thighs of Steel cannot possibly happen without stunning hospitality from those whose land we cycle through. After the third consecutive day of gifts of ice cream in rural Romania, we made a vow. Be more like them.
~~~
As for the good reason, collectively the Thighs of Steel riders raise £50-80,000 to pay the rent and bills of Khora, a refugee community centre in Athens. No one wants to fundraise for a building: where's the glamour in that?
But without Thighs of Steel, Khora couldn't exist in bricks and mortar or serve with dignity a community of hundreds of refugees every day of the year.
That word, dignity, is important. One small example is the Khora policy that no one should have to queue for anything. At the cafe, refugees are seated, as they would be in a restaurant, and their meal is brought to their table. At the Free Shop, refugees make an appointment so they can pick up what they need in peace with only a few other 'customers'.
It doesn't sound like much, but for people who are used to interminable waits, it means a lot.
Thank you for your support and I look forward to finding new ways to share this with you all in the near future.
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who has put money into the Khora pot. If you need proof, it's on Strava / my tanlines / mosquito bites / steely thighs.
Possibly my favourite day of this week - good climbs, good company and a campsite next to hot springs (who says it's all hard work!)
>> INPUT
Rabies jabs (thankfully not for me).
Free ice cream.
Fresh mountain spring water from holy shrines.
Shopska salad (basically Greek salad, but cheaper).
Mosquito teeth.
OUTPUT >>
Abu Falafel (August)
Diavata Camp, Thessaloniki (August)
...COMING UP...
A return journey of three days, two coaches, a 70km bike ride, one ferry and two trains.
Everything's Mobs, Episode 4 of Foiled, 18:30BST on Monday. WARNING: Contains glitter cannons.
Now On: The Victor Frankl 5-a-day Book Club!
Membership Criteria: Read 5 pages a day of Man's Search for Meaning to complete the whole darn text in only 28 days. I'll be tootling through the text at just 5 pages a week, so you've got plenty of time to catch up.
Day 17
Today's pages (p88-91, a wee bit shorter) are recollections of a speech that Victor Frankl gave to his fellow prisoners at the end of a particularly hard day. The prisoners had chosen to go without food rather than give up one of their number to the guards, and so were particularly hungry, tired, cold and irritable.
Frankl was called upon to give some words of encouragement, and he began with a very Stoic observation, that 'our situation was not the most terrible we could think of'. Losses of health, family, happiness and fortune were all replaceable in the future. He quoted from Nietzsche: 'That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.'
Although Frankl estimated his chances of survival at only one in twenty, he also pointed out that 'no man knew what the future would bring, much less the next hour'. So there is no reason to lose all hope.
Frankl also gave the prisoners comfort by reminding them of the past. He quotes from a poet: 'What you have experienced, no power on earth can take from you.'
Not only our experiences, but all we have done, whatever great thoughts we may have had, and all we have suffered, all this is not lost, though it is past; we have brought it into being. Having been is also a kind of being, and perhaps the surest kind.
Meaning is also to be found in the present: 'the hopelessness of our struggle did not detract from its dignity and its meaning'. Whoever it was looking down on the men, whether a friend, wife or a God, 'would hope to find us suffering proudly - not miserably - knowing how to die'.
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We continue next week...
Much love,
- dc
CREDITS
David Charles wrote this. David is currently gallivanting around Europe and will be talking to refugees in Greece. He is also co-writer of BBC Radio sitcom Foiled, does copywriting for The Bike Project and is almost always available for work. davidcharles.info // @dcisbusy
Comic by Tonci Zonjic at To-Zo.com