A Clay/Mud Bicycle Slog - November 6, 2020

 Chirivel, Spain November 6, 2020

What a slog we had today. Herman and I decided to take a spin on our bikes in the agricultural area connected by a series of dried river beds "ramblas" which serve as roads for when it is not raining. Our ride started off gloriously as we peddled our way up a slight incline on a gravel road below the house (which is named Domilon or "Sleepyhead"). After a solid hour of riding, we came to a small town called Aspilla and decided it was time to circle back. We headed down a small road that dead ended into a grove of almond trees on one side and a hay field on the other. The ground all around had been recently plowed. Consulting the handy "Here We Go" mapping app, we could see that there was another road just across the field, so we made a huge mistake and started riding through the almond trees towards where the road should be...after a short distance, we started slogging in red clay mud. It caked the tires and when we could no longer pedal and stepped off the bikes, the mud adhered to the soles and sides of our shoes, forming 5 inch platforms in no time. As our shoes became heavier and heavier, the bike tires (also caked with clay) completely stopped rotating! We were stranded in the middle of a field without the ability to move forward or backwards. I literally could no longer lift or move my bicycle either direction! Herman gave up pushing his bicycle at this point and with a loud grunt hoisted it over his shoulder and started wading through the clay towards the "road". Once there, he came back and picked up my bicycle which was even heavier. I clomped and slid my way out of the field with relief to reach the "road". We cleaned off the tires and our shoes using almond tree twigs. The mud was caked in the breaks and under the fenders. When we remounted our bicycles and tried to ride, in no time, new clay mud adhered and clogged the breaks again. Repeat cleaning with sticks, ride a short distance, repeat...this went on for about 30 minutes without us making much progress. Finally we had a break through idea. Turning over the bicycles and using a pocket knife, we removed the wheels and fenders. Then we gave the bicycle a good scraping out and remounted the wheels. The fenders we stuck in a backpack. That worked and we were able to ride out to a gravel road. My arms were super sore from pushing the bike the following day! Two days later it took Herman about 3 hours to clean the bicycles. 








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