50km (1,149m vertical)
Short days ride into Turkey, but it was amazing scenery. In past years, it has been so hot that riders went to the hospital with heat stroke, but it was cool today.
Leaving the hotel everyone was cursing the barking dogs of last night. It was cool, overcast, and spitting with rain. The first 10km was a gradual uphill to the Turkish border. I got my visa for Turkey at the border for US$60. (Canadians paid the most for the visas. Americans only paid US$20 and New Zealanders were free. Where did Canada go wrong?) I even got the visa put on a page with other stamps, so I still have 3 blank ones for other visas.
After the border was a long downhill, which would have been great except that the road was under repair and had several sections of sold mud. Slippery stuff on slick tires in the rain.
The last 30km of the ride were just fantastic. Some of the best scenery of the trip. It was a series of short, steep, curving hills that let you carry a lot of speed from one to the other. I hit 72.9km/h again, matching my top speed for the trip. I would have taken more photos, but I was having too much fun racing up and down the hills.
Photos from today:
Looking back (and down) on Malko Tarnovo.
Bulgarian hills.
Arriving in our last European country.
Construction and mud make downhills dangerous.
Fred near the top of a Turkish hill, with more construction as well.
These are the kind of roads that I love. Amazing!
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