Tough!
My first stage starts with little confidence. First, generally speaking, I don’t feel confident about the trip. My state of mind isn’t the best, and not for any particular reason. I just find it hard to think about all these days on my own. As if it were my first time! And second, the traffic chaos in Tbilisi scares me a bit: getting out of the city could be dangerous and it’s going to take me a good while. Although maybe this second fear is just a consequence of my state of mind.
But here I am, and it’s time to start what took so much effort to plan. I leave the hotel and follow the route I downloaded from the bikepacking website. You can tell a lot of work has gone into it. I hardly ever end up on main roads, and I keep to small streets where the traffic is lighter. It’s also true that I spend the day going up and down, while the main road runs comfortably along the flat. But I can ride in peace, and that’s what matters. Until, at one point, it takes me far off the main road onto a dirt track that turns out to be blocked on the way down, and I have to turn back. Looking at the route again, I see it goes a bit crazy, so I decide to try my luck on the main road. Yes, the traffic is crazy and drivers see bikes as something that shouldn’t be there… but I ride fast and come out in one piece.
The buildings disappear and I reach another busy road, which I quickly leave to head into the first ambush of the trip. The route turns off into the hills, where you can barely make out what must once have been a path. Neither the gradient nor the surface lets me pedal, so I push the bike… for far too long. The vegetation is tall and very dry (and angry!), and it clings to my bare legs, sticking me with every kind of thorn: long, short, hook-shaped… It leaves my legs looking like a cat has sharpened its claws on them. But right now what worries me most is whether the sealant in my tyres will hold; I wouldn’t like to start the trip taking out the tubeless setup to fit an inner tube. Did I mention the sun is merciless? Not a scrap of shade, of course.
Once this climb is over, things don’t get any better. The vegetation covers everything, and I even have to walk the descents. After that comes a brutal up-and-down following the route of a gas pipeline, with a horrible surface and impossible slopes. This is definitely not what I was looking for. I don’t even feel like taking a photo, although, come to think of it, there isn’t much to photograph anyway. At last I spot the main road on the GPS and flee towards it. This road has a decent surface and very little traffic. I don’t see the point of crossing the hills pushing the bike. From here to the finish, I’ll stick to the road.
Back on the road, I make a pit stop to buy some food and fill up with water. From here to the finish, nothing worth mentioning.
The hotel in Aranisi surprises me. Modest on the outside, but beautifully kept inside, with excellent WiFi. I have a shower, lick my wounds and get ready for tomorrow’s stage, where I hope to see prettier places.