It was an early start to get out of Tirana to head a 2 hour drive away to the bikes in Pogradec.
The day before, we were reliably informed that it rarely rains in Albania, yes that’s right, yet we had really heavy rain on the coach journey. However, by the time we got to the bikes, the rain had stopped.
So with the bikes all set up, Albania cycling shirts displayed and Ted strapped to his bike by today's lucky person Simon Jukes, we had our usual pre event photo with The Openwork Foundation banner. Ramon Puig led the warm-up with lots of stretching, a bit of massaging and then we were off.
3 kilometers in and the one and only puncture of the day was Donna Melrose.
The first big climb of the day was a test for us all, especially our new cyclists, yet they all passed with flying colours.
Our event leader Colin Lovell, is a little generous with his description of the route - when he says a distance, it can occasionally be longer!
Today, we had the longest ever 15 kilometers to lunch which:
- was actually 30 kilometers
- had a few sneaky small climbs
- had a nasty headwind for a good part of it
- and involved some scrumping
Lunch on day one ended up being at 3pm, 46 kilometers into the ride and only 7 kilometers from our hotel. After which, we as a group completed the last slow ride to our hotel for the night in Korca.
Thank you to all our supporters, who have helped us to support vulnerable people.
You can do the same and support us as we start the challenge by visiting: https://openwork.enthuse.com/cf/owf-albania-2022