Our flight departed JFK almost an hour late and we arrived safely Tuesday after a rushed connection in Madrid. The result was no luggage. Well, that put our Wednesday ride to Petra at risk since most of us had our pedals, saddles and bike clothes in our checked luggage. All except Jan, who planned ahead with a full complement carry on. However she, did provide an exceptional educational experience to the TSA folks in JFK about bike components when they made her empty her carry on and answer questions about all the “strange” things she had in the bag (pedals, tire lever, etc). Jan is checking through her bag to make sure she didn’t donate any “souvenirs” to TSA at JFK!
We did our best to stay awake and get on Mallorquin time, so we enjoyed lunch at Bar Hawaii with the local favorite, Jamon Serrano and Manchego cheese with olive oil....all the while contemplating how to ride bikes without pedals, shorts, jerseys - which were all in our luggage (except for Jan!)...
All is well that ends well as our luggage was routed to Palma on the next flight from Madrid. It arrived at our hotel before dinner enabling us to shower, change clothes and eat dinner in a more civilized fashion. We got together before dinner to celebrate arrival of our luggage.
Tomorrow our bikes arrive at 9 am and we plan to do a warm up ride to Petra, about 45 miles round trip. This will be a gentle ride without any mountainous terrain and our bodies should be close to being ready for the time zone changes and challenges of the mountains to the north.
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