“For me riding a bike is about the expansion of my heart and my mind.”
The cyclists reflect on their experiences during the third section of the Olive Route Cycling Tour from Bordeaux, France to Lisbon, Portugal. From Bordeaux, the riders head south along the Atlantic Coast on quiet country roads and through fragrant eucalyptus forests. Crossing into Spain, they marvel at the spiritual atmosphere of the small towns along the Camino de Santiago before entering Portugal. The cyclists are happy to be off the traditional tourist route which allows them to see things they might not have had a chance to experience otherwise.
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Once we left Bordeaux, we had a we went to a place called Beeritz and that was a bit like the Amalfi Coast, not in appearance, but in woweness factor. Once we got to the coast, it was absolutely gorgeous. I think the big surprise for me so far is that it’s so green here. I’ve loved cycling through the forests, the eucalyptus forests, and when it was the misting, and you could smell the eucalyptus, it’s like it’s quiet. The roads were almost like they’re being prepared for a tour to France race is ridiculous. There’s a deep religious significance to the town. So, the town has a real spirituality to it. Married with a group of people of all shapes and sizes who have arrived there and are ready to party. And so, th those two things come together in Santiago. And it’s really cool. [Music] There should be a word for when you you take the slope and divide it by the width of the road and then multiply it by the coefficient of the little cute houses. And Portugal has a really nice road road delightfulness coefficient factor. For me, riding a bike is about the expansion of my heart and my mind. I find that you learn a lot about yourself. You end up being able to go to places which aren’t maybe on our tourist radar. You’re seeing places that you might not otherwise go to. It’s a fantastic opportunity to to see and do things which you’ve never uh thought to see and do before. You know, we had a cyclist. He didn’t want to do it. Congratulations. At the end, he wrote a quote where he said, “Before I went on a tour, I had 1,000 reasons why not to do this. After the tour, not one of them was good. You should be. It’s been a good trip.” Two and a half months ago, I showed up. I had never done a TDA trip. I thought, “How am I going to ride through a country? I don’t speak a lick of the language.” And I was really nervous. TDA helped me grow um as a as a cyclist and a person and a traveler. But it helped me grow within this protective family. We are this weird lumpy or organism family that I’ve gotten to know people really really well. [Music] [Applause]