The sun was bearly peering over the hills, when that cyclist was on the road already. My goal was to leave maximum 50 kilometers to Selcuk by eavening, this would allow me to arrive there tomorrow by noon.
The roads where large, smooth surfaced, with bearable traffic and mostly dull. My remedy against that is putting my elbows on the handle bar, keep the head low and maintain a good pressure on the pedales while watching different parts of the bike in rotation - this is very hypnotising.
After Aliaga a headwind joined the party. It's blew once more, sometimes less and only stopped after Izmir. In Izmir I took the boat over the bay, to shortcut some 20 km of metropolis traffic madness. Before, through Menemen, I already had my dosis of dense urbanity. I though that it's will never stop and at some point the thought crossed my mind if this was already the suburbs of Izmir, which turned out to be almost the case: when at last the a road sign indicated the end of Menemen, I had to pedal only a bit longer before another road sign designated the entry of Izmir.
Both of these cities did not appeal to me and I was eager to leave them behind. But before I could do so it started to rain and the roads transformed into rivers. I changed into my diving suit and was determined to get away. I checked the weather forecast the yesterday and according to that the rain was two hours early. The clouds did not seem to have red their schedule for the day...
But on the other hand the 2.7 mm came down in one go and after an hour the sky cleared a bit. The low sun shone through beneath the clouds, illuminating them from below. And to complete this impressive scenery, two rainbows formed in bright colors.
I started looking out for a place to stay, when there was a bang followed by a skidding noise and a motor roller passed beside me - on its side. I turned to find the driver of the vehicle. Before I got down from my bycicle, the man was on his feet again. I joined him and offered some water. After some time, him fiddling with his engine, I decided he is all right and pressed on.
The houses got more sparse, but still I could not find a spot to squeeze in. finally I decided to go for Julies and Wills trick and asked at a petrol station. The one I picked had no nice spot to offer, but running out of options, I settled there for the night anyway.
The roads where large, smooth surfaced, with bearable traffic and mostly dull. My remedy against that is putting my elbows on the handle bar, keep the head low and maintain a good pressure on the pedales while watching different parts of the bike in rotation - this is very hypnotising.
After Aliaga a headwind joined the party. It's blew once more, sometimes less and only stopped after Izmir. In Izmir I took the boat over the bay, to shortcut some 20 km of metropolis traffic madness. Before, through Menemen, I already had my dosis of dense urbanity. I though that it's will never stop and at some point the thought crossed my mind if this was already the suburbs of Izmir, which turned out to be almost the case: when at last the a road sign indicated the end of Menemen, I had to pedal only a bit longer before another road sign designated the entry of Izmir.
Both of these cities did not appeal to me and I was eager to leave them behind. But before I could do so it started to rain and the roads transformed into rivers. I changed into my diving suit and was determined to get away. I checked the weather forecast the yesterday and according to that the rain was two hours early. The clouds did not seem to have red their schedule for the day...
But on the other hand the 2.7 mm came down in one go and after an hour the sky cleared a bit. The low sun shone through beneath the clouds, illuminating them from below. And to complete this impressive scenery, two rainbows formed in bright colors.
I started looking out for a place to stay, when there was a bang followed by a skidding noise and a motor roller passed beside me - on its side. I turned to find the driver of the vehicle. Before I got down from my bycicle, the man was on his feet again. I joined him and offered some water. After some time, him fiddling with his engine, I decided he is all right and pressed on.
The houses got more sparse, but still I could not find a spot to squeeze in. finally I decided to go for Julies and Wills trick and asked at a petrol station. The one I picked had no nice spot to offer, but running out of options, I settled there for the night anyway.
