Tag 20 (Aalborg, DK; Friday 99.04.30; odometer = 2285.5; distance = 118.9)
-- I hadn't really gotten to sleep when at 2:00, the cellmate shows up. He
made a bit of racket getting into bed and then more when he fell asleep. He
sounded like a Formula 1 rage. I can not sleep through that, and I didn't
so I got up at about 4:00 and didn't feel too bad about making noise. Once
under way, the big theme was wind. It was already coming from exactly 90
degrees from my left. I made it to Randers where I was hoping for
breakfast. I could find nothing, so I stopped at a gas station with a
better selection of porn videos than food (an astonishing collection
really). I should have had a tail wind component for the next bit, but it
didn't work out like that. I had a gradual wind shift and by the time I was
in Hadsund, it was worse than cross. In Hadsund, I found the main shopping
drag and NOTHING was open. Hmm ... I was too early in the last town, but
here I had plenty of time. Finally, I saw someone and asked -- national
holiday. Oh great. Happy Whatever It Is. So I went to a better gas station
and bought my day's meals. A few km out of town, I found some forest (wow!
in Denmark!). I went in the forest and ate my lunch (except the yogurt
which was horrible -- I dumped it). I actually had a little plastic box
sandwich which defied expectations and was good. Same with the pastries.
Those Shell stations are handy. Back on the road, I realized that things
had gotten very ugly. The wind was now out of the NW and raging. It was
like Colorado/Kansas wind -- absolutely blasting. I struggled in my lowest
gear as if I was climbing the Gottard Pass -- but not many Swiss passes
last this long. Having such a strong cross component, I was weaving like
crazy in the heavy traffic that was, of course, oblivious to my peril. I
stopped to take a photo of some bending flag poles when a guy ran out and
down the road. As I resumed, following, I was immensely gratified to see
that a caravan had blown over behind a car. Now that's wind! On the
outskirts of Aalborg, I knew exactly where to go. I had an unfailing guide
-- up wind -- DIRECTLY. So I struggled for the last 10 km or so to the
hostel there. There was some kind of motorcycle parade there, where several
thousand motorcycles rode around town. My plan was to get in the hostel and
sleep before any chain saw snorers showed up. I took a good map and then my
cellmate (1 of 2) showed up. He was Anders from Sweden. He was a CAD guy
and we talked quite a bit. He also gave me some earplugs (thanks Volvo). I
could see that the wind was dying down by 11:00 (but still cranking) when I
went to bed.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
