The Big Ride - Day 1, easy street

Quick guide:

Twitter: @Dai_Lynch

Periscope: David Lynch

This is an adventure blog. That's what we're calling our holiday. An adventure. We're not off to Spain to sit by a pool and watch the hours tick by. Oh, no.

We're off to achieve something. Sort of.

I won't waste your time or anything. We've all got stuff to do, books to read and people to see, and all that crap we seem to spend a lot of our lives doing. I'm writing this because I need to, mainly.

So what are we doing exactly? Well, my Dad and I are cycling from Leon to Santiago, in Spain (if that wasn't obvious). It's a UNESCO World Heritage route, apparently. Right now I'm sat in a hotel in Madrid and generally feeling pretty good about the many days of bum-aching cycling ahead.

There are a couple of reasons for this; mainly, I really enjoy cycling. I essentially use my bike to get everywhere I need to go so I'm on two wheels most days. Living in Cardiff means everything is within cycling distance, pretty much. Whether that's the cinema, work... the pub, the cinema. I can reach everywhere I need to go. That does mean I have to spend most of my year in shorts and I'm perpetually getting oil all over my legs, but hey, it's the price you have to pay.

My bike is a single gear. It's not a 'fixy', so I don't quite qualify for that level of hipsterdom, but it's hard enough to ride to ensure that I get a good workout where ever I go. That's why I'm generally feeling pretty confident about the ride ahead.

According to the Macs Adventure website (the company we've booked through; I don't know why there's no apostrophe either) we've got on average around 50 to 60km to do each day. Annoyingly, it's rather vague regarding the terrain of these days, but how hard can it be?

Though I said I'm feeling pretty good about things, my Dad is less so. In a well-meaning effort to get ready for our trip, he decided he'd take his bike to work one day. This resulted in a rather nasty crash.

Here's a picture of his bike after the crash. Not a pretty picture:

He's totally fine; the bike less so. As so often happens when riding a bike, a driver approaches a junction, looks both ways doesn't register the bike hurtling towards them and then attempts an early exit of the junction.

The only saving grace of a bump like this is that the car in question doesn't have to room to pick up too much speed. It doesn't, and didn't, stop the car destroying the bike and shoving Dad into the middle of the road, though.

Luckily, nothing was coming the other way. He got away with a rather nasty bruise to his side. Lucky, eh?

Here's a picture of him enjoying a beer on the first night:

He's feeling less confident about the self-described 'strenuous' ride ahead. I reckon we're gonna be alright. It can't be that hard? The route itself takes in the famous pilgrimage trail often taken by monks and the like (I've done some excellent research). It runs from Camino to Santiago, though we're picking it up in Leon (I know, we're totally cheating). It's been in use since the Middle Ages as a Christian route, but before that the Romans regularly utilised it for trade.

In my head Russell Crowe's Maximus galloped down it to find his wife and son murdered sending him on his gladiatorial killing spree, but that's just me. I've no idea exactly how hard this whole thing is going to be, but it should be a lot of fun.

The idea is that'll keep writing a little entry each day to let you know how it's gone. I'll also be on Twitter and Periscope at various times, but that's all dependent on wifi. Keep an eye on my tweets though, and I'll keep you updated.

That's day one done. Easy. Just a train to catch up to Leon tomorrow. I'll try to find out more about the history of the route and put into context exactly how sacrilegious and blasphemous we're being riding mountain bikes down it (kidding – but that's always a worry). Here's to day one - cheers.

It's been easy.

Kilometers ridden: 0 km
Worries: Quite a lot (we nearly missed the flight from Bristol due to traffic, but some skill-full driving by our National Express bus ensured we managed to scrape our way in).
Injuries: 0
Alcohol consumed: Three beers and two glasses of wine (yum).

Also, my name's David Lynch and my father is Nigel. Just thought I'd make that clear. If you're joining us for the week that's important information. See you tomorrow!