Flying, biking, sun & beer!

Berga was looking good for Monday and then the Tranmuntana, north wind was forecast to increase as the week goes on. Arriving on Segunda Maria at 13:30 the cycles, well weren't really cycles at all, just a constant thermic wind with no lulls between the stronger bits. We sat it out in the sunshine as Merlin played with what pups play with on a huge cowpat riddled field ;-)
After much ummming & ahhhring there just didn't seem any good reason not to fly. I worked on the assumption that so long as I could get away from launch cleanly it didn't matter if it was horrible in the air - I can deal with that, I'd just go and land! A good A&C's launch made it all look lovely and then I got in a right muddle with my kocoon! Somehow I managed to get my feet inside the tension straps of the kocoon & sat with my toes hanging in the bell-end and no way of getting back in the harness! A good deal of fiddling wriggling and swearing I was 'sort-of' in and decided just to fly for as long as I could before the feeling went out of my feet from being at a very strange angle against the disassembled footplate. I worked on the theory that if this happened in a comp I'd need to sort it out in the air so this was just practice for that eventuality.After about 30minutes of soaring and thermalling above launch my feet didn't belong to me any more and the wind was strengthening. As I dashed over to and climbed up above Primera Maria a few guys stood on launch were looking very puzzled. I later found out that the 'local legend' Jordi had decided it was far too strong to fly.
Spanish machista takes a real pounding when the only pilot in the sky is a chica! :-0
The rest of the week has been beautiful and sunny but slightly on the windy side at altitude so I've been out on the bike exploring new routes in the forest. I've now got a quick daily 10km circuit of 25% gentle uphill, 25% serious downhill, 25% moderate uphill and a nice slide back home. After a quick bask on the terrace this afternoon in the 30+ degree sunshine with a cold Corona and its now back to more planning for the Axis Mountain Masterclasses next month.