The Pan-Eurasian Bike Trip

I read a book recently where the main character always described everything as "just so f$%&ing real", everything was just so f&%$ing real. We were seated in our suits on the side of the street when Adrian pulled up and the only way I can describe that moment is so F%&$ing real.  For almost 8 months that life on Cape Cod has existed solely in my head, it was almost imaginary, when suddenly out of nowhere a real and tangible character stepped out of taxi into the Idiots world and just said "hey guys".  I am a week in and I still look over and want to pinch Adrian just to see if this is really happening.  And craziest of all he came to ride! He was introduced to our lives quickly as upon arrival we discovered that there was no bike for him to ride, even though he had rented one that was to be delivered to the hotel, there was nothing.  Our first bike trouble day off followed as we waited for the rental company to drive the bike all the way from Madrid to St. Jean, welcome aboard Adrian, you´re officially the Third Idiot.    It was awesome to see someone get excited for their first day ride, trying to figure out what to wear, how much should I bring to eat etc. Adrian was on cloud nine with excitement to get out there and it was catchy, Levi and I both got that same first day feeling which was nice.  The weather could not have been better, there had been snow in the Pyrenees earlier that week but as we climbed, we could only find little traces on the side of the road, we were in tee shirts Basque-ing in the sun climbing into Spanish Basque territory.  It was a long climb, we took it slow, but it was obvious that Adrian´s constant training meant he was going to fit in find with the Idiots.  Finally we reached the summit, marked appropriately enough with a church (there is a lot of praying when you reach the top of the Pyrenees and realize that was only the first 26k), it was the nicest day Levi and I had seen in months, you could see all the way down into the far valleys.  The day was finished with Adrian staying in his first pilgrim hostel, also probably the least pleasant of the whole trip, a cramped room with shaky bunk beds and a demonic shower.  Last time we were there a pilgrim walked in, took a smell and said "Ugh this place reminds me of Iraq", still not sure what that means but it seems to describe the hostel perfectly.
Levi and I had been really worried about what the weather was going to do, and we were hoping that Adrian´s first day or two might at least be not too miserable. We didn´t even remember the last time we had seen weather as nice as the next few days (probably Russia), it was amazing.  The beginning of the camino is one of the most beautiful parts anyway, but we spent 4 days just cruising, eating outside, something we hadn´t done in months, it was great and Adrian was fine with the pace.  We took a day off in Pamplona, discovered a street that seems to mimic certain "look the other way" policies of countries of Holland and Jamacia. Everything was going great.
Fast Forward 3 days...
"Whew that was a close one, I was going to stop whether you did or not here."
"Adrian you don´t need to worry too much, I will always stop every 20 k so that we can get the feeling back in out toes."
"Has it been this cold before on the trip?"
"Not really, usually it is about 3 degrees Celsius warmer but raining and windier"
But it was cold, real cold as we climbed up the mountain pass and the snow began to really come down. Things had changed, it was impossible to be on the bike more than an hour without warming up for an hour.  We got off the Camino and on to the quicker road, we were going much farther each day because we no longer stopped for coffees in the street, or hunted out stamps at churches. We just rode.  Finally one day it really began to snow, actually accumulating. Levi and I decided to take a day off, assuming that it would just be a little bit and tomorrow it would be gone or cleared and we could continue our ride.  We awoke to 6 inches on the ground and suddenly the bike trip came to a standstill in Carrion des los Condes, try as we might we could not stay on the bikes for more than a half pedal before falling in the snow.  We were supposed to head into the mountains in two days, be in Santiago for Christmas with some of Adrian´s family on the 24th and be in Porto on the 28th, snow, or at least a snow storm wasn´t in the schedule and I couldn´t seem to make it fit. 

We did what we had to do, and really what any reasonable person would do, we walked to the bus station (not without Adrian taking a "graceful" fall off the bike), and joined the 3 other pilgrims waiting for the bus.  We went to Leon to monitor the situation and forget our troubles on Leon´s "look the other way" street, with days fading fast we decided to go about 100 km away from Santiago and ride in from there and then go directly to Finisterre on the coast of Spain, that way we would miss the unridable mountain passes, but still ride to the ocean.  It didn´t make anyone particularly happy but it was a workable option that didn´t involve a complete bailout (did I mention that the weather forecast is rather heavy on the word snow for the coming days?).
Today we found ourselves on the train, on our way to a town in the valley between two mountain ranges, where we have to transfer to get over the next set of mountains.  We are spending the night here at a pilgrim hostel, the attendant seems to think that the roads are clear enough that we can take a main road through the mountains tomorrow. Might as well try right? Just gotta get down before the snow storm for Monday moves in, but that´s why I brought my road bike.