Returning to Tolox

Katja is traveling to the US to bring Savannah and I am staying home with Felix and the puppies… (so if you want to send me something from the US now is the time..!) So I headed out today to see what I could do…

After all I had this playground…

Was my first ride since last Sunday and my legs were not happy for the first 2 hours of the ride.. Here is us entering the town of Tolox..

Is not a very long climb itself… 3.2 km and has some shade..

The gradients? Well…. 13% on the bents… If I remember it right

Remember my legs were not happy? So I told Jose to go..

I still had a way to go…

Jose while I was cresting looking at me like… What is wrong with you..?? (no strength today)

And this is how we got to the top.. Same way to go down..

The strava link for the ones that care.. Nothing impressive there.. This little loop put me at 3299 km and 50.000 meters..

Thanks for reading and really hope you like it..

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Climbing...Well trying...

Headed out not very sure of what I was going to do… The only certain thing is that I was going to meet my Colombian friend for a ride.. So I did meet Jose..

We headed down to the town of Mijas… Passed it and got to Benalmadena and this was our turn around point… Here is when I asked Jose how he was feeling and he: I am fine.. Legs feel good… And I said to him then I am going to add a detour to our ride… Another hour more or less… Is OK? Yes… Ok then.. Pace yourself I told him..

Our future destination…. The antennas all the way at the top…

As per usual he didn’t listen… Colombians and climbs…!!! The climb is 8 km long at 8.whatever % and the last 5 km is 10% I was in no rush..

Another 4 km to go and the climb did get easier… 9% for a while.. 

Freaking Colombians..! Slow down..! Can you see him ahead??

But the diesel engine keeps going all the time… Look who I caught up with..!!

I told you to pace yourself..!!!!!

With about 2 km to go Jose felt behind and I was on my own… But the target was closer..!!!

My reward? After about 50 minutes climbing I got to the top and took this pic…

You can see in the pic above the Sierra Nevada in the far back left and the Mediterranean Sea to the right becoming one with the sky…

Did Jose made it? Yes he did..!!! And this guy passed him on the way up… Then I took a pic of him and the other guy for the record of getting to the top of "El Repetidor de Mijas" That is the name of the climb..

So how did I do on my second try? I did better..!! I have a few more km in my legs and getting used to climbing… I think I went up like 10 minutes faster then last time but there is no record since Strava didn’t recognize my riding in that segment..

The STRAVA LINK and all the numbers…. If you are lazy.. is 58 km… 1479 meters in 3 hours..

Hope you liked my Friday adventure...

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

*****R O N D A*****

So I went for a ride yesterday and my day started like this

For a few minutes we were playing hide and seek with the sun… It made for a nice scenery

And for the first 2 hours was a cool ride… Well at least not hot… Great feeling early in the morning..

We were in for a long ride so some of the guys opted to cut the ride a bit shorter and drove a few kilometers ahead and were waiting for us to catch them.. Here we caught one.. And passed him..

Then it was time for the first big climb of the day.. 14 km Cat 2 at around 5% if I remember right… I was stretching the legs…

Still before 9 in the morning and sun was really high up.. But still cool enough to ride and enjoy this views..

I sprinted up the mountain to wait for my partners and take a few pics of them cresting the top…

After a 10 minutes descend we got to a little town in the middle of the valley called Burgos.. There it was time for breakfasts.. Second breakfasts for me…

Then it was time to tackle the second climb/mountain of the day…. Me with a full belly started like this…

But after about 40 minutes climbing I was ok to sprint up the mountain with the guys and enjoy the view at the top..

This is almost at our turn around point in the city of Ronda.. Great place and full of history HIGHLY recommend this place if you are coming over… In this pic those towers are part of some Roman ruins.. (camera lens was full of sweat and had to erase lots of pictures)

After a refreshing soaking and water bottle filling was time to turn around and head back home..

On the way back I didn’t take too many pictures.. The downhills were fast and technical so I was more concentrated in not breaking my neck then in taking pictures… Just let me share this with you.. The route we took to get there was the same one we took to get back home so everything was very much the same but in the opposite direction..

In order to get to Ronda we rode 65 km and climbed 1500 meters… And when we turned around we climbed the same mountains but from the other side.. (they are lower) so we rode another 65 km and climbed only 1000 meters…. the Strava link is here

But to finish this extreme day (Strava said it was extreme, not epic) what better way then with a nice refreshment drink… Salud ..!!!

Hope you enjoyed the story and pics

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

♪♫...Is getting hot in here...♪♫

Title says very much everything right? Well if not here is the story of yesterdays ride..:

Got a message around noon letting me know that we would be departing at 4:30 pm to do a road bike ride… Would be also important to know that the state authorities sent a yellow warning because of the heat… No idea what the color warnings are.. Lets assume yellow means be careful.. So that said I got ready and left the house with 2 bottles of ice… Yes you read right.. I left with 2 bottles of ice…

Met with 4 other guys and we were ready to leave town 5 minutes after they had some ice coffee… By now I already had drank about 1 liter of water at home, getting ready for what was ahead of me or possibly could be..

I knew about the heat and was sort of ready for it… But I was not expecting the wind..!!! for the first 2 hours and maybe a bit more we had a cross wind that moved my bike around a few times.. And when it didn’t come from the side it came from the front… Sections where normally we cruise at 30 km/h were done at 18 or 20… You get the idea? Heat and wind=bad combo..!!

I didn’t try to take too many pictures because I was struggling a bit with the heat… But this one came nice… Right before Estacion de Cartama..

This one is coming out of a tunnel into the light… You can see the cyclist in between the lights?? No filters on this pic.. No idea why is this way either..

At the top of our climb of the day… You can keep going up but we had enough of climbing and head wind by now..

The rest of the group behind me… And an opportunity to show how I take my pics? Look at my shadow..

So what the weather was like? I know I mentioned hot and windy… But did you see how hot? Average for the ride says 36 C…. That is 96.8 F… Average..! (now I will go and see what was the max recorded) I drank 6 water bottles in 3 hours and not counting the beer after the ride..!!!

All this didn’t stop me from hitting 57 km/h on a flat section for a few minutes… It was fun to hear everyone popping behind me..!! 57 according to my friends.. I didn’t look at the computer… Then I popped myself and took a few minutes waiting at the top of a bump to recover…

The Strava thing… for those that like it..

And that was my Friday… Today? Family, shopping and rest by the beach…??

Thanks for visiting my blog

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The extended weekend..

One of the things I do not fully understand here in Spain is how every little town has their own holidays... Well today was my little town turn to have his... Where do I live? Coín for you..!

So we had another day off.. To me makes no difference really since I am still in the process of validating my paperwork here in Spain while I am looking for work but not luck so far... Thanks God my wife is working and I can stay home for now and take care of the kids, the house and the pets... But I am not going to lie is getting a bit frustrating...

BUT it has a positive side to it right? I can venture out almost every day on my bike and take pictures and write stories that I believe you enjoy and makes you pass a few minutes traveling around Spain thanks to the internet... Maybe one day we meet on the roads???

Well too much blah, blah blah already..!!! We went for a ride down the beach with a few detours... First we went to Alhaurin el Grande before heading into the mountains of Mijas and here is where the real fun begun.... But I posted many pictures of these climbs before.. You can look them up on the previous posts...

Today was about the beach...
Here is one pic as we got to the beach area on what I believe was Benalmadena

The images are great to perceive the peace and quiet of a Monday morning by the beach.. I would say was around 10:30 AM but I wish there was a way to make you breath the sea air as you were riding... That is something that you have to come down and experience for yourself... A true amazing feeling!

In between your riding you can visit the other towns.. Or why not just ride along the Mediterranean sea while you visit them? Fuengirola

As I was telling you... there is a great marine path where you can enjoy a relaxed ride by the beach.. Follow her example...

And eventually when you get enough of the beach and the flat lands you can make a short detour to start climbing almost right away...

While you are climbing you will have this amazing surrounding where the sun and mountains will keep you company for as far as you can see...

Now don't forget that this is Spain and if you decide to come here for a ride you will be HOT so is very important to have 2 full water bottles and plenty of sunblock..!!! So you can enjoy this roads..

What the routes are like? Let me tell you I was glad to be going the other way here... Not that was much less getting here..

So at that point I put the camera away to start the downhill into home... No I am not that crazy to take pictures while doing over 50 km/h on the bike...

As a resume and the route for you here is a LINK to the +Strava ride, you can have a better understanding of the ride and the routes by looking at the profile and speeds that the +Garmin records while I am riding...

Thanks for reading and SUPPORTING this blog...

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE ONES THAT DONATED

Expanding my local knowledge...

So a tiny Colombian guy I met here in my new town took me out to a climby route... WTF was I thinking? After all have you see me??? No? Look at me..!!! I am not built like a climber...

98 kilos of whatever I am built with... Spanish food is too good to go on a diet.. But I am trying to lose some weight... And did I mention I like my recovery drinks???

So we left Coín in the direction of Marbella... Is a bit bumpy heading that way... And as expected when the routes started heading up..... my riding partner was ahead...

We were heading for a little town in the middle of the mountains called Istán, this little beauty of town is in the middle of all this...

My friend was sort of worry about me getting drop in the middle of all this climbs... Look forward..! I am here..!!! (still)

But when I was able to put the big chain ring and push the pedals a bit harder.... Look what happened..

And when the roads headed back up?? We were playing like that all the way into town...

Once we got to the center of town was time to refill bottles at the local fountain... A nice place to stop and take a picture while refreshing.. Not far from this were bars where you can have some food and drinks before you head back down the mountain...

If you are wondering how hot it was here? I mean by the time we got to the top.. Pushing your bike over all those bumps... Well my +Garmin says 25 C average for the whole ride.. But there? Well I think this image gives you an idea of how people reach the top...

We came down the mountain flying... There is a nice view of a dam but I could not take any nice pictures while descending.. Maybe next time.. Once we reached the flat lands our roads looked like this before we headed up the mountain again to get home..

Of the last climb I did not take any shots as I was busy managing my effort to not get drop.. I was lucky enough that my companion started cramping while climbing and I didn't get drop... But to give you an idea is a loooong constant climb that Strava says is a category 2 climb... 52 minutes climbing...!!! On the bright side I am in the top 100 in this segment (only 64 did it) The whole ride if you like to see the route..

Hope you enjoyed the reading.. Hope to see you around here one of these days..

Thanks for reading and sharing... 

Thanks to everyone that is supporting the blog via Paypal Link every little helps to keep bringing you stories and images of Spain.

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy