La Vuelta a España, trip to Alicante "Day 1"

So here is a few pics.. Day 1:

Our rides started like this every morning… Riding by the marina taking in some sun… ( I was accused of sun doping)

But someone else got accused of sock doping… Prove??

Villajoyosa has some good bumps all around it..

And the weather was amazing..! OK hot but amazing.. Look at thebongolian smile..!!! The kids is having fun..!

Yeehoo was keeping me company for a while till I send him looking for the others as I was soaking in my sweat surroundings..

I do not understand this pic… I am sure he was ahead of me.. He went around twice??

And there was socializing over German lunch in Spain… And plenty of water and other fluids… T-Bong the only brave one to have a beer..

My only KOM of the day came at the "who finish lunch first"

Best image of the TT??? Yeehoo taking a nap in the shade..!!!

Ice cream, smoothies and plenty of other fluids were extremely necessary…

We found Oleg..!!!!

Awesome view by the beach…

And that was it from me on day 1 in pictures in Spain.. And the strava link for the first day.. There was Team beer and Team sangria at night.. Remember those names for day 2… No pics of this.. I left the camera at home..

Hope you enjoyed this adventure and stay tuned for day 2 and 3 that are to come shortly...

Pablo

The Weekend Report guy

A ride with a friend in a Tuesday morning…

My friend Jose Luis is from Colombia, as a Colombian he loves cycling but his new job cuts his time on the bike a lot..! He gets out a few times a week or less then that when busy.. But today he could so I joined him on a ride with a little bit of everything...

Empty to low traffic roads heading up? Checked..!

Someone to chase? Checked..!

Someone to drop? Checked..!

Someone catching up to you while you try to take cool pictures? Checked..!

Screaming downhills where the tiny climbers have no chance? Checked..! (70 km/h, don’t show Katja)

Crossing little towns in the middle of the Sierras? Checked..!

All done before noon… 2 hours of fun on the bike.. 50 km and 850 meters of climbing… Also this ride puts me under 1000 meters behind my goal of 10.000 km for the year.. Who knows maybe I will reach it.. But I really doubt it.. Trip to Argentina coming up and no riding over there.. Well as far as I know..

The +Strava link to the ride is HERE if you like to follow me feel free to do so..Or join the club over there..

Thanks for reading and if you want me to take you for a ride around Coin get in touch with me..!!

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

Are you ready for the Giro?

For the last couple of years a groups of internet friends and I been running a game that we call Predictors Game... Here we test our knowledge and luck against each other in a friendly way trying to predict the outcome of different races during the year..

So this time we are going, actually we started already running the game with our eyes on the first grand tour of the year... +Giro d'Italia !!! The first stage is this May 6th..!! That is...

Image via Giro di Italia +Twitter account. (thank you!!)

So you want to know what is this about? OK.. Here it goes..!!!

Alora, it's time for the Giro, arguably the craziest and most UN-predictable of the Grand Tours. Loaded with sprint stages, TT's and transitional stages as well as the usual super high snow filled MTFs it will sure to be a fun filled, exciting race. Are you suffering worse than Scarponi-face in VDS? Need a Ferrari-style boost to your ratings? Is your team descending faster than a Shark from Messina? Do you have what it takes to take PINK! Then you need to play the Predictor Game...yet another way to beat ourselves up over our love of cycling!

If you have not played before read below and feel free to play along. It’s really fun and gets you even more into the race! We have a spreadsheet with graphs, etc that you can view at any time and we will post a link to it in the fanpost for each stage. It is a great tool to see the popularity of riders and results. It is also good to double check your picks as we have been known to make keying errors. For actual race info we find cyclingquotes.com previews pretty good!

Rules

In this game, only the stage results matter. You're not committed to keeping the same riders throughout the race, you make fresh picks before every stage. Our overall competition is a combined total of all 21 individual stage scores. You're eligible for the overall even if you miss some stages.

Pick 4 riders for the upcoming stage. The order of your picks doesn't matter. All of your riders can score.

Riders score points down to 10th place. Less popular riders score more points than heavily-picked favorites. See below for scoring details.

The strict entry deadline is the official start time of the stage, the neutralized rollout or Départ Fictif. Be warned - if your post is timestamped one minute late your entry won't count! So do remember that there's no disadvantage to getting an entry in early, even the day before, because you may always change your picks up until the deadline. Feel free to rethink your picks when it emerges which riders are more or less popular with other players. If you make changes, post your revised 4 picks in a reply to your original post.

Try to enter just the last name of the person...Cancellara not Cance for example. And Izagirre I or Costa R. It helps us with the data entry into the spreadsheet.

Scoring

Forgot to mention..!!!

The last 3 stages will be secret entry between the top contenders… To avoid defensive picking..

When we say top contenders we leave the number open because who knows how many will be within striking distance...wooley7 scored the win in the Classics with a long range suicide attack in Liege so you can never count yourself out...NEVER!

We will notify you by email if we need you to do a secret entry.

Results:

We will try and post results in a timely fashion as soon after each stage as possible. However we are all busy so will just do our best there. We will post them along with a post for the next stage.

And if you want to check your entries and results:

Our spreadsheet master msbee created: THIS

Good luck, invite your friends and ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!

Post your entry for the first stage below!

Special thanks to all the hands around the world that make this game possible.

So what do you think? Are you ready for it? Do you have what it takes? If you think so and want to become part of one of the best cycling communities online please stop by at Podium Café and join us..!!!

We are taking picks for Stage 1 already..!

Hope to see you over there..! or over here..!

Thanks for reading and stay in touch for daily updates on the Giro PG competition..!

P.S: if you know someone that might be interested in this sort of game feel free to share 

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

100 km..! First time in Spain! La primera en España..!

The title kind of gives it away. Right? El titulo lo dice todo.. No?

My first metric century in Spain..!! Mi primer vuelta de 100 km en España..! How was it? Como estuvo? What about I tell you this with some images? Que tal si te lo cuento con imagenes?

It was a cloudy start... Un poquito nublado al empezar..

That made for some cool riding at the start.. Esto ayudo a tener una agradable temperatura para andar

The views? Las vistas? Amazing..! Maravillosas..!

You have more then one kind of riding... Mas de una opcion a la hora de montar..

And the ups and downs are better with company.. Y las subidas y bajadas son mejores en compañia

We shared the route with everyone..Compartimos la carretera con todos..!

A classic view of an Andaluz town..Una vista clasica de un pueblo Andaluz..

An always welcome reminder.. Un bienvenido signo para recordar..

Heading up again.. De vuelta para arriba

Flowers? Flores?

The swamps? Los pantanos..

Had to stop and get a pic here.. Tuve que parar a sacar una foto aquí

One of my faves from the day? Una de mis favoritas del día?

Quiet roads for the win..! Rutas tranquilas para disfrutar..!

A lake? Un lago?

I had the chance to go and take a closer look.. Tuve la oportunidad de mirar de mas cerca..

Local residents... Algunos habitantes del area..

Even fixing a flat looks nice here.. Hasta arreglar una pinchadura parece lindo..!

\
It wasn't a lake..! No era un lago..!

The dam..La represa.. The mountains..Las montañas..

I am inlove with the water color..! Estoy enamorado del color del agua..!

History time! Tiempo de histroia..! That is the chair the king used to when the dam was open over 100 years ago.. Esa es la silla que el Rey uso hace mas de 100 años cuando se inaguro la represa..

Tunnels? Tuneles..?

Into the light..Hacia la luz..

The chase was on..! La persecucion habia comenzado..!

And at the top of the last climb I am been chased by a Colombian..!I am doomed..! Y en la cima de la ultima subida me persigue un Colombiano..! Estoy listo..!

And +Strava said we did... Strava dice que hicimos... THIS/ESTO

Hope you enjoy the adventure and images.. Espero hayas disfrutado la aventura y las imagenes

Don't forget to share it.. No te olvides de compartirla..

See you next time... Nos vemos a la proxima..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy