A man on a mission

Last night i started to prepare my assault to the 2 big climbs of today… No I was not aiming for the KOM.. Is totally out of reach for me.. But I sure could beat my previous times..!!!

The first climb? Cerro de Hijar is a 7.1 km climb at around 5% qualifies as a cat 2 where my previous best attempt was 32:10 over that distance… Today’s effort?? 27:48 I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest but I kept pushing.. 
It feels so good to see some improvement on my climbing… But it will be a while before I attack that climb again..

Some pics of my friends as they were getting to the top

Don Antonio… 57 years old and usually kicks my butt on every raise of the road… (also weights 63 kilos)

And the last one? This is the look of someone that gives everything on a climb…

Then we had to ride for a little while to reach the next climb… I am sure some of you will remember the climb to el Juanar… This is another climb that is not long, at least the part that I wanted to do better at… El Juanar is a Cat 3 climb at 6% where the first km probably is the worst part… My previous best time here was… 20:30 and today’s effort was… 18:50..!!!

Not bad for a 100.4 kilo rider right??

As you can see this place and me can adapt to almost any requirements.. By this I mean that if you want to ride hard when you come I can make you ride hard.. If you want to take it easy and stop to take pictures everywhere we can do that too..!! I am happier with the latest option...

Start planning your next trip to Málaga and I will make sure you have one of the best times of your life on the bike... Or at least try..

If you want to join our +Strava Club Pablo's Cycling Tours

And our +Facebook page to stay in touch Pablo's Cycling Club Page

See you next time.. Or maybe soon?

Pablo

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

Puerto del Viento.. Viento is Ventoux??

I went for a ride with Jose this weekend since my Saturday riding group was on a trip.. The vistas during the ride looked like this..

The weather was great early in the morning since it was a bit cloudy making the ride cool during the first couple of hours.. Also the sun playing hide and seek in the clouds gave us this view..

This area of Málaga has the particular characteristic that as you ride you can see the change in the landscape.. You go from riding in a forest of pines to ride in a desertic Colorado looking area..

Is hard to imagine for anyone that during the Winter months you can see snow up here.. As most of you know this is known as Costa Del Sol... Coast of the sun... The average temps are always around 30 celsius... And as you are riding and sweating buckets this sign seems out of place here..

Remember the Colorado reference? Well I actually never been there but I am very much sure it looks similar to this...

After almost 3 hours of riding we reached our destination and turn around point.. Puerto del Viento..!!
A steady climb at 1190 meters above sea level.. Here is José and a local guy that joined for the pic..

As we turned around was a lot of downhill and time to put the camera away.. But right before I did so I found this great view of part of what we had climb to get to the summit of this local mountain..

The way back home was a hard one.. We found that the wind decided that we didn't work hard enough to get over all the mountains on the way out so it gave us a beating all the way back home... As you can see the smaller engines were spent before we got home..

But all was fixed after we got back into this town that we call home... The drink and snacks were all we needed to get some life back into us..

And since we all like happy endings.. This is me wishing you were here with us to enjoy this adventure... Cheers..!!!

For those that like to look at maps and numbers here is the +Strava Mountains, wind and more mountains and wind

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Thanks for reading and see you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

To Instan with the fast guys

On Saturday my day started early… Couldn’t sleep well the night before.. Went to bed at 2 and was up before 7… So I was the first one at the meeting point..

It was a hard ride on our way to Instan, that is the name of the town on top of a beautiful climb.. As we rode hard up I didn’t take any pictures.. I was trying to get a few PR on my way up and I was doing extremely well…. Till we found a guy laying on the ditch and a bunch of other cyclists around him and a car parked a little farther up the road.. My first thought was the worst.. I thought he got hit.. Fortunately I was wrong..

He was coming down the hill hit a rock and ended up on the ditch on the other side of the road.. Lucky him he wasn’t hurt too bad.. scratches and bruises, road rush and shaken.. The hip too a nasty hit and might need x-rays.. But he was conscious and nothing obvious broke…

After this incident my momentum was gone and I just follow the rest of the guys up the hill at whatever speed I could go.. We finally reached the refilling point..

You should see the size of the bike and water bottle holder of the guy with the green bidon..

Then I joined them down there for a pic… Pay attention to the guy on the left…

Next time you have something to complain think of this guy and what he does every time he gets on the bike.. And don’t give silly excuses anymore on why you didn’t go for a ride.. Also a bit of his background: He finished 20 on the world championship of his category.. He is a very strong rider..!! Yes he passed me up the hill…!!

Coming down the hill I hung off the back to take some pics.. The guys… Well they didn’t wait..

So it was like this till they dropped me.. Take pic..Chase..

This guy was a slower descender… I kept him close by.. Enjoying the view..

And that is a dam in the middle of the mountains.. Makes for a nice size lake..

A bit closer to the lake… I wanted to go for a swim there..

After a few minutes going down the hill we got to Marbella and rode for a few minutes on the side of it.. Interesting place (filthy rich) but to get home we had to go over that rock in the back…

And here is the start of it.. And my riding buddies passing me as I take pics.. Salvi is impressive..!!

After that last shot I took a few more but they didn’t come out as I expected… Besides I was too busy with my head hanging over my handlebars climbing the rock on the pic I showed you earlier.. Got a PR there as well..!!! Woohoo..!! Here is the link to INSTAN ride.. He he.. couldn’t help it with the name..

So there you go this is a loop that I hope to show you the day you come by for a visit.. Has lots of lovely views and if you do it at a more relax pace there is lots of pictures opportunities..

Remember to LIKE our FACEBOOK PAGE to stay up to date about rides and events.. Also if you are interested about any specific dates..

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories..

See you next time 

Pablo

Thw Weekend Report Guy

Remember La Vuelta Stage 2 of 2015??

I am not going to get into details.. Main reason I do not like to do research.. It was a finish at la Vuelta last year I believe..

And I went up it… Slowly… But I did it..

Getting there… You pass this lovely area..

New experience.. Ride under the clift..

Let the pain begin… Bobastro is the name of the climb as well..

Jasper lives in this town so I am guessing he had a lot of friends over.. Lots of paint on the road.. failed to get good shots of them..

Another one 15% or so ramp..

I thought I was was climbing into the sky here..

Over the shoulder hairpin shot….

Photo finish at the top?

And if you pass the finish line you can see this

And farther up the route..

Time to head home… Another climb before we hit a big long downhill with a massive head wind.. I mean really bad one.. Here I took the front for 99% of the time..
23 km of fun against the wind…

But all was worth it.. We had a great day out and finished with a few claras and chips with jamon serrano..

So my extended weekend was:

Thursday: 38 and 750
Friday: 64 and 770
Saturday: you saw this one up there… Yes the one I posted earlier.. Killer ride.. Seriously..
Today: 98 and 1600

The week was a nice one and a new record high in numbers for me here in Spain:

15 hours
368 km
5505 meters of climbing

I am chasing my 10.000 kilometers… So far? 4163 km ridden…

As I mentioned in previous posts I started offering my services as a bike guide3 around this beautiful area of the world.. So if you decide to come this way and want to have someone with some local knowledge of the area and the language give me a call, send me a message or use the Facebook Page to get in touch with me..

Thanks for reading..and see you soon..!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Welcome to Southern Spain..!

It was so hot that we had to change out original plans… (150 km and 3000 meters) for something a bit more modest… 120 km and 2000 meters 
The average temperature for the ride? 35 C..!!! AVERAGE!! The max hit 46 according to Garmin..!! Yep it was that hot..

As per usual the routes were great..! This one is from the first climb a cat 2 of 15 km … To el Puerto de las Abejas..

The start of the second cat 2 of the day… This climb was like 9 km long of great twisting roads that went up and down.

Jose trying to catch up with me after I attacked a bump..

And he passed me..

My 3 companions for the day.. I might actually frame this one..

Wind mills to create a postcard view..

Time for the reward… I had two of those before heading home..

Some tapas (small food or snacks) chips… not very salty and jamon crudo

Oh and look..!!! It was new kit day.. (finally I got mine..!!!)

Looking forward to have you over here...If you want to contact us use this blog or you can reach me/us at our Facebook page

Thanks for reading and sharing it..

Pablo 

The Weekend Report and Retreat Guy