My Giro climbing challenge experience..

As a cyclist a lot of times we sign up for stupid hard challenges.. Like is very fun to push our self beyond the common understanding of our partners or non-cycling friends...

How many times you got a "I don't even drive that far!" "How long were you out there?" And many other ones that only another cyclist can understand...

Well this time is no different.. What did I sign for? Not much really but I am sure you heard about the +Giro d'Italia  and +Strava right? Well did you see what they came up with? Let me show you..

That is a lot of climbing..!!! In a normal month I climb around 10.000 meters sometimes more sometimes less but always around that number.. (lately I do less then that) And now I went and sign for this..!!!??? That is double the amount of climbing I do in a month and I am trying to do it in 23 days..? Oh well is worth trying... Right?

So next time you are reading around the web and see this logo:

Make sure you stop by and see what that crazy cycling friend is doing this time around... Don't forget to give them Kudos..!!!

And for me? Well is going this way so far...

DAY 1: Rained..! And I mean there were rivers in the streets..!!! So.. No riding for me.

DAY 2: Now we are talking..! 1490 meters at least I am moving..! 

DAY 3: Rained all day again..! I see a lot of hill repeats this week...

DAY 4: Rained.. Had to pick up the kid from school and make dinner... Big fat "0" again..

DAY 5: Seriously? Rained again! I see my chances getting smaller by the day..

DAY 6: Finally stopped raining..! Add a little 706 meters maybe I can get out again later???

So I went and hit the local climbs.. And one not so local but I wanted to get away from the same street... Not bad for a day 6 with drizzle to start but some nice sunshine to the end.. Maybe I can get some more riding in if it doesn't start raining again..

DAY 7: FFS...!!! I thought I moved out of Belfast..!!! It rained again..! Tomorrow is suppose to stop raining.. Charging the camera and the GPS for the day ahead..!

And after a nice ride... was time to have a refreshing drink..

And that was my day 1, I mean 2 but really 1... You know what I mean right? 

Stay tuned for updates on the matter... 

Hope you enjoyed day 2 and see you next time with an update..!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Lets go to the beach..! Vamos a la playa..!

But before we go to the beach we have to climb this…
Pero antes de bajar a la playa hay que subir..

But any sacrifice to get there was worth it.. Pero todo ese sacrificio vale la pena..

As we ride by the beach… Mientras andamos a la orilla de la playa...

As you look inland You can see the mountains.. Si miras tierra adentro puedes ver las montañas

Some activities to do there... Otras actividades para hacer alli..

Some rollers by the beach.. Una suaves subidas y bajadas a orillas del mar..

And then was time to leave the flat lands… Pero ya era hora de dejar lo llano..

It was a looong climb... Fue una laaarga subida...

That kept going after each turn... Que seguia subiendo en cada vuelta..

And our last obstacle before a rolling way home.. Nuestro ultimo obstaculo antes de el ultimo sector para casa.

+Strava tells us we did THIS <---I ese es el enlace a la informacion y mapa de la vuelta de hoy.. I did a bit before.. Yo hice un poquito mas antes..

I hope you like it.. Espero les guste

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

A day at La Vuelta Ciclista de Andalucia

Early start for us here in Coín on a Saturday morning... Everyone up and running around the house to get ready for a day that will for sure stay with us for a long time.. In our memories and one that will take a special place as the first ever professional race we attended..

Where were we going??? Just follow the signs.....

Early to catch the bus to Alhaurin de La Torre where the stage was going to take place, it was a T.T stage.. This means a Time Trial to my none very much into cycling readers.. To keep it simple a T.T is a race over a set distance against yourself and the clock...

If you ever plan to go and see a race and soak in the environment of the race and be elbow to elbow with race riders, team members and officials let me suggest to you to get to a T.T one for that experience... You are always surrounded by everyone and can see lots of little details if you like them..

As we got to our destination and came off the bus you could already feel and see that the race was in the air... Not long after we started walking we saw the signs that we were going the right way..

Here is the team Giant Alpecin warming up... +Alpecin Shampoo  +Alpecin Cycling TV

As we kept walking to get closer to the start line and where all the movement and riders were getting ready you could see more and more cycling stuff all over the place... Example? More riders..!!!

Here is one of the Team Trek-Segafredo doing a recon of the circuit to follow later in the day +Trek Bicycle +Segafredo

Without actually knowing where we were heading we kept walking following the people and loads of cycling related signs along the way till we reached the START point of the race...!!!

From this little platform is where each rider is launch to do the circuit in the shortest time possible.. Is also good to see and know that at least this race seems to be safe in the Spanish calendar with lots of sponsors... From this corner of the interwebs let me say thank you to the ones I can read in this picture...

Without knowing it I was making contact with the bike that would be on top of the podium today when I approached the BMC cycling team... #BMC

And when I mean predicting the podium doesn't get any closer then this... +Tejay Van Garderen

Also took the same sort of picture of Samu Sanchez bike but it didn't come out well... :(

+Team Sky  was very impressive with their set up... And one thing that caught my eye as I walk by...

T.T World Champ Bike..... +Pinarello snc

+Ccc Sprandi Polkowice Team bus pays attention to details.. Loved it..!

Team Wanty horses getting tune up... I Wanty one..! See what I did there? +CUBE Bikes 

A classic bike that the Dimention Data brings alone.. Great paint job..!

We are getting close to the finish line... We are getting close to the end of this report... We are getting close to the META

And to close up let me tell you who the real winner of the day was... Even better let me show you..!

With the last picture I represent the hundreds of families and fans that had an amazing experience at +Ruta del Sol, Vuelta Ciclista a Andalucía I will be back next year..!!!

Thanks for reading and sharing

See you at the next post

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The Canberra Report - West Kowen Forest

Mike from bike.sipols.com here with another Canberra Report. This time we are hitting the dirt in West Kowen Forest.

Two things hit me whenever I ride West Kowen:

1. I'm sure it wasn't this hilly last time!
2. I really should ride here more often.

West Kowen offers quite a different style of riding to its sibling East Kowen. East Kowen is a renowned singletrack racing mecca, which hosts the Mont and Kowalski Classic. West Kowen certainly can't compete for flowy singletrack. But what West Kowen has, is space. Its a great place to go exploring on the fire trails and is dotted with old singletracks from back before East Kowen existed. So today I went exploring up to the ACT Fire Observation Tower.

The easiest access point from Queanbeyan is through the Molonglo Gorge entry road. After hopping past the gate (no unauthorised motor vehicles or motor bikes allowed, but cyclists are free to go where they wish), you are presented with a steep paved climb, as a challenge to keep out the unworthy. This one peaks out at about 18%.


After that warmup, I followed my nose north, following fire trails through the pine forest.



It involved climbs so steep that at times I had to dismount and push, but the views from the top were worth it.



On the way back I rode some of the old beaten up singletrack and spotted a chance for some stumpsurfing. Hang ten!



The fire trails around here really give you a physical challenge. The forest skirts the northern end of the Tinderry range, and the fire trails have been built with no regard for gradient. Towards the end there were a few kangaroos around, particularly in the grassier areas around the old homestead.



Much like in East Kowen, I saw whole flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos enjoying the pine forest.



So in the end it was 840m of climbing for 37kms - see what I meant about climby rides earlier!

For more details and photos on West Kowen plus some archival singletrack, check out Canberra Bike Rides.

The Canberra Report - Paddy's River Road

I've been invited by Pablo to share some of my rides here on The Weekend Report, so I hope you like hills! Contrary to the popular image of a sun-burnt flat country, here in Canberra, Australia we have hills all around. For a skinny climber dude like myself, this is a good thing. If you'd like to read more about Canberra's rides, check out my blog at bike.sipols.com.

Paddy's River road is the main connector the runs through the foothills of the Brindabella range, the most famous of the three ranges which surround Canberra. It makes a nice loop by itself in either direction. The southerly direction gives you the Pierces Creek climb, but I prefer northerly for ease of access. This ride is rolling, with plenty of climbing but not the crazy gradients of the deep south.

From Tuggeranong, you can either take the short way across Point Hut crossing or the higher Tharwa bridge. The Tharwa extension makes a nice flatter warmup, plus unlike Point Hut the Tharwa bridge doesn't flood (a critical consideration at this time of year).

On deep south rides, Tharwa can be a critical resupply point but here its just a town to pass through. There is a surprisingly steep lump straight out of Tharwa, before the road meanders up and down. Once you reach the lookout get your climbing legs ready.

The road climbs steeply up to the Corin dam turnoff (a great sidetrip), then the landscape opens up as you approach Tidbinbilla. Take this opportunity for a bit of a breather.

The Canberra Deep Space Centre has a cafe and is the default coffee stop around here but since thats a side trip, we're not going there today. After you pass the Space Centre turnoff, the road will descend, with a few lumps to keep you honest. Like most of this ride, this area is farming land so you'll see quite a few cows and sheep.

If the ride so far has tired you out, you'll pay for it through the lumps at the back of Pierces Creek, they may be short but they are steep too, with gradients reaching 11%. Around here the scenery transitions to pine forest, but still has a nice scattering of natives too.

After a hair-raising descent on tarmac of dubious provenance down Pierces Creek, the short option is to climb back up the Cotter, through to Adelaide Ave and wherever home may be. On this day, the Murrumbidgee was threatening to burst its banks (good thing we went via Tharwa at the beginning).

The Canberra Report is a collaboration between Pablo Alves and Michael Sipols. For more in-depth detail on this route, check out Michael's post on the Paddy's River Road at bike.sipols.com.