I can see the finish line..

As we are on the straight away I can see it already.. Yes the finish line..!

The year is coming to an end soon and with the weather changing I don't see my numbers taking a huge drop or a huge increase..

As I woke up this morning I felt sort of melancholic and went reading old posts and a lot of comments from them, till I got to the post that give me the idea for this one.. Do you remember the What your goals are? Well if you don't, just follow the link and it will bring you to it..

So mine were extremely ambitious and involved huge changes in my life and my family life.. Did I accomplish any of them? Did anything change from the day I wrote them to now? Lets find out..!

My goals for 2016:

- Moving to Malaga with the family. DONE!
- Get a job that allows me to follow my dream. (wait for iit is coming) Working on it.
- Buy a nice BIG house in Malaga. Discarded, at least for now
- Start our own B&B. Discarded
- Start offering my cycling guide services in Malaga. I started..!!
- Go back to Argentina to get my older son, Pablito. Leaving on the 25th for Argentina
- Ride 15.000 Km for the year. Have you seen where I live? Not this year..!
- Climb 150.000 meters in a year. Will be close..! Stay tuned for this one
- Lower my weight to 85 kilos. Ha..! Not even close..!
- Write more in my blog. And better should I add. Ons and offs.. I like interaction and the blog doesn't give me that
- Become financially independent. Working on it every day

- Meet more PdC members. Yes..! Yeehoo, thebongolian, maratsafin and Paul from Scotland

-And the most important one….. TO BE AND MAKE MAKE FAMILY HAPPIER..!!! We are HAPPIER!

So to me has been a nice mix of yes and nos but I will take it as us (family and me) finishing ahead with all the changes that we faced..

The Pablo's Cycling Tours Facebook page is running and I am looking forward to this business to take off.. by the way if you didn't like the page yet please do.. If you already did.. Thank you very much..! Feel free to suggest anything that might help.. Good and bad critics are the only way to move forward.

But enough about me.. Tell me, tell us...

What your finish line looks like?

I rode my bike a bit..

Monday: off
Tuesday: Ride with a friend and then I headed out again.. 2nd ride
Wednesday: Cadencing in the wind started trying to have a higher cadence while riding..
Thursday: OFF
Friday: OFF, actually went to help some Belgium friends that opened a bar in a town near by.. PdC drinking quarters..!!!
Saturday: Harder that what it looks Still working on the cadence.. Kept it up till the last big climb.. No pics
Sunday: The big ride of the week Great views..! And I did take pics..!!!!

At the start of the day we met at the Alameda.. Here they had all around the world food trucks this weekend.. And some attractions..

I had to fuel up before I headed out 

No issues with the law..

Back in time…. Now a days in NY they wouldn’t open the door for those prices..

But once we got to the new area of riding the views were amazing..!

Me dropping at the start of the climb… I couldn’t get going..

But been off the back means I could take pics.. Willj this one was with you in mind..

Then I really got behind..!!! Can you see the guy ahead? And he is not even a climber..!!

A look at the dam from the other side… + the mountains on the back and around..

The route we climbed… about half way up..

A little farther up the views got even better.. a twisty road with a lake next to it..

Then I caught everyone here.. Not a bad place for a pic..

And this was suppose to be the turnaround point… I am the one with the Podium jersey.. 

This place was so great that even the flats didn’t feel too bad…

The actual view from the place were we were??

This climb was a real bitch.. Sorry there is no other way to call it..

The other part of it… And you can add another 50 meters to 100 after the left turn…

The resto of the guys were getting to where I stopped to wait for them.. And take pictures.. And tell them to smile for the pictures.. I got some nice words back..! Can’t repeat them…

There was a lot of ups and down.. But my legs started to feel better.. So I was making it to the top of some climbs before other people..

And some others we were just waiting for the others..

After the last shot we still had like 60 km to get home and was my time to go to work.. So there was no more pictures from me.. I can tell you that by the time we make it back in town I was completely exhausted and wanted to do nothing but to eat something.. Had 2 Claras and something like a poweraid.. chips, jamon serrano, chorizo, bacon and bread as Tapas.. snack ways food.. 2 plates for 6 guys so I didn’t get to eat all that much…

So my week was huge for my standards… 367 km and 5.500 meters + of climbing.. (I kept it flat  ) I am sitting on the couch writing and the only reason to move is because I am hungry and I am cooking something on the grill…. Looking forward to dinner.. I am hungry..!

Hope you like it and consider visiting me one day

Thanks for reading and see you next time..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Almost 3 weeks off is a long time...

As my wife and daughter came back from the U.S yesterday I was ready to head out of the door for a ride today.. But let me tell you this.. 3 weeks or almost is waay too long off the bike.. I was suffering in many different way today... as the post progresses I will explain this a bit more..

Let me tell you that my route selection for the day was a bit challenging... Even if I was in great shape for it..! Never a good sign when you start your ride like this..

If you can't make the gradient marked there it says 9%... No is not for the whole 15 km climb.. I believe is at 4% the average since it has a few downhill sections in it..

Jose was loving it today..! If he spoke English the best way to translate the way he was feeling would be... Pay back bitch..! Since most of the time I am putting the pain into him.. He loved the route..!!!
How can you not love this views??

Andalucia is full of picturesque little towns.. El Burgo is one of them...

Before we headed out of town we had to stop and take a pic of the monument of it.. I am guessing that high in the mountains you can find this ones running in the wild..

From El Burgo we started heading to the next town in between mountains and valleys.. Something that I came to value a lot is the shaded roads.. There is not many around here..

This road was extremely rough, but since we were going up the hill it didn't really matter... There was a good 15 km of almost no traffic...  Seriously we saw 2 cars, a scooter and one tractor... Almost perfect to soak under the sun surrounded by this views... Can you see Jose there??

Remember the traffic? It was heavy traffic for sure...

After the last picture I went into a stage were all I wanted to do was to get home... I was exhausted.. In pain ( my bad knee doesn't like breaks in my riding) so I put the camera away and just pushed all the way home.. By push I mean I dragged my butt on the roads...

By the end of the day +Strava says we did 93 km.. and 1700 meters of climbing..

And this is me at home showing my new jersey.. Thanks to Joy and Pieter from Pittsburgh, PA for the present.. Loved it..! And it passed a good test today..

Look..!!!

Thanks for reading and giving us a thumbs up in +Facebook here is the link

Pablo

The Weekend Report and Retreat Guy

We are OPEN for business..!!!

You knew it was coming for a while if you are a regular of this place... If you are not don't worry you will catch up as the post progresses..

So as I finally consider that I know enough of the routes around me to offer YOU a few days of great cycling when you come I decided to create and open The Weekend Retreat !!

What is this? here is where I offer my services, local knowledge and support the day you come here to ride your bike...

Do you need me if you decide to come? Absolutely not..! Would it be helpful to have me next to you as you ride..??? Definitely..!!!

Why? Simple knowledge.. I have it.. I know where the water filling spots are.... Where to eat.. What routes have a bit more of shade... What times the routes have more traffic... Where the flat roads are... Where the mountains are.. You know what I mean.. I know the details to make you remember this trip forever.. And I want to make sure that you come back a second time..!! Or third..!

We are starting small.. I am not offering anyone to stay with me because the house is small.. Unless you are a close friend and don't mind 2 dogs and kids running up and down...
I do offer you my interpreter services to help you book a room in a local hostel.. After all you are coming here to ride a bike not for the 5 stars hotels.. (you see? I am already making this cheap for you)
The eating and drinking around here are just great pick any bar and you will leave happy and full for no much money spent...

If you want to know more...  Here is the +Facebook page where you can ask any questions or just ask in the comments below...

If you are a long term friend just let me know when are you coming and what would you like to do...

Questions and suggestions are always welcome..

Remember we are starting really small..

Thanks for reading and see you soon..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Puerto de las Abejas trip... I wanted to do more....BUT...!!!

So I decided to go out and catch up with a fast group and see what tired legs are made out of…. Lucky me I could not find them so I headed out on my own to see what I could do… During the first hour I was feeling great..! Man I think I am going to beat some times today… I was going mostly downhill and flats till the first climb started…

The first pat of the climb? I was good.. No more great… Started to feel the weight of the legs and the bad knee was saying hello… I had some company..

This is after the first 4 or 5 km of climbing… After that it was a dead march to the top.. It was 10 more km to go… Not a cow picture.. Zoology is not my strength

When I see this sign I know is about 5 km to the top of the climb.. Welcome to Yunquera..!

And they want to remind me of how bad I climb.. With a sign that says Mountain Roads…!!! I see them buddy..! I feel them..!

But I finally I made it to the top.. Oh look..! I got my Podium Jersey fixed..!! Zipper needed to be changed in 3 of my jerseys..

Then I took picture of random riders coming to the top..

As I started talking to them one of them made a comment.. About "mate" my national tea remember? so it happened that he was married to a woman from Paraguay… My mom is from Paraguay..!!! And his wife is even from the same city that my mom is originally from..! How small is the world??

When I turned around this views were waiting for me..

Another angle?? Couldn’t make up my mind so I post them both

So on and off I rode 71 km, climbed 1375 meters in about 3:30 hours.. The other thing that is very interesting? As I was riding I saw two guys I recognized.. Started to get Hola Pablo as I am riding..! Started to be recognized in the local cycling community..!

Another thing that I would like to share with you all and invite you to join if you wish to do so is The Weekend Report Club in +Strava  on that way you can become part of an amazing community from people from all over the world...

Thanks for reading this blog and if you wish to share it.. Go for it..

See you at the next adventure

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