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?

One to remember

100 km and 2450 meters

The start of the first climb… Cat 2, Las 3 Cruces

The first 3 km are brutal..! All above 10% and as high as 16%

Then it never gets really easy…

Then you have a few flat and downhill sections where you push like an idiot trying to catch whoever is in front of you

From the top you get this view.. (pay attention to those mountains in the far back)

Our last man coming up..

There were some special refuel options.. They make this for cyclists.. Is a Gel in the form of a well look..

Then was the descend… After that some rolling to get to out next climb of the day… As we started to climb the not real climb

Then after 5 km at 10% I think.. my reward.. Mediterranean under there and in the far back Sierra Nevada (with snow)

Migue taking his time to climb the last 200 meters.. I am not blaming him..

All together at the top of El Repetidor de Mijas

And that was my way to close my 350 km week…

Hope you enjoyed the story and hope to see you around here soon..!

Pablo

Pablo's Cycling Tours..! With Paul and Alex..! Thanks for coming guys..!

I met another PdC user..!

I also started promoting Pablo’s Cycling Tours so far I took 3 people out and nice reviews back..

But today’s story? Paul (can’t remember his user name here) is on holidays with his family about 100 km from Coín but he drove to meet me and go for a ride that I put together.. We also had Alex riding with us.. He is a friend of Paul from Scotland… So all of us headed out for little adventure..

As usual I took roads that are light on traffic.. So I can do this while riding..

We had to stop and fix Alex saddle height since it was a lot off… Rental bikes do that.. This was a good opportunity to take a group pic.. Big climb started right after that pic.

As is a tradition now a days we stopped at the Puerto sign to take another pic.. (they almost kill me climbing, I got there a few minutes behind them…)

We then took a long fast downhill to the next town where we had some coffee and sweets.. No pics of them.. After that we cross the street to look at this..

Pictures don’t make justice to the surrounding area.. But you can see in their faces that their were happy with it.

We took a transition road that was surrounded by olive trees and mountains on both sides.. The view?

One more..

I was hurting in colours already at the back but good enough to take pics of the guys.. And the side of this mountain..

And there were lakes and dams..

And switchbacks…

And previous Vuelta finishes…

And "kid" having fun.. We are all big kids..!

And this is part of what we just had climbed..

And we stopped at Caminito del Rey sight…

There were Belgium tapas and Spanish ones as well +beer..!!!

Before we rounded all up in Coin with a refreshment..

Overall a great day out..! The ride? HERE 120 km and 2200 meters of climbing..

Thanks for coming guys..!!!

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