One more off road adventure!

Yesterday I started exploring the dirt routes around here... Now when I say dirt is dirt, gravel, sand or whatever the terrain looks like...
Today's adventure was lots of big rocks... The kind that makes your wheel jumps all over the road or trail... Want to see what I am talking about??

At the start of my off road trip..

I know for your skills this might be nothing but for mine they were horrific boulders coming at me... At this point I got scared.. Put a foot down and lost grip so great opportunity to take a picture right??

Here was the turn around point.... Too many too big rocks..Loose rocks.. Many big loose rocks for the CX wheels to handle and not to mention my abilities off road... And it was steep..!! And hot !!! And I could hear dogs barking in the distance.. I was scared.. I turned around..

Someone that knows this route told me that behind that next bend on the trail it gets worst so good thing I turned when I did..

Here is one more image that kind  of work as a signature of me riding into the unknown  trails...

You have no idea how happy I was when I reached the pavement again....!!! But that is the beauty of a CX bike.. You can venture off road for a bit as long as you don't mind walking in the very technical bits.. Me personally I don't mind at all... I like to be back home in one piece..!

The way back home...

 And that's all for today boys and girls... Thanks for reading it..See you next time..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

CXing around...

Story short? My CX bike is finally here!! Actually been here for a few weeks already but I couldn't get to go out and play with it.. That said.... Today I did it..!!!!

Visit a sanctuary that is not very far from home... And is at the top of a hill..

At the top of the hill there is like a whole ghost tow... this comes alive for a week a year when everyone goes up there to visit the virgin..

At the church... I am not a big believer but I said thanks for what I got and asked for a job that fits me.. (if you are going to ask ask right..Right?)

A fancy view of a cobbled stairs... They were rough to ride...

That was the first part of my ride... I got to the Ermita" via the paved road... I knew there was another way up so I started looking for it on my way back...

Guess what? Found it..!! And also the first dismount and picture shooting opportunity.. Back wheel kept sliding.. And I played it safe. Can you see the bike??

Found a little cobbled bridge that made for nice pictures before the climb started..

The CrossRip is great for this rough cobbles..! Thanks +Trek Bicycle

Almost at the top I stopped to breath and look at my surroundings.. Great ones by the way..

I could see the church again from the other side... A little more climbing..

Last switchback before the top..!!!

Remember the cobbled stairs? Well from the bottom now..

And it was time to head home... Sign says 3.9 km to it... I stayed close by today..!

I still managed to hit another 2 climbs on my way home but nothing worth taking a picture.. By the time I got home +Strava said 18 km and 570 meters done..

Thanks for reading and see you next time..!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Went out to test the legs after Friday....

So after a big effort on Friday I took Saturday off to see if the body could come around... I seriously felt like poop at the end of the ride Friday and I wasn't much better on Saturday all day... But it was time to see if the legs wanted to do some work on Sunday..

What the day looked like???

It took like 40 km for the legs to come around.. But then they were OK.. I could even sprint at times to get ahead of the bunch... (and snap a picture or two)

Well they were OK till we got to the first and only big climb of the day... At the start of it...

5 minutes later the legs told me to F**** off and quit working... As you can see my friends getting smaller in the distance...

After that last climb we got into downhills and rolling terrain... And that felt great for my legs.. I could stay at the front and sprint up the little bumps to take pictures... Great weather..!

I took over the front till we got to Coín by then +Strava said we did 96 km and 1375 meters of elevation and we were ready for some refreshments..

Seems like I finally starting to ride a little more often and I got over 2000 km for the year..!!! Slow compared to other years but little by little..

On the +Giro d'Italia climbing challenge? Well out of 83.000+ people I am at 12.000 so is not that bad... Have 12 days to climb like 15000 meters..!!! (not going to happen..!!!)

Hope you enjoy and share the reading 

One day I might have you as a guest here in Málaga...

See you all next time...!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

P.S: I am already starting to study the way to start the B&B and cycling guiding tours..

Getting to know the flat bits.. What flats?

As you saw this far every time I head out I come back home with a lot of elevation even taking the little man to school and back is like 100 meters of gain in less then 5 km.. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy doing hills.. Enjoy is one thing and fast at it is another one Clear?

Example? I have to climb this one every day to get home..

Today was a little different.. To begin started going down the hill to meet a friend that had a broken hand for the last 40 days and today was his first ride outdoors.. So far so good right? down the hill and meeting a guy that had a broken hand...
OK he picked the route because he knows the area better then I do and probably knows what would suit his rehab better then what I do..

We started heading for the flats, even downhill for the first couple of km.. Fast so far but understandable.. Is downhill or flat... or at least looks that way...
We saw a lot of people riding but since I was at the front sheltering him from the wind I didn't take many pictures... But I did manage to get a shot at out view and this guys coming at us..

After a while we had to start going up since we were going down at the start.. This wall came at us out of nowhere..! Totally unexpected and hard for me to go up specially because I never put the small chain ring on the front.. I swear I did..! But I didn't!!!

By the time we got back into town +Strava  said we did 59 km.. 684 meters of elevation at 26.1 km/h..! Not bad for a guy with a recent broken hand and a fat guy trying to get form..! Now was time for some refreshments..!!

My new riding buddies are not only showing me the new roads and mountains.. They are also teaching me a bit about beers and gastronomy here.. This is a place just down the route from were we live and a point of social gathering here in town..

Here is a picture of La Alameda, Coin about 300 meters from my house.. While I was there with the guys the MTB group joined us after their ride... And soon after then my wife, kids and dogs.. The beauty of keeping everything together in a familiar environment..

Looking forward to the day I could start my B&B and show you guys what all this is really about..!!

Hope you enjoyed and if you like it share the story

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The MTB debut

I am not going to explain much today... I will let the pictures do most of the talking.. But lets set something clear... It was a truly different day on the bike..

My ride for the day?? Que bici use hoy? Gracias/Thanks to Juan from Zurich's bar in Coin..!!

What did the routes look like? Las rutas de hoy??

And there was a river crossing.. Y cruzamos un río..!! I think this is my favorite shot of the day. Mi foto favorita del dia...

And we also went across a tunnel.. Y tambien pasamos por un tunel..

The view heading to the mountain in the back.. La vista camino a la montaña alli atras..

We even saw some farm animals... Y hasta vimos algunos animales en el camino..

And then the serious climbing started.. At least to me was serious Y luego empezaron las subidas serias.. Bueno por lo menos para mi fueron serias..

And now my friends started to leave me behind... Y ahora mis amigos comenzaban a distanciarme.. But always keeping an eye on me... Pero siempre mirando donde estaba..
But as they ride away it creates shots like this... Pero cuando se alejan crean estas fotos..

And the climbs got worst..! Y las subidas se pusieron peor..! At least for me.. Por lo menos para mi..

With some of my companions at the top of El Santo.. Con algunos de los compañeros en El Santo

The view from the top.. La vista desde arriba..

Coming down.. Bajando... I was slower then climbing..! Estube mas lento que subiendo..!

Stairs into a cave.. Escaleras a una cueva..

Coming out of the cave..(barely) Saliendo de la cueva..(apenas)

My friends were doing downhill MTBiking... I was hiking with a bike.. Mis amigos estaba haciendo descensos por la montaña en bici.. Yo estaba descendiendo "con" una bici...

But at least there is a picture of me riding.. Pero por lo menos hay una foto mia en la bici..

I am beat..! Estoy molido..!

STRAVA said we did this.. +Strava dice que hicimos eso.. A different day for sure.. Un dia diferente seguro..!

Thanks for reading and sharing... Gracias por leer y compartir

See you next time... Te veo la proxima vez

Pablo

The Weekend Repor Guy

My first Cat 1 climb experience

My getting stronger and fitter journey is involving a lot of different aspects of my life.. The riding around here as I mention in previous posts is very challenging for a heavy rider like me so on top of all the training is time to start watching what I eat as well....(but is another post coming about this topic soon) What do I mean by challenging rides?? Just look at my riding area...

Don't get me wrong..!!! I am not complaining..! I love this..! Is so challenging that every where I go I end up with a few hundred meters of climbing by the time I come back home... Today as an example I used +Strava  to monitor my school run... By the time I got home it was 4.1 km and 100+ meters of elevation!

But this is about the Saturday ride... I know is already Monday but I had a busy weekend with the family (Happy Easter!!!) So my roads on Saturday looked like this most of the time...

Like this going up or down most of the time.. Sometimes a bit more rough...

And 99% of the time my views looked like this...

At points the roads got really rough that the local authorities let you know ahead of time... And by the way can you see those antennas in the back high up? I was heading there.. Just not yet...

But before I got there I had to climb a bit more... And also go down some nice towns in between the mountains...

After making a few wrong turns here and there I was finally on the right track to conquer my first ever category 1 climb... All I had to do was follow this road.

8 km of roads that only kept going up.. And then up some more.. Along the way you could see this kind of views that would be much better on a MTB to explore...

A very narrow road to the top of my first monster climb...

As I was climbing and came out of the trees I saw the Mediterranean see in the distance..

Then it was back at going up... The gradients?? For the curious ones my +Garmin said 12% here... I don't think it ever when under 7% for the whole climb..

As you go up there is painting on the road that tells you how far you have climbed... The painting started at 5 km to go to the top... I tried to take some pics but they didn't come out any good as I was struggling to bread much less to aim at a painting on the route while riding.. Did I ever mention that all my pictures are taken from the bike while riding?? Well almost all of them..
But I was almost there at the top of the climb... But Before getting there lets just demoralize the poor fu**/r with this ramp..

That was something like 100 meters North of 14%.... The cherry on top???

But I think everything is worth it when you get to the top... Dismount your bike and hold to it as you realized that you are dizzy as hell and everything is spinning around you.... Then just then after you catch up your breath and the feeling of puking is leaving your body on that moment when you finally can look at the horizon and see how far you got up..

That I believe is the city of +Benalmadena Unica

And my trusty companion that took me all the way up there... The Mediterranean sea at the back..

For those that would like to follow this route one day here is the Strava link to my ride..

If you are ever in this part of the world drop me a line and hopefully I can take you up here for a spin.

Thanks for reading.. Hope you enjoyed the story.. If you have someone that might enjoy this share it!

See you ate the next update?

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy