El Torcal, a going up trip.

We started the ride like this…

Rainy start.. see the mountains in the back? We were heading there…

Some switchbacks…

Some were intimidating..!

The roads? Excellent..!!! (most of the way) look in the back.. That was our destination..

At the top of our main climb.. "El Torcal" is an observatory, and you can see even Africa from there in a clear day.. today wasn’t one..

At the turn around point.. Now that was some climbing..!

At the sign point… Reference.. Look t-Bong I am using your present..!!!

Heading back was lots of downhill..!!! Do’h..!!! But in order to get to the main road and take some distance away from the ride we had to face this..

One of the guys cresting… Pain face anyone?? The view in the back amazing..!

To finish at this place that is amazing..! Cycling meeting point is the name of the place..!

And I am done for this week.. 385 km and 7300 meters of desnivel.. I am done..!

Thanks for reading and if you need any info leave a comment and I get back to you..

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

La Vuelta a España, trip to Alicante "Day 1"

So here is a few pics.. Day 1:

Our rides started like this every morning… Riding by the marina taking in some sun… ( I was accused of sun doping)

But someone else got accused of sock doping… Prove??

Villajoyosa has some good bumps all around it..

And the weather was amazing..! OK hot but amazing.. Look at thebongolian smile..!!! The kids is having fun..!

Yeehoo was keeping me company for a while till I send him looking for the others as I was soaking in my sweat surroundings..

I do not understand this pic… I am sure he was ahead of me.. He went around twice??

And there was socializing over German lunch in Spain… And plenty of water and other fluids… T-Bong the only brave one to have a beer..

My only KOM of the day came at the "who finish lunch first"

Best image of the TT??? Yeehoo taking a nap in the shade..!!!

Ice cream, smoothies and plenty of other fluids were extremely necessary…

We found Oleg..!!!!

Awesome view by the beach…

And that was it from me on day 1 in pictures in Spain.. And the strava link for the first day.. There was Team beer and Team sangria at night.. Remember those names for day 2… No pics of this.. I left the camera at home..

Hope you enjoyed this adventure and stay tuned for day 2 and 3 that are to come shortly...

Pablo

The Weekend Report guy

Returning to Tolox

Katja is traveling to the US to bring Savannah and I am staying home with Felix and the puppies… (so if you want to send me something from the US now is the time..!) So I headed out today to see what I could do…

After all I had this playground…

Was my first ride since last Sunday and my legs were not happy for the first 2 hours of the ride.. Here is us entering the town of Tolox..

Is not a very long climb itself… 3.2 km and has some shade..

The gradients? Well…. 13% on the bents… If I remember it right

Remember my legs were not happy? So I told Jose to go..

I still had a way to go…

Jose while I was cresting looking at me like… What is wrong with you..?? (no strength today)

And this is how we got to the top.. Same way to go down..

The strava link for the ones that care.. Nothing impressive there.. This little loop put me at 3299 km and 50.000 meters..

Thanks for reading and really hope you like it..

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Climbing...Well trying...

Headed out not very sure of what I was going to do… The only certain thing is that I was going to meet my Colombian friend for a ride.. So I did meet Jose..

We headed down to the town of Mijas… Passed it and got to Benalmadena and this was our turn around point… Here is when I asked Jose how he was feeling and he: I am fine.. Legs feel good… And I said to him then I am going to add a detour to our ride… Another hour more or less… Is OK? Yes… Ok then.. Pace yourself I told him..

Our future destination…. The antennas all the way at the top…

As per usual he didn’t listen… Colombians and climbs…!!! The climb is 8 km long at 8.whatever % and the last 5 km is 10% I was in no rush..

Another 4 km to go and the climb did get easier… 9% for a while.. 

Freaking Colombians..! Slow down..! Can you see him ahead??

But the diesel engine keeps going all the time… Look who I caught up with..!!

I told you to pace yourself..!!!!!

With about 2 km to go Jose felt behind and I was on my own… But the target was closer..!!!

My reward? After about 50 minutes climbing I got to the top and took this pic…

You can see in the pic above the Sierra Nevada in the far back left and the Mediterranean Sea to the right becoming one with the sky…

Did Jose made it? Yes he did..!!! And this guy passed him on the way up… Then I took a pic of him and the other guy for the record of getting to the top of "El Repetidor de Mijas" That is the name of the climb..

So how did I do on my second try? I did better..!! I have a few more km in my legs and getting used to climbing… I think I went up like 10 minutes faster then last time but there is no record since Strava didn’t recognize my riding in that segment..

The STRAVA LINK and all the numbers…. If you are lazy.. is 58 km… 1479 meters in 3 hours..

Hope you liked my Friday adventure...

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy