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

A ride with a friend in a Tuesday morning…

My friend Jose Luis is from Colombia, as a Colombian he loves cycling but his new job cuts his time on the bike a lot..! He gets out a few times a week or less then that when busy.. But today he could so I joined him on a ride with a little bit of everything...

Empty to low traffic roads heading up? Checked..!

Someone to chase? Checked..!

Someone to drop? Checked..!

Someone catching up to you while you try to take cool pictures? Checked..!

Screaming downhills where the tiny climbers have no chance? Checked..! (70 km/h, don’t show Katja)

Crossing little towns in the middle of the Sierras? Checked..!

All done before noon… 2 hours of fun on the bike.. 50 km and 850 meters of climbing… Also this ride puts me under 1000 meters behind my goal of 10.000 km for the year.. Who knows maybe I will reach it.. But I really doubt it.. Trip to Argentina coming up and no riding over there.. Well as far as I know..

The +Strava link to the ride is HERE if you like to follow me feel free to do so..Or join the club over there..

Thanks for reading and if you want me to take you for a ride around Coin get in touch with me..!!

See you next time

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

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

The Sunday Classic

By classic I do not mean we do the same ride.. By classic I don't mean we are hardcore like those poor people in Belgium with those huge cobbles and horrible weather (respect to them) By classic I mean to get together with the guys and head out for another adventure in two wheels...

But since today was one of the best Classics races on the world I did a small detour to get a shot of the local cobbles...

There is a few streets here in town that have cobbles in it... And there is something on those with black and white pictures that made them look extra especial..

After that I rode to meet the guys so we could head out to start our Sunday ride.. Under the Andalusian sun..

Our routes today as you can see in this pic were the usual up or down... Almost never a flat route.. The views? I let you be the judge of them..

What is the best part of riding in a group for you? To me? has to be the having fun in a group..

But after a few kilometers of riding was time to start the climb to the top of the first climb of the day... Juanar climb if you look at the link at the bottom..

The first 2 kilometers are the harder part after that you have this steady climb with blue skies that are all around you...

Until you finally reach the top where is a hotel for people that like adventures, peace and quiet..

And then we all got together for a group picture at the top of this beautiful climb.. The group of the day..??

Then was time to descend... It was time to search for our next climb... But to get there we almost went down all the way to Marbella.. This translates for me as a fast descend for about 8 kilometers.. At anything over 30 km/h the camera stays in my jersey and I try to be as safe as possible so there is no pictures of this part... All I can tell you is that it was fast and with some windy sections that gave a bit of character to the descend...

Finally we reached the town of Ojen where our next climb begun... After a quick stop to fill the water bottles we started climbing and it was a fast pace..!! (we are talking amateur level here) My heart rate was above tempo so I had trouble keeping up with the faster guys.. (the climbers) so was hard to breath and keep the pedals spinning fast enough... (did I mention I am 99 kilos right?) So forgot all about the camera..!!! No pictures here either...

After we got to the top it was time to head back for home..Nice..!!! From this point to Coin is almost all downhill..!!! We are probably going to take it easy and just roll into our city for a beer.. WRONG..!!! All out again for 30 minutes till we got home..!

For those that like numbers and routes here is a link to +Strava .... Up, down and around

Thanks for reading and sharing 

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy