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

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

Looking for "La Bola"

This was one of those rides that started way before you step out of the door... On top of the normal stuff going on when you are getting ready to go out I had no idea where I was going..!

What this means? It means that the night before I spent some time getting a route ready.. Making sure that the routes were not that heavy with traffic and the whole issue of creating the route... Downloading the route... And then uploading the route into the +Garmin, mine is an old version, I still own the Edge 500 that helps when you have no idea or where you are going... Maybe one day I'll get my hands on a 800 or since we are wishing in a 1000...!!!

What the ride and routes looked like today? Well I know you come here for the cycling pics.. Some of them are coming..!!!

What would Florida look like if they had hills?? Something like this...

At the start of my ride the route just kept going up and I was going so "fast" that I had time to pull the camera out and take a new form of selfie...

Where was I going? I was going to Alhaurin El Grande, distance on that sign doesn't say much.. But the views made up for the lack of distance..

My destination for the day? Look..

Now what is this? No clue.. But made for a nice view in the distance..

Lets take a closer look..!! Should we??

And here is where the ride turned around... What do I mean? Well lets say that I was riding the wrong bicycle for the conditions that were ahead of me..

What I had ahead of me was a MTB trail park..! I mean seriously..! And me on a road bike..!! Not only the roads were full of big rock they were also steep enough to get hurt or break the bike... But lets see the bright side of it... Beautiful for MTB !!!

After this stop I was standing around a corner and a local person stop by and asked me where I was going..? I told him I wanted to go La Bola.. He looked at me.. Looked at the bike and told me.. You can't make it up there on that bici (bike) So after that i headed home...
But before I got home I had a nature break and while checking the bike I saw this gentleman walking up the route I took for my break and started talking to him.. Reiner (forget my spelling) he is a bike tour guy from Germany and is working here in Andalucia for a tour company that I will check later.. We were talking about this and that exchanged pictures and stories on the side of the route and he might be reading this one day.. (halo Reiner..!!)

Well after the chatting I was ready to head home.. And this was my way back home...

After all the ups and downs of the day +Strava told me THIS WAS DONE not a big ride but would be nice if there was a way to know if the routes you are taking or using to plan your ride are paved or not.. Suited for road biking or MTBiking... 

Hope you enjoyed the stories and pictures from today

Thanks for reading and sharing it..

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Combo Saturday..!

Hello everyone..! Missed me? No? Oh well... Life this time sucks to me and this is why I didn't update before... Don't worry I am fine just can't find a real job in a normal place at normal hours..

But you don't come here to listen to my problems.. You come here to forget yours for a few minutes so let me help you...

Last week(end) was a busy one..! Man I am still tired from it..! i didn't ride a very looong ride but it was the accumulation of rides from all week... Rode like 300 km or so.. (remember I want to get to 10.000 km by Dec 31 Th)

here are some shots from my weekend..

Look at how beautiful Northern Ireland is when the sun shines..

Lakes, fields and a blue sky

If you like dirt routes you can ask local people to point you the right way..

That was my Saturday morning.. group ride where I collapsed at the end and ended up riding by myself after a wrong turn and my riding buddies went on.. it was fine.. I was already close to home.. I finished the day with some 89 km and 800 + meters of climbing.  I you want to see more details of the rides follow the LINK (Strava)

Afternoon? A completely different story but as exciting as the morning in different ways, look:

That is my riding partner.. My little friend.. My son.. He just learned how to ride his bike and he is all over it..! The weather was nice so we went to a close by park to explore and verify what some locals told us...

We found this at the park..

I never rode on a track before... And I couldn't do it really this day either since a "futbol" match was going on in the middle of it.. Spectators were watching from the side with little kids and I didn't want to get into any accidents.

We still managed a lap at a very slow pace and either Felix or me like the banks that much..

Our first experience at the track wasn't great but we said that we are going to come back and use it a bit more another time.. 

We had a great Saturday and after all the activities outdoor we came home and had a family dinner and watch some TV before heading to bed and rest for another day out the next day...

Hope you enjoyed as much as we did reading this little story of our weekend..

See you Sunday..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The Canberra Report - West Kowen Forest

Mike from bike.sipols.com here with another Canberra Report. This time we are hitting the dirt in West Kowen Forest.

Two things hit me whenever I ride West Kowen:

1. I'm sure it wasn't this hilly last time!
2. I really should ride here more often.

West Kowen offers quite a different style of riding to its sibling East Kowen. East Kowen is a renowned singletrack racing mecca, which hosts the Mont and Kowalski Classic. West Kowen certainly can't compete for flowy singletrack. But what West Kowen has, is space. Its a great place to go exploring on the fire trails and is dotted with old singletracks from back before East Kowen existed. So today I went exploring up to the ACT Fire Observation Tower.

The easiest access point from Queanbeyan is through the Molonglo Gorge entry road. After hopping past the gate (no unauthorised motor vehicles or motor bikes allowed, but cyclists are free to go where they wish), you are presented with a steep paved climb, as a challenge to keep out the unworthy. This one peaks out at about 18%.


After that warmup, I followed my nose north, following fire trails through the pine forest.



It involved climbs so steep that at times I had to dismount and push, but the views from the top were worth it.



On the way back I rode some of the old beaten up singletrack and spotted a chance for some stumpsurfing. Hang ten!



The fire trails around here really give you a physical challenge. The forest skirts the northern end of the Tinderry range, and the fire trails have been built with no regard for gradient. Towards the end there were a few kangaroos around, particularly in the grassier areas around the old homestead.



Much like in East Kowen, I saw whole flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos enjoying the pine forest.



So in the end it was 840m of climbing for 37kms - see what I meant about climby rides earlier!

For more details and photos on West Kowen plus some archival singletrack, check out Canberra Bike Rides.