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

Getting better... Mejorando

Today was a day where I wanted to go longer but then as I started riding I changed my mind... This late starts are not good for me and my life style since I don't really like to be home much later then noon... 

Number one reason is because I like to spend some time with the family all together since during the week everyone is busy with school and work.. 

And number two is that now that the Summer is getting closer the temperatures start to raise really quick after 12 o'clock... With that said I cut my ride a bit shorter then what I had planned...

What did I have plan? I wanted to do a 100 km ride since we moved to Spain this is a "pending" matter.. I do not like pending matters..!But today wasn't the day to set the score right... Maybe tomorrow..

So today's ride looked like this.... I mean the view..

As I took the picture above I could not help but to think of what life over there would be like.. 

The traffic was a bit heavy today as the motorcycles love to go all out around the bents of this twisting roads going up and down the hill... But it got heavier at some point.. And made for a great view..

And around the time I took the previous picture I heard some voices coming behind me... So I got company for the last 2 km of the climb... And they passed me with 500 meters to go on the climb.. But I was the winner because I could take this pic..!!

But remember I said I heard voices... So there was more then one person.. Here is the rest of the "amigos" that passed me on the climb and kept me company for a little while.. The shot is a place where I took a few pictures before..

We talk for a few minutes asked them where they were from and what they had planned for the day.. Our plans didn't match and I turned around to start my journey back home... 

As you can imagine most of the way home is all downhill so I put the camera away and enjoyed the speed and view around me... 

Here is another one of those houses that belong to a fairy tale history...

Then I stopped somewhere to take a few pictures...Stopped the GPS took the pictures and got back on the bike... Something missing?? Hmmm no, not really... All downhill for the next 10 km or so.. In my head I was good that will bring the average speed of the ride back up as going up was a drag..

After 10 km I looked at the GPS and I saw that the average speed was stuck on 22.7 km/h... Dammit..! Forgot to restart the GPS..! Lost about 10 km of the ride and a good portion of high speed downhills.. Oh well.. Lesson learned.. Leave the computer alone..!

After all the ups and downs of the ride including stops and pictures..... The numbers of the ride in  STRAVA 

Thanks for reading and sharing another story

Hope you liked the story and pictures

See you next time. 

Pablo

The Weekend Report 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

Wet Belfast.. Who knew?

Today Saturday I was out for a ride after a full week of work in who knows how long.. And add to this that I am riding to work and back everyday on the CX bike + a few workouts I had during the week..

Don't get me wrong I am sooooo thank full for a full week of work and actually I like my job.. I am working at a warehouse sorting different stuff (mainly clothing) and trust me I am finding very interesting stuff that people donates.. (cycling gear, shoes, football jerseys) and the best part they let us buy this goodies at a very, very cheap price...

But what I was trying to say is that today was the first real test for the legs after a full week of normal life.. and it certainly felt it.. Had a hard time keeping up with the guys up to the coffee stop.. After that I was OK or they were very tired...

Here is a few pictures of today's ride.. Actually only 2 since the weather was a stinker..

I love the effect of this one.. #speed

As you can see it was wet..! And it was full of leaves on the ground.. The back wheel was all over the routes a few times and was a nice reminder to slow down.. I stayed up right and so were my riding buddies...

This one was almost back at home when I had to slow down a lot to go over this path to get to another street and made a good opportunity to snap a picture of the rain and Fall effects combined..

By the time I got home +Strava was telling me that I rode 80 km and climbed 400 meters in almost 3 hours of riding under very not nice conditions..

Still was a great day out where only the hardcore cyclists were out (or the idiots that tested their luck with the weather)

As usual thanks for reading and see you during the week with the commuting updates.

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

I Zwift

Did you ever see this before?

I am almost sure most of the answers to my question are yes..!

Just in case if you have no idea of what it is or not sure about it here is a quick explanation of Zwift in my own words:

Is the most amazing social program for indoor training invented since the rollers were invented who knows when..! 

I would add to that description that each person has their own taste and that if you you don't like it cool..! But remember this..: Before you scratch it off of your list.. TRY IT..!!

Seriously is not like anything else you used before for indoor training... And the community is amazing..! Lots of support from other members that adds a lot more to the whole experience..

I think that is a good reason itself to go and ride indoors right? If that is not enough this is why I discovered Zwift to begin with..

Hospital bed and a cast (plaster for my UK friends) on my leg... I got into an accident last year, actually about a year back now... Due to this accident I had surgery and 3 months of bed time or something like this.. I don't remember exactly..
Thanks to this I had to be off the bike as well for over 6 months.. I remember that the first ride outdoors after the accident was exactly 6 months after it.. How? I am riding with some friends that were missing me for this long.. As we were riding the subject came up and we did some calculations and that was the result..

Now from the pic on the hospital to this one was "only" 2 1/2 months:

That is how long I wasn't allowed to even attempt to step on my leg.. Here I was allowed to put partial weight on it and start spinning without any or much tension on the trainer.. (somewhere in January 2015, Yeah Happy New Year to you too!!)

The first couple of rides were slow and short... And I used the normal sources to stay on the bike and do my recovery as well as i could without falling off the bike because of how bored I was...

Videos, music, movies and TV series and cartoons were involved in this rehab.. But as the time was increasing the level of boring trainer workouts/recovering time was increasing with it..

By this time I always kept using +Strava to keep track of my activities for medical reasons and because like most of the cyclists out there I like to share what I do. (or brag?) anyways I started to see some of my friends riding in the Pacific Ocean... Remember The Zwift island?

And my curiosity kicked in.. Started asking the typical questions.... I think number 1 question was... What are you doing there? Another holiday? Escaping Winter? and that kind of questions.. As the answers came back the curiosity grew with them.. And don't forget I had no other choice but to ride on the trainer, I was looking for anything to keep me motivated..!!

Research started and it seemed easy enough to sign up for it... It was a learning process for both Zwift and me... At the beginning only people with power meters could join so it was hard to receive an invite.. And I bet more than one is going to remember the checking your e-mail for answer more then once in a day..

I was lucky I owned a power meter... And they didn't ask what kind it was (Heart Rate) because at the very beginning they didn't support this one... So when they asked if I had a PM I answer yes and left as that.. A few day later I had my e-mail...

Who remembers this day?

Oh I was so happy..!!! Like a kid with a new toy..! I already had the ANT+ dongle and was waiting to set this up..!

Once everything was set it was time to play..!!! Since that day at the start of February till today I had ups and downs.. Just like a bike ride, but I always come back..

During the Spring and Summer I didn't use it as much but I still used it at least once a week... I even missed it some days... I was looking forward to rainy days.. By the way I have plenty of those here in Belfast, so my riding time never actually decreased because of the weather... Life got in the way as I started working and other thing happened but is always nice to know that you have that option to just walk into your pain cave and get a quality workout without living your house...

Since the start till now I did this much on Zwift:

Not bad for a guy with a broken leg right? And if you look at the whole number for the year..

That is almost half of my total riding was done on the trainer..!!! But the most important part is that thanks to Zwift and my attitude of never giving today I can show you this number and also can tell you that I can walk almost completely normal..(have a little limp, but almost nothing) Doctors said that my recovery was extremely quick..! That my leg movement and strength is great and that they are happy with my results..

Results? A happy husband, happy father and to top it all off A HAPPY CYCLIST..!

So because of this I want to say thanks to Zwift.. You were big part of my recovery..! You kept me going and motivate to keep moving my legs and also to everyone that forms part of the community online.. Special thanks to all of them for the support and always willing to answer a question or share the common wisdom..

Thank you all..!!!

Pablo

The Weekend Report guy