La Vuelta a España, trip to Alicante "Day 2"

If you read the first report, the one from day 1 you will just follow up the story... If you didn't you might want to go and read the first one... Up to you..

 After a good night of sleep was time for day 2

And here are some pictures….

So we started the day making our way to the start of the stage… Look around everyone soaking in the race environment..

Me? Well I was looking for a friend…

And the moment they were finish with team meeting and he was the last one out of the bus… (I yelled at him "are wtf are you doing in there sleeping?") But we finally saw each other after 3 years or so..

Then we talked for a little bit.. He seemed in good spirits.. And happy to see a familiar face.. (and yeehoo FFS next time let me know you are taking pictures…!!!)

And the pics don’t get any better.. But is not about me is about Sergey.. (yeehoo I am going to kill you)

We spoke about life, cycling and old friends U.S and Spain… You can see the pics don’t get any better either.. Me Sergey looks great..!

After the last shot it was time for us to make it up the climb of the day.. the last climb to the finish line.. We agree with Sergey that we will try to stay in touch a bit more and not let so much time go in between visits..

Now it was time to start climbing… T-Bong and Tom leading the way..

The spirits were great at the start of the climb…

This one is about 2 km from the top.. Where thanks to the police I caught up to the rest of the group.. We were stopped at least 5 times while climbing to show our VIPpasses.. Thanks again Marat..!!! Without this we couldn’t make it to the finish line..

For this shot I actually attacked ant told T-Bong not to follow…!!! Sweat and clouds didn’t help with the image.

And we made it to the finish line..!!!

Latour launches his final attack of the day.. I was sure Atapuma had this one..

He had enough by this point.. El Puma..!!!

Felline going for 3rd..

Bobo..!!! Right?

Quintana out sprinting a very tired Froome..

Remember Froome clapping at Nairo’s win? Well this is what it looked like from behind..

Froome heading back down.. He had such a disappointed face

Hola Valverde..!

Dani Moreno..! Very nice guy..

And that was all from day 2 in Alicante… Aitana is a great climb.. Hard as hard gets but really nice.. The only reason we could get all the way to the top is because Marat got his hands on this very useful invitations…

Oh the Strava link is here we are on the top 100 for the final climb segment..!!

Also let me recommend Julian to you all for any trips that you might want to do... Here is his Facebook page

Thanks for reading..!! Is one more day after this one.. Stay tuned for the last one..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

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

Almost 3 weeks off is a long time...

As my wife and daughter came back from the U.S yesterday I was ready to head out of the door for a ride today.. But let me tell you this.. 3 weeks or almost is waay too long off the bike.. I was suffering in many different way today... as the post progresses I will explain this a bit more..

Let me tell you that my route selection for the day was a bit challenging... Even if I was in great shape for it..! Never a good sign when you start your ride like this..

If you can't make the gradient marked there it says 9%... No is not for the whole 15 km climb.. I believe is at 4% the average since it has a few downhill sections in it..

Jose was loving it today..! If he spoke English the best way to translate the way he was feeling would be... Pay back bitch..! Since most of the time I am putting the pain into him.. He loved the route..!!!
How can you not love this views??

Andalucia is full of picturesque little towns.. El Burgo is one of them...

Before we headed out of town we had to stop and take a pic of the monument of it.. I am guessing that high in the mountains you can find this ones running in the wild..

From El Burgo we started heading to the next town in between mountains and valleys.. Something that I came to value a lot is the shaded roads.. There is not many around here..

This road was extremely rough, but since we were going up the hill it didn't really matter... There was a good 15 km of almost no traffic...  Seriously we saw 2 cars, a scooter and one tractor... Almost perfect to soak under the sun surrounded by this views... Can you see Jose there??

Remember the traffic? It was heavy traffic for sure...

After the last picture I went into a stage were all I wanted to do was to get home... I was exhausted.. In pain ( my bad knee doesn't like breaks in my riding) so I put the camera away and just pushed all the way home.. By push I mean I dragged my butt on the roads...

By the end of the day +Strava says we did 93 km.. and 1700 meters of climbing..

And this is me at home showing my new jersey.. Thanks to Joy and Pieter from Pittsburgh, PA for the present.. Loved it..! And it passed a good test today..

Look..!!!

Thanks for reading and giving us a thumbs up in +Facebook here is the link

Pablo

The Weekend Report and Retreat Guy