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

One more for the Giro challenge

I was out by 10 am after dropping Felix ( my son to school) had no time to get back since he was having a play date so that means no rush getting back..

But what to do? Where to go? So I wanted a calm and easy climb.. As calm goes this climb was calm.. Now as easy goes.... Well wasn't all that easy... Maybe the first time up but when you are doing repeats the story changes...

I picked the Juanar as my playground of the day.. is a 5 km or so climb that finish at a hotel on the top of the mountain.. a Nice calm climb.. Looked like this..

The views are great and you can really enjoy this climb because the traffic is very little.. During all the time I spent going up and down I maybe saw 10 cars... And when you get to the top is this hotel..

Coming down from it you have to be careful.. Is little traffic but you never know what could be around the switchbacks..

My second trip up? Oh yes.. I went up again... I saw this sign.. That told me I was 3 km away from my second summit.. I believe is one at the start of the climb as well..

This guy spooked me as he flew by me..! (skinny young bastard!!!)

I even went off road a little...(nature break) but the view was really peaceful

On my third time up to the Juanar I was too busy trying not to collapse to take pictures.. Went I got to the top I ate and drank everything I got before I head down.. After this time I was bored and not feeling like another trip up the mountain..

From here I headed in Marbellas direction... That is the opposite side of my house.. So a bit more riding before heading home...
That part of the ride is great and mostly downhill... Really fast and in between traffic... If you do this please take it easy since there is a cross wind coming from the ocean that can scare you a bit if distracted...
Well I wasn't planning to get to Marbella so in the exit to Ojen I got out of the main route and into the little town before my final big climb of the day... I felt like I was going backwards here.. 6 km/h 7..8... Almost never double digits.. Painful experience but the views totally worth it..!!!

And they were quiet as well.. Those rock walls are impressive..!

The ramps were progressing the wrong way for my legs... But they still looked great...

That was my morning ride.. And the +Strava file if you want to look at it is HERE

On the second part of the day I did a group ride where I didn't take many pictures because I was fighting with my legs to keep turning the pedals.. It was a pain fest.. Well actually I was not in pain but there was no strength in my legs and I could see my companions disappear any time that the route went up..

So the only nice picture of the day was when we run into local traffic...

Unfortunately my GPS decided not to record this ride that was another 75 km and around 1000 meters of climbing... I am still trying to get the file from some of the other guys... That by the way thanks to the guys for waiting for me in every bump of the route...

Thanks for reading and sharing

Stay tuned because I am planning to start the guide business soon..

See you next time..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Getting to know the flat bits.. What flats?

As you saw this far every time I head out I come back home with a lot of elevation even taking the little man to school and back is like 100 meters of gain in less then 5 km.. Don't get me wrong I really enjoy doing hills.. Enjoy is one thing and fast at it is another one Clear?

Example? I have to climb this one every day to get home..

Today was a little different.. To begin started going down the hill to meet a friend that had a broken hand for the last 40 days and today was his first ride outdoors.. So far so good right? down the hill and meeting a guy that had a broken hand...
OK he picked the route because he knows the area better then I do and probably knows what would suit his rehab better then what I do..

We started heading for the flats, even downhill for the first couple of km.. Fast so far but understandable.. Is downhill or flat... or at least looks that way...
We saw a lot of people riding but since I was at the front sheltering him from the wind I didn't take many pictures... But I did manage to get a shot at out view and this guys coming at us..

After a while we had to start going up since we were going down at the start.. This wall came at us out of nowhere..! Totally unexpected and hard for me to go up specially because I never put the small chain ring on the front.. I swear I did..! But I didn't!!!

By the time we got back into town +Strava  said we did 59 km.. 684 meters of elevation at 26.1 km/h..! Not bad for a guy with a recent broken hand and a fat guy trying to get form..! Now was time for some refreshments..!!

My new riding buddies are not only showing me the new roads and mountains.. They are also teaching me a bit about beers and gastronomy here.. This is a place just down the route from were we live and a point of social gathering here in town..

Here is a picture of La Alameda, Coin about 300 meters from my house.. While I was there with the guys the MTB group joined us after their ride... And soon after then my wife, kids and dogs.. The beauty of keeping everything together in a familiar environment..

Looking forward to the day I could start my B&B and show you guys what all this is really about..!!

Hope you enjoyed and if you like it share the story

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report 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

Tres Cruces Trip

The story about today revolves about this climb according to +Strava is a category 2 climb that extends over 8 km at an average of 6%... Is a climb that is fun to do... Where you have to pace yourself at the start where the hard part is...

Lots of ramps..!! Where the average goes to 10% 12% and some more..

The first couple of km are the hardest ones (to me)

Along the way you have paintings on the route... Telling you distance and gradient

My riding partners where ahead of me most of the time....

Then I got into a climbing cadence that was comfortable to me and started catching people...!!! Woohoo..!!! Looking back at some riders...

Then the route turned interesting to my taste... There were big ramps of over 14% and where I could not take any pictures since I was climbing at a nice pace... Between this ramps there were some flat sections and even some downhill ones... This are the ones I used to keep my pace high and not to rest.. and caught up with my buddies....

Got to the top second from our group and then I had the chance to take some pictures after crossing the finish line... "meta"

The view at the top was short of amazing..!!!

After this picture was time to turn around and hit the flattish routes where I like to have both hands on the bike so there were only a few more pictures of nothing in particular...

At the end of the day for those that like numbers and ride profiles +Strava  said I did THIS

Thanks for reading and sharing

See you next time

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

Welcome back to group riding..!

Yes...! I found some people to ride with and also managed to actually get my big behind out of the door and ride with them... So this was a constant for today... Me taking pictures from behind that is..

Yesterday while I was trying to recover from my "solo" adventure I got a message from a gentleman named Francisco that began a conversation really quick.. Went like this more or less...

F: Pablo are you in shape yet to go for a ride?

Me: I think so... Just got back from doing a 60 km ride with 1000 meters of elevation..

F: Great..! Tomorrow we are doing a 90 km ride that will take between 4 and 5 hours... You are more then welcome to come...

Me: (in my head WTF?) Well to be honest I don't know how I will feel tomorrow since it has been a while since I've done a 60 with 1000....

F: Well we are counting with you..!!!! We meet in this place at 9 am... See you tomorrow..!?

Me: I will do my best and will evaluate when I get up in the morning.. Thanks..!!

Now you can guess how I felt this morning right? Well I felt fine but a bit nervous since I didn't know what kind of riders they were or what kind of people for that matter..

So I rode down to a park very close to my house and there they were..!!! Nice to see people on time..!!! We introduce and soon after we were on our way to a great day of riding..!

My companions and our playground for the day....

Going slow up the hills has some benefits... I see everything around me..

Look at the mountains in the back... But don't miss the tiny road on the bottom left..

Mountains.. Blue water at the dams and warm weather... (don't hate me)

More water... More mountains and some human made structures there... Almost blending in..

Last one from the dam... Maybe? But look at that view..! Full of peace..!

Did any of you ever hear about Camino del Rey ??? No? Well I recomend you to +Google Chrome it and find out about it... I heard is a 2 year waiting list.. (????) Here is a piece of it... between the 2 mountains..

But you might be asking... What the roads look like? Well like this..

I can imagine that in the Summer we are going to stop here for a swim...

And there were windmills...!!!!

Lots of them..!

And then they got really big when we were close to them.. This pic is for a friend in the +UK Photography Community that loves them.. TC for you..

At this point we were done with 95% of the climbing and we had a very looooong downhill were the camera went inside my best till we got to Coín.. It was a fast downhill something like 15 km long..Fast but thankfully not too steep...

After we got back into town +Strava told me that I had 90 km and a bit over 1200 meters of elevation.. My companions and my belly told me to sit down and enjoy the refreshments..

And after 3 weeks in Spain I finally had a taste of the famous Paella..

Everything went down very well with some local beer... And a bit of water to re-hydrate after the ride...

While waiting for the check this picturesque character rode by and present himself for this picture...

And that is what my day looked like from the saddle today.. I have to say that I am happy to have find out a group of "gentlemen" I call the like that because that is what they are..

Thank you for reading and sharing

Hope you enjoy today's adventure.. See you next time..!!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy