Chasing clouds

Woke up, had breakfast, check the tires, got dress, fill the bottle and headed down the route to try to meet with the local group to go for a ride... I probably didn't hear it right or something because again I didn't meet them or couldn't find them... This time I didn't wait more then 10 minutes... I was off..!!!

But where to go? My knowledge of the local routes still very limited so I stayed with the one I know.. But I decided to go a little farther this time around... It is time to start increasing the distance this by no means has anything to do with going fast...

So what was I going to do while riding? I went for chasing the clouds over the mountains in the distance..

So I set myself on a mission on reaching the clouds.. And believe me they are much farther then what they seen...

But I was getting a bit closer..

The route of chasing clouds has a good point... You are going slow enough to take a million pictures..

And the route is always going up.. Always..!!! I think I was going the right way.. At least the signs were telling me so...

And let the ramps begin..!!! Those were the steep parts...

And another one... There were lots of them..!

This one was a nasty one... But was one of the last ones I saw today...

I am almost there..! Almost there...!!!

But I was going so slow that I even had time to turn around and look at what the route looked behind me...

And right after this picture like 50 motorcycles went by me... Scared the poo out of me and then the wind picked up and I decided that was enough.. Too many things were going against me... Wind picked up..(head/cross wind), traffic was really busy all of the sudden... I was tired and the freaking road kept going up..!!!

So I stopped at a town named Yunquera and as I was talking to a man that told me that it was only another 5 km of uphill and then another 30 to Ronda... Almost nothing eh?? I said then sorry and maybe next time is time for me to go home...

Then I took this picture and put the camera away and zipped my vest up to start a looooong downhill..

It was a fun and fast downhill that didn't last that long.. I mean if you compare with how long took me to climb this lasted nothing..  OK most of the downhill was done at more then 40 km/h and I was climbing at 11 km/h..!!!!

I finally made it back into town and stopped at this place just to take a picture... Because I like my new town..

Here it is... COIN..!!!

By the end of the day STRAVA told me I had done this much.. (follow the link to see the activity) Also if you happen to be looking for a new +Strava club look up for the Weekend Report and join me and a few other nut jobs from around the world..

Oh if you are wondering if I reached the clouds let me tell you that I didn't and most likely will have to come back another time a bit earlier because I never caught those fast evaporating clouds..

Hope you enjoyed the report about today's ride and looking forward to see you at the next Weekend Report..

Thanks fore reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

No is Not OK..!

Another beautiful day in Belfast, Northern Ireland..!

It was windy... It was rainy... It was dark.. But hey..!!! It was warm..!!!

So i woke up like every day at 6 am... Had breakfast.. Talked a little to the Mrs.. Got the little man ready and off I was to my job...

Did I mention is dark, wet and windy?? Just checking..

And as soon as I hit the bike lanes guess what I found?

And I noticed this is not the first time I see this van parked like this... Some people at least try to be less wrong to call it some how and park only (only..!!) half a car on the bike lane... This one? You can see it yourself right?

I found many more along the way but I decided not to take so many pictures because they pissed me off and all I do is get upset..

Thankfully the ride got better as soon as I left the crazy part of town.. Into a bike path that brings me very close to work..

Then finally at work was time to change clothes and set the other ones to dry... I have a full rack all for me at my work place..

So after 8 hours at work on my feet and doing some heavy lifting was time to head out and face the other people hiding behind a steering wheel..

There is a section of my commute when I get out of work that is heavy on trucks.. And most of them are professionals behind the wheel and I really trust them... But the las few time there was a few "idiots" that after they passed you at a nice speed decided that is cool or funny to return to the line I am riding on and coming really close to make me stop. or fall.. Oh well (is not ok)

And as I got close to the city guess what happened?

.
On top of the conditions not to be the best either for riding or driving you have this individuals that were not educated in the art of sharing and respecting others..

One more?

Is not a funny thing when you have to get in the middle of other people trying to get home and looking at you like you are stealing their precious time with the TV at home.. 

Well that was my commute today.. Ups and down but after all I made it home in one piece..! 

Thanks for reading and see you soon..!

Don't forget to share..

Pablo.

The Weekend Report Guy

The longest day

Thought about doing this ride in more then one opportunity for different reasons.. You know one of those that has a lot of different things that attract amateur cyclist like me and maybe you to embark on what we like to think as  an epic adventure... With a friend as a companion..
Beware this post will have a lot of pictures of New Jersey.

When you head North in NJ you find country roads like this one..

So I had the alarm set for 5 am to have an early start since June is one hot month in NJ... Around 4:50 AM I got up because I couldn't stay in bed any longer.. My body and my brain were ready to tackle what would end up been a great and looong day on the saddle..

Got up, had breakfast I think you noticed by now that I don't function well without food... Filled my bottles grabbed some +Clif Bar & Company pumped some air on the tires (120 lbs) as I am a big guy not to have any surprises with snake bites and stuff like that... Went to the bathroom.. Kissed the wife and the kids.. And head out the door to wait for Vasil... 6:14 am showed the +Garmin when we hit the start ride bottom...

We were not far from the house when we started to hit the first couple of ups and downs of out long trip.

As you head North of Somerville you enter the Watchun Mountains that are not really steep but offers you a nice challenge with plenty of category 4 climbs according to +Strava

We had a run into some of the local fauna, I had to take a picture of this creature... And then get it out of the route before traffic got heavier..

As we continuing going up and down in our constant way to the farther and highest point of NJ we saw a lot of up and down routes...

I am very thankful for the shade since it started to get hot by now.. But as you pedal the wind feels great in your face..

We came across a bison ranch and I coudln't resist to stop and take a pic of this creatures...

And finally after some 5 hours or something like that we reached the highest point of New Jersey.. Called guest what? High Point, NJ can't remember how high it is and at that point all I could think of was that it looked like a mini Ventoux....

The view from the top of it was amazing..!

And one to remember the place for ever..

After that was time to stop somewhere and reload for the way back... I mean it was lunch time and the bars were not making the trick anymore...

Lunch time..!!!!

And we also used this time to rest a little and refill the bottles... Water wasn't lasting that long anymore.. It was like 30 + Celsius that is like over 90 F...!!!

Ah there it is..! Took us 5:20 minutes to reach the rest point.. As you can see there wasn't much flat involved in it either..

We still had some riding to do to get back home so we finished our drinks, filled our bottles and hit the route again... After all this was only half way... No we didn't finish the pizza... And I couldn't put it in my jersey pocket.. Too messy... (only 2 slices were left)

After putting a nice and brave face into the head wind and the hit and some more hills we run out of water again and had to stop to buy some... It felt soooo wrong to buy water here...

That was one of our last stops before we got home... I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw familiar routes again.. Then I felt like a second wind came into me and I could push the pedals again..

The way there took a lot out of me and on our way back poor Vasil had to do most of the work.. I was spent..!

We finally got home and as I mentioned it it was hot..! Good thing the kids had the little pool up and I could jump in to cool down...

But felt much better after a little refreshment...

So what was all this at the end of the day? Let me see....

That my friends reads:

242 km.... 3393 meters of elevation gain.... and all of this in 9:23 minutes..

If you want to see more details about this ride here is the link to what I called THE LONGEST DAY

Thanks for reading

Thanks for sharing

Stay tuned more stories are coming..!!

Pablo