Climbing...Well trying...

Headed out not very sure of what I was going to do… The only certain thing is that I was going to meet my Colombian friend for a ride.. So I did meet Jose..

We headed down to the town of Mijas… Passed it and got to Benalmadena and this was our turn around point… Here is when I asked Jose how he was feeling and he: I am fine.. Legs feel good… And I said to him then I am going to add a detour to our ride… Another hour more or less… Is OK? Yes… Ok then.. Pace yourself I told him..

Our future destination…. The antennas all the way at the top…

As per usual he didn’t listen… Colombians and climbs…!!! The climb is 8 km long at 8.whatever % and the last 5 km is 10% I was in no rush..

Another 4 km to go and the climb did get easier… 9% for a while.. 

Freaking Colombians..! Slow down..! Can you see him ahead??

But the diesel engine keeps going all the time… Look who I caught up with..!!

I told you to pace yourself..!!!!!

With about 2 km to go Jose felt behind and I was on my own… But the target was closer..!!!

My reward? After about 50 minutes climbing I got to the top and took this pic…

You can see in the pic above the Sierra Nevada in the far back left and the Mediterranean Sea to the right becoming one with the sky…

Did Jose made it? Yes he did..!!! And this guy passed him on the way up… Then I took a pic of him and the other guy for the record of getting to the top of "El Repetidor de Mijas" That is the name of the climb..

So how did I do on my second try? I did better..!! I have a few more km in my legs and getting used to climbing… I think I went up like 10 minutes faster then last time but there is no record since Strava didn’t recognize my riding in that segment..

The STRAVA LINK and all the numbers…. If you are lazy.. is 58 km… 1479 meters in 3 hours..

Hope you liked my Friday adventure...

See you next time

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Get to know a bit of Málaga City..!!

Yesterday we had to travel with the family to Málaga Centro (centro meaning capital) to look at some requirements and information to get the necessary paperwork to start a "normal" life here..

So we took the bus into the city… A lovely bus ride of about 1:30 hour and you go across lots of different small towns and cities that are beautiful.. Along the route you have this sort of views ….

Is so nice to be in a sort of warm weather… Surrounded by mountains and routes that are not heavy congested by traffic… (there is some traffic still) where you can dream of riding your bike all the time.. I saw a few riders along the way.. So riding in this routes is an option that I am hoping to start doing at some point..

We finally made it to Málaga City (is not the name but I will call it like that) where one of the first things that hit me was how clean it was.. Is a city and I am used to big dirty ones.. This is a smaller one but clean and guess what??? They have a bike sharing program..!!!

The bikes? Well they do not look as the most inviting ride you could get…. They are used a lot.. (good sign right?) and with this comes good users and bad users.. So they must be reliable and probably well maintained for everyone to use them in regular bases… But with so much use the bikes look like someone dragged them on the street or felt down the side of a mountain…

And if happened to be in Málaga and don’t know what to do or where to go here is a list of interesting places you can visit…

And when is time to return your bike there is a map of where the nearest bike station is…So just look at where the closest one to you is and ride the machine there...

Forgot to mention that the bike lanes and cycling structure looks safe enough to ride in the city… The side walks are split for walkers and bike users… Looks very neat but I failed to take a picture of this… Maybe next time..!!!

Hope you enjoyed the Tuesday Trip..!!

Thanks for reading and sharing 

See you at the next adventure

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy... Working extra for you in a Tuesday ;)

Dodging showers in Belfast

First then anything let me all tell you sorry... It was a long week this one and is not even over yet..!! But on the bright side, always look at the bright side..! I am working and supporting my family.. We all need some money to support our love ones right? And I enjoy my job.. Is a bit on the heavy side but not that much..

Well all week was rainy, stormy and windy..! so everyday I took pics and they all look bad or not clear enough to post.. But lets say that everyday this week started like this..

As you can see the rain pants had a lot of activity during the week.. So did the rain jacket and the booties... I kept dry from the rain..!! (sweated like a pig in the oven)

And as I am riding to work everyday I started to look at the different things around me... Like...

If it happens that you are in Belfast and like to go for a ride but don't have yours... Consider the bike sharing program.

The infrastructure for cycling is very nice, but you do have to deal with traffic and know how to ride in it..

And as shown in the picture above... Be ready to clean your bike and have the right clothing for riding around here.

LOVE the traffic lights for cyclists and pedestrians... Respect to be respected.. Remember that one.

Sometimes stops raining long enough for you to look around and see how beautiful this place is...

This is right before my work place.. Look at how peaceful it is... Looking that way.. On my back was trucks flying by..

One more because is just a nice opportunity to take it in.. That in the back is call Cave Hill.. Great place that I recommend if you like zoos, castles and hiking..

I wanted to show you how nice Belfast is and the infrastructure you have for cycling... This is a cycling path.. Nice and protected from traffic... BUT..!!! You always have "some" people that think that is OK to park either on the bike lanes or like this one blocking half of the cycling path... DUDE..!! #ITISNOTOK

Thanks for reading and sharing.

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Happy "windy" Monday commute..!

Monday here and with it comes the routine of going to work and the biking commute.. Do not get me wrong..! I really enjoy my commute or for the most part I do..

How not to like it when you have this kind of views to reward you on your way to work?

This is Belfast at sunrise time for you.. it was a bit cloudy... Extremely windy..! for my luck most of it was on my back while going to work.. Some sections was a strong cross wind, you know when you are riding in between buildings or trees and come to an opening.. For sure I felt like the bike was going to do her own thing..

But it was worth it..! And it was surprisingly warm..! I was sweating a lot by the time I got to work.. Good thing there is a changing room at work where I can hang my clothes to dry for the ride back home..

My STRAVA ride looked like this.. Easy enough right?

My view at the time I got to work? A very nice one..!!!

That is Cave Hill, maybe when the weather turns for better or the days get longer I take a trip up there with the bike to show you the view from up there..

On my way home I had less fun since it was dark, windy, head wind to be more precise and had to stay focus on not to lose the bike to the wind and the coming traffic... (no pictures) And to top it all out my light run out of battery with like 10 blocks to go...!!! Charging it now...

Took a few pics of people parked on the bike path or lane but they came out too dark and hard to see... I am starting a hashtag #isnotok to tag people parked like excrement on places that create a hazardous problem for cyclists and people walking..

Thanks for reading and sharing (?)

Pablo

The Weekend Report guy

Life is getting better.

After who knows how long things starting to look normal..

Like I said found a job… And I can’t tell you how nice it feels to be productive again..

My Road bike is fixed and was ready to roll out this morning.. You see what I meant by normal?

So Saturday morning I was ready to roll out and see what I could do on a road bike instead of a CX one…

Our ride started heading up 2 climbs and then we had to stop because someone had a flat almost at the end of the 2nd bump

As you can see the weather was very Belfast like… But at least it was warm…. Here you can see the hard working bunch riding by the sea…

Saw some moos

We tried to stay together a lot since the head wind meant hard work… And did I mention it was raining?

But at some point the sky open up long enough for me to take this picture… #bluesky

And right before home I saw this pile of leafs that made up for a nice Fall picture…

It felt good to ride a fast bike again without feeling like dying at it… I even managed to make a few PR according to Strava.

I felt very well while during and after the ride.. Spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen helping a friend to make home made pizzas for her B-Day... Ate a lot drank a lot and didn't get up for my Traditional Sunday ride... But that is part of another adventure..

Thanks for reading and hope to see you at the next update.

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

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.

Remember that one?

Do you ever think about that time on the bike? What do I mean? That time when you knew you wanted to do this riding stuff for the rest of your life..

Well this post is about that day.. That summer evening in Hillsborough, NJ somewhere in September or August of the year 2011.. At a local Club race event..

The race itself is a well organized event for a small amount of people, during the 3 years i was riding with this group I can't recall seen more then 40 of 50 people at the time during the peek of this races. yes 40 or 50 people racing together in open roads with traffic can be dangerous but here is where the "handicap" starts playing a great effect in splitting the groups for various reasons:

1- Safety..! Is much easier for cars to go around 4 or 6 riders at the time then 40.. Right?
2- Competition..! everyone has more fun if they know they have chance of getting away and winning.

At any given event of this Club CRCofA will be any amounts of groups set to go at 6 pm from the Woodfern Elementary School..
Between each group will be a time gap of 2 minutes, sometimes 3 according to the level of the riders that start after each group..

With the slower riders starting at 6 and the faster ones following after them in intervals of 2 minutes like was mentioned above..
The course is very much the same every Thursday... A loop around 8 miles long with a little bit of everything, OK we are missing a proper climb here but believe me there is a few short steep hills that I learned to hate on the beginning of my racing days with them..

So you understand a bit of what is coming this is me (already lost a ton of weight here! I was bigger when the ride itself took place)

So after the introduction now you are ready to know what the race, Well to me was more like an introduction to racing looked like right?

Summer evening in NJ, hot and humid...  Remember this was my beginning.. I was set to go with the slower group..! No wait..! I left by my self 1 minute before the slower group..!! because I knew the first part of the course... On the first group was the older riders and the new riders.. And not this is not offensive I am saying older riders with lots of respect for them..!  Specially after they passed me in the first part of the course like I was standing on the side of the route.. I kind off held their wheel for a few minutes... To me holding a wheel meant I could see them for a while...

The fun didn't last long at all as we hit the rail road bridge.. Man I hated that bridge a little more after each lap..!! Not long but steep.. I was still getting used to the gear changing stuff.. So quiet often I was on the wrong gear going up that thing.. suffering and I think I walked up to it once or twice (and that's all you are getting from me)

By the second lap around this circuit when we were going "again" over this bridge and after hitting a lot of other rollers and going as fast as I ever went on the bike I was cooked..! Done! Finito! Kaput! and still had to finish 1 and 1/2 lap more..!?? Here was coming the bridge again.. When Mr Frank pulls next to me and grabs me by my gym shorts and t-shirt and pulls me over the bridge..

Now at that moment I felt a lot of different feeling in me.. Shame! Lets face it, no one likes to be slower and weaker then the old man. I did my best to finish the second lap, didn't even try to go for the third one rolled quiet and deep in my thoughts about what just happened to me...

Stayed by the finish line still thinking about what happened and watch everyone crossing the line.. net to Mr Frank since he is the one keeping track of all the results and points and all that.. I was quiet.. Clapping as everyone was crossing the line..

Now you read Mr Frank here a few times right? He is close to 70 if not there already (sorry if I am wrong Mr F) cancer survivor, at that point he was going for treatment 2 times a week if I remember correctly... And this was the guy pushing me from behind on every little bump on the route and waiting for me and trying to pace me on the flats..

Here is a pic of him with Felix and his 2 granddaughters

Like him there was is a lot of people at the CRCofA.. And that is the ride I remember, the people I remember and you know what? This day after everything was done and I was home showered and trying to understand all of it.. If to continue or not...

That day..Yes that day I decided to become a cyclist..! 

Just to be one of those old guys riding their bikes if i get there..

Do you remember yours?

Thanks for reading..

Till next time.

Pablo Alves

The Canberra Report - Paddy's River Road

I've been invited by Pablo to share some of my rides here on The Weekend Report, so I hope you like hills! Contrary to the popular image of a sun-burnt flat country, here in Canberra, Australia we have hills all around. For a skinny climber dude like myself, this is a good thing. If you'd like to read more about Canberra's rides, check out my blog at bike.sipols.com.

Paddy's River road is the main connector the runs through the foothills of the Brindabella range, the most famous of the three ranges which surround Canberra. It makes a nice loop by itself in either direction. The southerly direction gives you the Pierces Creek climb, but I prefer northerly for ease of access. This ride is rolling, with plenty of climbing but not the crazy gradients of the deep south.

From Tuggeranong, you can either take the short way across Point Hut crossing or the higher Tharwa bridge. The Tharwa extension makes a nice flatter warmup, plus unlike Point Hut the Tharwa bridge doesn't flood (a critical consideration at this time of year).

On deep south rides, Tharwa can be a critical resupply point but here its just a town to pass through. There is a surprisingly steep lump straight out of Tharwa, before the road meanders up and down. Once you reach the lookout get your climbing legs ready.

The road climbs steeply up to the Corin dam turnoff (a great sidetrip), then the landscape opens up as you approach Tidbinbilla. Take this opportunity for a bit of a breather.

The Canberra Deep Space Centre has a cafe and is the default coffee stop around here but since thats a side trip, we're not going there today. After you pass the Space Centre turnoff, the road will descend, with a few lumps to keep you honest. Like most of this ride, this area is farming land so you'll see quite a few cows and sheep.

If the ride so far has tired you out, you'll pay for it through the lumps at the back of Pierces Creek, they may be short but they are steep too, with gradients reaching 11%. Around here the scenery transitions to pine forest, but still has a nice scattering of natives too.

After a hair-raising descent on tarmac of dubious provenance down Pierces Creek, the short option is to climb back up the Cotter, through to Adelaide Ave and wherever home may be. On this day, the Murrumbidgee was threatening to burst its banks (good thing we went via Tharwa at the beginning).

The Canberra Report is a collaboration between Pablo Alves and Michael Sipols. For more in-depth detail on this route, check out Michael's post on the Paddy's River Road at bike.sipols.com.