Bienvenidos a Coín...!!!

As I said on the title... Welcome to Coin..!

Yes the first step into following our goals, plans and dreams was taken last week when we took a plane from our former home in Belfast, Northern Ireland to travel to Malaga in between all the mountains and no more then 30 minutes from the Mediterranean sea...

What this week looked like so far? Well it is a constant learning experience when it comes to the way different things get done here... (paperwork is tedious anywhere but when you are doing it in a new language is a real pain..!) Luckily I am almost fluent in Spanish... No seriously it is my first language but it has been so long that the language evolved and there are some words I have no idea what they mean..

What the new town looks like? Beautiful..! Really clean..! and people are extremely friendly and willing to help.. Everyone is wishing you well and all the success in the new life at the new place...

The pic on top is from an old hydroelectric system, late 1800's early 1900's and is just a few hundred meters from our new home... The new home is situated in the middle of a hill that is most likely from bottom to top around a km long...

Have to think how to route my rides so I can finish on the downhill into the house.. The last hairpin before the house could mean walking after a long day on the saddle...

Coín is situated in the center of a chain of mountains about 30 km from Málaga city or capital, not sure what the right term is... and about 25 km from Marbella... Marbella really doesn't need much introduction right? Is like the West Palm Beach or Malibu of the Mediterranean sea... Lots of celebrities... Lots of people with lot of money living in the same town.. or that is what I heard.. I didn't see any...

Oh yes..! We went to Marbella and had a picnic at the beach while the kids ran around and soaked their feet in the sea under a warm sun... It was windy as hell and we had to keep everything cover from the flying grains of sand but all the troubles were well worth it for the end result...

Looking forward to keep exploring the new town and start riding my bike as soon as possible..!

Thanks for reading and sharing

See you at the next update

Pablo 

The Weekend Report Guy

Goals? Plans? Dreams? Bring 2016..!!

We all have them right? So do I...!!! But this is why I wasn't sure on how to name the post... We should start by knowing the difference between them...

Using my own words to define each one..

Goals: list of things I would like to achieve over a determinate period of time.. They have to be real, easy or hard to accomplish is up to us.

Plan:  they are more like a structured way of accomplishing a pre-determinate idea. Is making a way to reach this plans.

Dreams: anything that comes to your mind real or not... Fiction or reality... Everything that you would like to reach or do in life... Just remember sometimes you can reach them and make them your reality..!!

Lets start by naming what I consider goals for this year:

- I am riding 15.000 km.
- Climbing 150.000 meters.
- I am going to weight 85 kilos, and STAY THERE...!!!
- Write more often in my blog... and better should I say...

What about the plans? 

- We are moving to Málaga, Spain.
- Find a job that allows me to follow my dreams.. Is coming...
- Rent a nice big house for the family... And future guests.
- Go to Argentina to bring my older son, time for him to join the family.
- Start offering my cycling guide services to people in Málaga.
- Start a B&B business to go with the cycling services.

And the dreams??

- Buying a nice BIG HOUSE..!!!
- Have the B&B running in our big house... Did I mention it has a pool?
- Promote the already established cycling guide services all over the world.
- Meet thousands of new friends while enjoying the mountains and the Mediterranean sea.
- And last but not least... Make sure my family and I are as happy as possible..!!

Bring on the 2016 and lets start working on all those goals, plans and dreams..!!!

As soon as we are there you all will know about it..!!! 

And as soon as we are ready we will be waiting for you all...!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Pablo & Family

See you soon

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

My Strava

Our Strava Club, join us..!!!

What did 2015 look like?

Yes is that time of the year when we come to look back and see what this year left us... In my case it was a year full of ups and downs but where I want to remember that I finish better that the way I started..

You remember how my year began?

At the end of 2014 they just removed the cast of my leg and at the start of this year I wasn't even allowed to step on this leg...

After a few weeks the doctors gave me the OK to start doing some "light" cycling indoors... Light cycling hahahaha...!!!! But so it began the route back to be on my feet...

It wasn't long after I got back on the trainer or turbo trainer like my friends here in the UK called it that someone recommended me certain indoor product to keep me motivated during my rehab period.. That was the start of a new friendship with the program..The developers and a whole new lot of other people riding indoors for different reasons.... That was the start of Zwift and me...

And the picture from the top explains how much time I spent on the bike when I wasn't able to do anything else basically.. 4305 km indoors..! That is a lot of time on the saddle..!!! But it really helped me to get back on my feet and walk almost normal now... Funny memory?? after a few sessions with the physio they told me "Keep doing whatever you are doing at home" that is much better then anything else they could do for me....

But to me was easy to spend that amount of time on the bike.. I had the support of my family and friends from all over the world.. And that made the whole rehab process much easier..

The key moments of the year? Let me think for a minute... If I had to pick one... YES..!!! Has to be the +Giro d'Italia +Discover Northern Ireland  you know the event to remember the time that the Giro started here in Belfast..

What was this all about? It was somewhere around 200 km of misery, rain, wind and cold weather that lasted over 7:30 hours... Where I had the pleasure of meeting a cycling legend like Stephen Roche...

Where Richie Porte was riding as well but I could not take a shot of him.. (he missed it)

There was lots of people, the organization was very good but I hope they do better with the rest stops and the food that they give there... Gels and whatever the other stuff was is not enough.. But they know they messed that part up...

But after all the hard hours on the saddle it was all worth it when I finally got home to get the kiss of my personal podium girl...

The +Strava link to the route of that event?? Giro di Italia Northern Ireland 2015

After June the weather was up and down... We didn't have a real Summer and that truly bothered me.. I never got into a real rhythm where I was comfortable on the bike.. So my fitness was on and off as well...

Had good months and bad months...

So now that we hit the end of the year I look at my numbers and see:

DISTANCE: 9536 KM

TIME ON THE SADDLE: 362.5 HOURS funny.. Almost 1 hour a day in average..

It was a great year if you considered where I was coming from... Now that we reached the end of it all I can do is look back and say THANKS to everyone involved in my getting back on the bike and almost at 100 % in everyday activities...

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Report Guy

The Weekend Report Club Strava

It stopped raining...!!! Hurry up..! Lets go for a ride..!

I rode outdoors...!!!

Since work and life messed up with my training this I decided to actually slow down and back up a little with all the training… I was very tired all week legs felt made out of lead and I wasn’t enjoying the training anymore… That said… yesterday I had a complete lazy day where all I did was wash my commuter..

Today was a nice cold day where the rain gave us a break so I went out for a ride..!! Or maybe 2 rides?
First since I was planning to take it easy I took the CX bike and joined the B team at 7:30 to head out for a steady ride with some fair weather..

The boys before sunrise

I got the feeling people was chasing me today….

But this one has to be my best shot of the week… Sunrise..!

Finally sun light..!!!

And as I was riding by Samson and Goliath I had to try to take a picture..

So my ride became two rides.. as I joined some of the other guys on what they called a little more after the traditional Sunday Ride… Next time I have to ask what a little more means… At this point I had like 40 km on my legs at a nice steady pace.. Now it was time to go for a little more..

The little more involved all climbing..! over 800 meters in less then 60 km.. I haven’t climb that much in who knows how long.. Add to this all I had was a sandwich and a cup of coffee for breakfast.. Only a small water bottle and I was riding the CX bike… PERFECT RECIPE..!! To what you are asking? To meet the guy with the hammer…!!! No it wasn’t Thor.. It was Mr Bonk.. around 80 km I felt like shit and couldn’t pedal anymore… Well fast anyways.. And we were still going up and down the Black Mountains… Pedaling squares and seeing cakes and empanadas in my head…Till we reach the final point up, then I had a little to drink before the downhill and it was some sugary stuff that helped with the final push home for a nice 105 km and 1139 meters or so said +Strava 

Now I am ready to go to bed and sleep till Tuesday...

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend report Guy

True Belfast weather

Hello friends..!

Has been a while since my last post right? Well is sort of hard to find motivation to write anything lately...

Life is getting better and we are all healthy... We are all working and the kids going to school.. So life is falling into the normal category... I was off work for a long time and that was not good at all...

Well when it comes to riding let me tell you that I have a nice commute every day when it comes to riding to work.. Is 10 km each way where most of it is on cycling lanes or even cycling paths.. The infrastructure here is very nice and seems like a lot of people uses bikes to get around.. Lets face it is faster then the car in a lot of cases.

Everything is great right? Almost..! The only problem is that is raining every day...!!! No I am not exaggerating.. !! Is really wet here..!! OK we have different kind of raining here.. Light... Drizzle.. Hard... And biblical proportions..!

What you don't believe me??? Look at this..!!!

Man and I had 3 mini lakes this day that I had to cross that day... As you can see it goes from side to side of the street and over the side walk (is a cycling path there as well)

To all this lovely weather you need to add the wind factor.. Yesterday coming from work felt like climbing invisible hills for 30 minutes.. And you had to keep in mind the wind while riding in between buildings or a car go by you.. It was very interesting..

Did I mention that it seems to be always dark? I leave the house at 7 am... (dark this time of the year) and leave work somewhere before 5 pm when is also dark... Good thing I look like a Christmas tree on the bike and this helps riders see me right away.. (and I prefer to lose a minute here and there and no my life in a minute)

But Sometimes it stops raining and you can enjoy the place a bit more and spot some great images...

Thanks for reading an sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

What commuting is about?

Is it really to get from one point of the town to another? Is it really just a matter of transportation? Do you just get on the bike to "get to work"?

Maybe I am just a weird guy that enjoys riding his bike a lot more then the average commuter, but when I swing my leg over the bike and roll out of my drive way every morning is like opening the doors of the world..!

The options of how to get to my next destination are endless... The adventures that creates this every day journey are amazing... The possibilities of discovering new people or places are always there..

Now as everyone in this world sometimes I get caught in the routine of just going and coming from and to... BUT...!!! I also conscious of this situation and I am all in  to blow this at any chance I get..

How do I do it? Like this..:

The problem I see with everyone is taking everything for granted.. We have great views everywhere..! Now do you take the time to see them?

You can see awesome people doing some great stuff that demand a lot of dedication.. How many times you drive, ride the bus over the river and never stop to enjoy the view at what people is doing there? I repeat... There is a lot of awesome people there... Take a minute to discover them..

And because I like to create a consciousness on people, educate them I post the last one... I am not blaming the poor choice of parking of all this drivers... I blame the poor vial education system and the structure around the city to support everyone needs...

Just to you to think next time you decided to park on the cycling lane.. Where do I have to go to avoid the car on the cycling lane??? Yes I have to go right on the street... And you all hate cyclist on the street right? Believe me I was hit by a car once (six months in bed were not fun) but it was a true accident.. Poor lady was in a shock.. (you can check that story here in the blog as well)

So my point is... I DO NOT WANT TO RIDE ON THE STREET but sometimes I have to...

Thanks for reading and sharing

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

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