Firstly many thanks to Ron and Mags for letting us use their Villa in Spain, so kind ;o) x
We had some 5 days over Bank Holiday and decided to bring the bikes and do some riding followed by some chilling and tapas afterwards. What better time to spend together! Es perfecto eh!
Day 1 i was on my own, L not out till the evening so i headed out, sun shining and into the hills. Roads super quiet and smooth it was awesome! Big smile on my face. First climb was not far into the ride and lasted 20mins with mixed gradients of 5-10% so my 12-25 cassette was perfect but a 27 would of made me spin better up the climbs but 25 was enough. The long descent the other side reminded me how poor my descending skills were but they soon sharpened up as i remembered to look far forward into the turn and as the roads were so quiet i was able to cut corners and take the racing line, awesome fun. Managed to then find a sweet zig zag mini Alp D'uez climbs with some 9-10 switch-backs snaking up the mountain and hence the gradient sometimes pitched at 16-17% in places but was generally a steady 8-10% which was perfect on my 25 and i could enjoy the climb without hurting too much! Over 1000m climbed i was chuffed and on the way to pick L up from the airport.
Day 2 decided to trace my steps a bit and L was riding super well and getting used to the descents, she loves the long climbs having such a good power to weight ratio. She was smiling all the way and after 3 hrs and a dip in the cold pool we were refreshed and treated to nice cervecas (beers) and chips on the terrace courtesy of L
Day 3 we decided to head south towards Ontinyent and up the climb of Xativa and down the other side. It was a bit cooler today but still in shorts and short sleeve! The Climb up Xativa was lovley, 5% and we could just tap away on the pedals and enjoy the scenic ride up, take in the views and Villas. A few groups of Spanish riders screamed down wheel on wheel the other side, a quick nod of the head and a quick "Buenas" was said, everyone had a smile on their face! We reached the top and was awarded to a nice fast descent with swooping turns so it was time for aero tuck and away we went reaching speeds of some 58kmph - i did reach 70+kmph the other day! We then headed into some small villages and then onto smaller roads, quiet and surrounded by olive trees and oranges. A quick coffee and cake in Ontinyent and we were on the return journey with another good session in the legs and more tapas in the tummy! mmmmm
Day 4 The weather had turned and we decided to head out for a shorter ride and ramp it up at the end. I found a new route through a valley with some 5/10/15% climbs and then back around for a nice steady climb up Simat Da Villanga. After the descent, L (speedy gonzalez!) decided to attack and off she went, we did through and off and reaching some good speed all the way back, she was on a strong day and so much more confident on her bike now. Great riding babe!
Day 5 Decided to do the same route as we needed to get back to clean and get our flight. Speedy was not so speedy today and the attack i thought would come near the end never did......i did feel a breeze though???!! hmmmmm ;o) Aside from a quick visit in the ditch as i was too busy looking behind me at L we headed home no injuries to body of bike sustained, that's skill for you! ha ha I guess we could have done more hours but for the first time taking our bikes out there it was just fun. We'd love to do it again in the heat of summer and maybe link up with a local ride as well to show us some more routes.
Till next time, ride safe and hard, adios y asta luego mi amigos ;o)
No comments:
Post a Comment