March 25, 2011

Day 5

It seems that half my post got cut off yesterday, sorry about that. I must not have saved the file correctly. I wasn't even drunk, don't know what happened!

This morning the weather was cloudy and a little windy so we did our planned ride - oh yeah, that didn't get posted yesterday, did it? We did what must be my favourite ride here: Out to Colmenar, sweeping downhill for about 6km into Riogordo, up to the base of the mountain below Zafarria, then the 11km climb up to Zafarria, then up and out the other side. At this point the group split, some had had enough. Rick, Jamie and I continued on for another 90 minutes or so. At the end of it we had 130km, 5:15 ride time, 24.8kph average, 2080 metres of climbing.

On the way to the base of Zafarria we passed two German cyclo-tourists with full panniers. We had passed them going uphill, but they caught and passed us going downhill. 

We stopped at a little bar where we had been last year for cafe con leche before doing the climb. 

 

I had a much better climb up to Zafarria this year than last year: I started near the back and passed everyone on the way up.  By about 2/3 of the way up I had passed everyone in the group so I stopped to take pictures of some of the other riders below me on the switchbacks. 

I thought I wanted to strip off some layers but it was getting colder the further up I went. Once I got going again, after a couple of turns I saw the tourists again, that would not have been as nice a climb with all those bags. Jamie caught me just before I got to the top but held off passing me - nice guy, not like a roadie at all. It took about 40 minutes, average grade was 6 to 7%, only briefly hitting 10 at some of the switchbacks. 

 Jamie taking pics of the German Cyclo-Tourists

We stopped for lunch at a bar just at the top of the hill, and we all got very cold very quickly. Everyone was diving into their bags in the truck to find more layers - or at least something they hadn't soaked from sweat on the way up the mountain. The fog we had seen all around us had settled in the mountain pass. During lunch Rick told me he was right behind me, which was a little surprising since I passed him way down the hill. Then it came out that he had gotten a pull from the van, then rode in the draft of the van for a ways as well. But he didn't catch me. He had wanted to make some statement about old man power or something like that ;)

When the group split later on we had just climbed for another 5k or so, but from here it was downhill for 12 or 15 kms. 

 Dan finishing the climb

 Francine and Erika

Just as we headed off I said to Rick "Easy pace, right?" and Jamie said he was good with that too. Rick said "Sure" then he took off. I couldn't even catch up to him. We hit speeds up to 65kph. And caught up with the van and I drafted that for a while. Soon I was joined by Jamie as Rick had dropped him too. At the end of the descents we met Andy and topped up our bottles, then he headed home since we knew the way back and Rick had the cellphone to call him if necessary. Then I let old man power do his thing, and he pulled me and Jamie all the way back. It was still brutal, we had a headwind and I had a hard time keeping his wheel at 25kph. At the end Rick said "I don't mind doing that, because now you have to write about in your blog." So I told him I wasn't going to write it that way, hey, it's my blog.

After getting back we found that we had about 35kms more than the others. Ann was there today so both Rick and I got massages. Vacationing here is rough.

Supper tonight was roast chicken (half of a chicken), baked potatoes, salad, coleslaw, and banoffee pie for dessert. 

I had to save half my chicken for later. I had eaten my second lunch sandwich as soon I got back, but that was less than two hours ago. I just couldn't eat anymore. Weight loss plan might not be working out that well either.

Tomorrow is a "flattish ride" according to Andy, as he described the route. The first thing was to go out through the quarry, which is not flat. Andy said "but you're seasoned climbers now, that's just a nipple." The next day will probably be the Sierra Nevada climb, so I don't need a lot of climbing tomorrow. The weather still isn't the greatest, we didn't see any sun until after lunch, forecast is supposed to be better tomorrow.