March 30, 2012

Day 10

This morning some of us got to take it easy while the swimmers went to the pool in Trabuco. By the time they got back at 10, hitting the road at 11, it was much later than usual. For me it seemed to be just the ticket. I had a great day. We did a ride that was called the Express. It was a "Spain Flat" meaning not really flat, but as flat as you can get around here. We spent the first 55 minutes getting about 21 kms, all of it uphill and some headwind. We knew it would probably be a long day so we took it easy. When we came out of this little rural road onto a major road we turned left and went downhill for 22km - it was awesome!

We chugged along for another 25kms of rolling hills before we stopped for lunch and cafe con leche. Finally it was warming up and we were able to shed arm and knee warmers and jackets. 

 First stop - needed coffee

Chowing down

After lunch we formed a group and took our time. We formed a paceline and basically just kept a steady pace. I had passed Gerrad to grab onto the group of Roxanne, Dan, Jamie, Tim and myself. At some point we realized Rick wasn't with us, but we had seen that he was ready to go... Oh well, we were sure he'd get together with Gerrad for the ride to the next stop.

 Always hills

Andy was leap frogging us and had Colin, Erika and Francine in the van with him. Once we got close to Archidona, Andy directed us up a side street and said "Church of Pain." Francine and Erika had gotten out of the van to ride up the Church of Pain, and we could just see them ahead of us. Roxanne decided not to do it, she started the ride back home right away. The Church of Pain is a 2km climb up to a convent with an ascent of more than 200 metres, most of the grade was around 10-11% reaching as high as 18%. There are 8 switchbacks so you have a few chances to try different tactics to speed up your climb: Cut the corner and stand, sweep wide and try to flatten the corner, it was relentless. But it is essentially a driveway so there is no traffic and the pavement is in great shape. The views from the top are pretty spectacular. 

 Church of Pain

Erika finishing strong on the Church of Pain

After the Church of Pain, Tim climbed in the van. Francine and Erika headed home through the quarry and Andy held Dan, Jamie and myself back so they could get a lead on us. Once the three of us headed out through the quarry, which is a steep downhill then a long chug back uphill. On the way up we caught the girls and we held up at a pace that they could stay with us. This was a very nice change, I saw that my heart rate was 140 doing a 6% climb. If it was just the guys we would have been trying way harder. I wasn't the only one who noticed this, so we kept Francine and Erika with us until we got to Rosaria where Andy was waving them over to the van.  I knew that the gas station sprint was coming up, Dan signalled me "you want to do the sprint?" So we went for it. As it happened I was at the front until we were out of town, but I wasn't trying too hard. Dan came around me as we crossed the bridge on the edge of town and put the gas on, before I knew it he had 15 metres on me. I slowly reeled him in and just as we got to about 100 metres out I came up next to him and tried my best, but couldn't quite do it, Dan beat me by less than a foot. That was probably the last chance we had to do that sprint since we are going the other way tomorrow. Today's ride 105kms, 1800 metres of climbing, 4:15 ride time, about 25kph average. To thank us for pulling her back, Erika made tea for Dan, Jamie and I. It was a nice perk.

After we got back I still felt good enough to do the hot tub/cold tub thing to flush my legs, then a van load of us went into Trabuca to do a little shopping. 

 Tub of Pain

We went to the local Olive Oil factory and bought various items at ridiculously low prices, then went to the grocer to see what we could find. It was fun buying foreign junk food, wine and cheese among other things. The prices were pretty cheap compared to what we see at home.

Olive Oil Superstore

 

  My beer is bigger than your beer

Dinner was lasagna, or Tracy's version of it which is almost shepherd's pie with a few noodles thrown in, served with bread and salad. Dessert was apple crisp, pretty darn tasty. 

 Lasagna... ish

 Apple Crisp

Afterwards we sat around discussing our last day's planned ride. As it turned out Rick held a grudge with us for not waiting for him, so he wants to punish us with a six hour ride. We'll do the Malaga climb, then do Around The Mountain on the way back. Potentially it will be our biggest day. I better rest up.