Steve Cycles The World: S2 : Day 7 - Our first and only Via Verde

someone is a bit sleepy

The night before Shruti and I discussed leaving an hour early. As a part of being a team, i've kept a close eye on making sure people are either partnered up, are sort of sandwiched in the middle, or we do the cycle and wait method to ensure no one gets too far ahead. We also had a few additional thoughts around who holds the bike pump. We established that it should be the slowest. It sounds like we are punishing them, or using “tough love”, but it was really about placement in the line. If you are the slowest and get a flat and dont have the pump, you are going to be stuck there until we get tired of waiting and backtrack to come and get ya. Long story short i didnt like the idea of someone going out early morning, in the dark, alone. The plan was for us to wake up early and try to get as much distance as possible. As you can see from the picture and my extra squint selfie - I was a bit tired. 😊

Shruti got a nice one ... wow

So everything was going beautifully, we were making progress, taking way too many sunrise selfies, trying to identify the vegetables growing on the sides of the road, and of course we had to make one wrong decision that put us back about 30mins and have us give our bikes a hot shower.

road veggies

One of my glamour shots

First... the daily stats!

Ride Statistics
Date ....................... Friday January 13th 2018
Strava Link ................ https://www.strava.com/activities/1355420034
Departure City/Town ........ Los Alcazeres
Departure Time ............. 7:07AM CET*
Departure Temperature ...... TBD
Time in Motion ............ 8:55:36 / 73%
Time at Rest ............... 3:22:01 / 27%
Total Time ................. 12:17:37
Arrival City/Town .......... Las Marinas
Arrival Time ............... 7:24 PM CET
Arrival Temperature ........ TBD

Total Miles Cycled ......... 89.4 mi
Total Elevation ............ 2,361ft

Steve Avg Pace|Max Speed ... 10 mi/h | 28.6 mi/h
Matt Avg Pace|Max Speed .... 11.5 mi/h | 26.8 mi/h
Shruti Avg Pace|Max Speed .. 9.8 mi/h | 23.5 mi/h
* Central European Time

Tour Statistics
I decided to be extra nerdy and keep a cumulative running total of some key stats. :)
Total Miles Cycled ......... 502 mi
Total Elevation ............ 21,091 ft

Like i mentioned above, the first NNN miles were pretty smooth ... except for when we rode our bikes through a giant cement drain pipe, in the dark, to pass under a highway. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Then we took one of googles “satellite roads” which went through a farm, which wouldnt have been too bad, but it either rained or they hosed it down for 18hours and we experienced the cliche’ “stuck in the mud”. Not only was it so bad that we had to get off of our bikes and push, but it was so bad i had to carry my bike and then come back for Shruti’s! The mud completed filled the forks between the tires and the wheels wouldnt even roll any longer. I quickly finger poked the dirt so we could get rolling, Shruti captured it on digital media, we turned to each other and said that we couldnt... but really could believe that just happened... and then set off again on our route. Now all the while i was in communication with matt, giving him our location and telling him to take the long way around.

The morning mess

Thankfully we came upon a gas station and learning from day 1 i knew they would have a self wash station. Same as my dad used. So we pressure washed off the bikes with some hot soapy water, made a mess in the station store and left some muddy tracks... and i forgot my water bottle! 😐

Wouldnt you know it, coming down the road were the other half of our quartet. About 20mins earlier, daredevil leon was runnoff the road and injured his thumb... we wouldnt find out that the zombie looking appendage was actually fractured! Have to give him some respect for cycling with a fracture . We hightailed it to Fuente Alamo de Murcia and had a pretty good bfast. If i remember correctly it was a full plate of eggs, patates and ham for the two boys in red, lots of bread and jam for Shruti and i believe i kept to my standard tostada. I was also told by the waitress that my Spanish was bad. :|

bfast - it was cold and these smiles are forced :) especially after the mud

After we left breakfast we immediately started cycling on a Via Verde. What is a "green way" you ask, well let me take a quote right from the source:

Vías Verdes (literally, "green-ways") are old disused railway lines that have been recovered and reconditioned for use by walkers and cyclists. Exploring them is a different, enjoyable and environmentally friendly way of getting to know Spain, its culture and its landscapes. This is an alternative ideal for all ages, that respects the environment and brings together sport and the great outdoors. Sounds good? .

Here is a site: http://www.viasverdes.com/en/principal.asp

And I even managed to find the maps and link for the one we did: http://www.viasverdes.com/en/itineraries/itinerario.asp?id=86

And the official Spain website [ i think :) ] http://www.viasverdesregiondemurcia.es/

Before we left for the trip we had reviewed this site and wanted to plug as many of these green ways in to our route as possible, but they were more inland than on the coast. I was really happy we were able to cycle at least one because it was absolutely amazing. This section was one of my favorite rides. Some great pix below and some nice videos.

We spotted this sign as we exited the via verde.

One strange thing about the trail is that we saw two dead rabbits... in perfect condition and perfectly centered in the middle of a cement roadway. The roadway in the via verde was one of the only onces that was paved like this too. We came up with a few theories after the fact.

that gigantic rock looks so out of place

dramaaaaaaaaaaa :D

Matty Bhai ... #filtersssssss :)

Broccolli!! Everywhere

love this pic ... gopro takes some nice photos

We stopped in La Alcanara y los Bucanos for a tasty pork/ham infused lunch :) This was the first time I had a HAMburger that was actually made out of ham! I didnt like it. Tasted like some form of sausage patty. Booooo

Checking the Bucanos fencing schedule... en garde' !!!

We finished the day rolling the last 16 or so miles in to Las Marinas. The end got a bit sketchy as Shruti and myself fell to the back while the boys went on ahead. We had to make a few "bio breaks" before getting to the end. :)

Looking at the total elevation and gradient below I think it is a little misleading. While it looks like a tough climb, it definitely wasn't as tough as previous rides.

Below is a video of a cloudy sunset with mountains trapped in between. Really cool.

we made it ... i think this was Shruti's longest one day total!

We finished the day getting our stuff in to the airbnb, I got stuck with the room that they used to hang meat in [it was so colddddddd ] We had some so so Indian food, it was good for a change and we were getting ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a bit of a hybrid in that Matty and I would start out, I gave my dad a timeout due to his thumb and he looked like he was pooped, and Shruti would join us mid way, after the hard part, to finish off the day.

Day 8 had everything a nice ride in the mountains, then a dessert, some strange Resident Evil factory, a city and some Spanish cola, huge steaks for lunch... then it rained on us and we had to go through tunnels and at the last stop matt ate cereal with blue milk at some type of Spanish Millennial kid hangout. Stay tuned!!