S2 : Day 8 : A little bit of everything

Original Scorch Crew

The day started with just Matt and myself gearing up for about 3 climbs, 70 miles or so and meeting Shruti at the halfway point. [ so she could ride the downhill :) ] We had beautiful weather by the ocean while riding along the coast. We had a fantastic breakfast and probably the best tostada of the trip. That ham was just magical. We road through the desert with some off roading around a opossum playing snake. There was a bit of inland main road riding when we picked up our 3rd original scorcher. Pushing up one of googles famous off roads. We ate HUMONGOUS steaks in a Spanish steak house. Road through highway tunnels in the rain and made it back one piece so Matt could enjoy some cereal with blue milk. Day 8's ride pretty much had it all. 

Some pix and then the day's stats!!

wow ... we look tired

Ride Statistics

Date ....................... Saturday January 14th 2018

Strava Link ................ https://www.strava.com/activities/1357439923

Departure City/Town ........ 

Departure Time ............. 8:19AM CET*
Departure Temperature ...... TBD
Time in  Motion ............ 7:12:47 / 61%
Time at Rest ............... 4:37:17 / 39%
Total Time ................. 12:17:37
Arrival City/Town .......... 

Arrival Time ............... 8:09 PM CET

Arrival Temperature ........ TBD

Total Miles Cycled ......... 70.7 mi

Total Elevation ............ 4,347ft

Steve Avg Pace|Max Speed ... 9.8 mi/h | 30.6 mi/h
Matt Avg Pace|Max Speed .... 9.8 mi/h | 30.6 mi/h

Shruti Avg Pace|Max Speed .. 9 mi/h   | 22.8 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 ......... 572.8 mi 

Total Elevation ............ 25,438 ft

First up was for Matty and I to ride out of town, along the coast and head towards our first climb. We had, and more me than anything, an early scare when Matt pulled over and felt a tweak in his knee. I was thinking, oh no, it is going to be a solo. Thankfully, after a few miles and an ibuprofen he powered through it.

After 12 miles we headed up the first climb which lasted for about 600ft out on to a fantastic view of the Mediterranean sea. There is a look out there called "Mirador De La Granatilla". Some pics and videos below.

- click to expand -

After the climb, we came down right before the town of Carboneras and I decided to go down and touch the Mediterranean for the first time in my life. I picked up a few stones to commemorate the experience. Shhh dont tell the Spanish!

My first touch of the Mediterranean sea

We stopped at the Avenue restaurant [ photo compliments of google maps ] and had the best tostada of the trip. The ham and bread was amazing. I honestly wanted to order another one to go.

Secret Sellllllfieeeeeeeeee ... that's what it issssssssss."

Matty's bfast

Best .... Ham ..... Ever!

We then headed out of Carboneras and in to the "old west" or what seemed to look like the old west, Spanish style. It was a bit bumpy, cacti every where and some really great smelling herby like plants. Almost like a lavender, but more perfumey. It was a very scenic pleasant ride. So as we are going along, no one is on the road and then from our right, coming down a mountain on probably a $5000 mountain bike is a middle aged Spaniard, wearing headphones that were blaring out a Top Gun classic... Danger Zone! You just cant make this stuff up! :)

After Ice Man passed us, we passed a snake playing dead, an abandoned building that looked like it had seen better days and this giant modern factory that looked a bit too much like something out of Resident Evil.

This building up close looks like it was hit by a missle

We made it passed the coast, multiple climbs, snakes and the desert. We get to the tippy top of our climbs for the day and we met miss Shruti who has successfully assembled her bicycle after being dropped by Eric.

Shrutssss getting the old hands dirty

Trying local colas around the world!

somebody's watching meeeeeeeeee

No es bueno!!

After our offroading adventure and a bit of riding on the street, we met my dad and Eric at Restaurante Rincon De Castilla. Website if you want to have a looksee:   http://www.rinconcastilla.es/ The strange thing is I went to have a look at the menu and I cant find any of the meat dishes we ate! It also looks like it turned in to a fish restaurant. I did a double check on the Strava route and the longitude and latitude from the below picture AND checked google street view and this looks like the place! Misterio!! :)

After the steak, we had a return of the rain. We were definitely all better prepared and we got our rain jackets on and headed out. Not as many pix due to the rain, but I still managed to get a bit of video. We passed through a number of tunnels bored through the mountain rock along the coat, it was very cool, but got a little scary when filming in the rain, through a tunnel and cycling with one hand.

We made a brief pitstop at a place that sold boat loads... i mean about 100 different type of cereals. I dont know why we didnt think of taking a picture of it. I think we were a bit pooped. Anyway, a few crepes and a blue milk cereal bowl later we were on our way to the airbnb. Come to think of it, we honestly should have documented the airbnbs as well. Oh well, next time. :)

We made it :)

After a very very short rest, we took the car and grabbed some Burger King! I love trying new fastfood when in another country because of the varying menu. So of course I had the burger with the friend egg on it. Muy bueno!! Loved it. And the day wouldnt be complete without Eric climbing a pylon and spilling his drink... smh! :P

Tomorrow will bring us to our 5th day in a row cycling before our last break day! About 76miles!! Lez do it!!!!!!! :)

Everyone was just dying for me to take more pictures as they worked through the mileage for the next day ... im surprised I didnt turn to stone ... yikeessssss:P