Cheers Matt, thanks for the kind words of encouragement.Originally Posted by mattp
Cheers Matt, thanks for the kind words of encouragement.
Last edited by wheezing donkey; 25-09-2012 at 12:25 AM.
Couple of hours blatting aboot on the cross bike. Much fun.
750km from Madrid to Cadiz via Extramadura, the Sierra Morena and western Sierra Nevada in 8 days with two bloody heavy panniers ... :wink:
Well done Adrian. I guess that you now know, from first hand experience, that Spain is rated as the second most mountainous country in Europe, after Switzerland?
28k to work in the dark and 28k home at dusk.
Rode well both ways and am feel fairly fit at the minute.
2hrs cross bike shenanigans, I seemed to have stopped falling off every ride as well. Just a 50/50 chance at the mo
yes too right, certainly more bumpy than I imagined - particularly the Castile 'plain', which is best described as undulating and, er, hot.
Overall, I'd say it's definitely not as enjoyable a country for bike touring as say France - but then I reckon not many places are.
(PS. I do myself a disservice - it was 7 days...)
Not today's ride but did my first ever cycle event on sat - a 120km Audax with 1650m ascent around Shropshire. It was great, apart from the two punctures on some very decorated lanes! The Audax idea is great for newbies - i ended up in a group that gave me lots of advice about riding in a group (something i'd never done), techniques for climbing and descending and gears generally (reassurance that my 52/39 set up was going to make life interesting on some of the hills and that it isnt just me being crap!) as well as helping me to learn to fix punctures far more quickly :-)
It was the furthest i'd ever ridden and it felt comfortable until the last 2km when my body decided it wanted it to end NOW. Amazing what your head does when it knows you're nearly home.
Credit to the sport of cycling for helping someone like me. I was moving for 5 and bit hours and felt helped and looked after all the way by a really great bunch of lads who know a newbie when they see one.
well done, great stuff - for a 'newb' you're doing pretty well on the distance front! :wink:
out of curiosity, what was their advice on ascending and descending?
They said that i was eager to get out of the saddle on the climbs and suggested i sit down for longer on the long climbs and also to relax my grip on the bars, and not to 'rock' the bike too much when out of the saddle.
On descending it was more about when to brake, mainly before the bends
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote