Pedriza with snow, cold and muddy but amazing

OK, so we did it... Frans, Edwin and I headed out to Manzanares el Real last Sunday and climbed Pedriza, in itself nothing special. But this time there was still a considerable amount of snow at the top of the trail.



As you can see in below videos the natural park of Cuenca Alta del Manzanares is absolutely stunnig, also with low hanging clouds and rain. We passed a few amazing ice walls created by the many water falls that are active this time of year.



Just as well we undertook this pretty tough trail, as we have set the first week of May as the week that we will complete the "Camino del Norte". The wet and sludgy trail, mixed with snow and ice made the climb exceptionally tough on our ageing legs.All in all a pretty good work-out.



We descended the same side of the mountain which had climbed. There was simply too much snow at the very top, which we nearly made by about a kilometer, and we did not fancy walking the last little stretch. Our feet were already near amputation state as it was, so we figured we'd head back down.

Next up most likely the three-valleys trail...

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

OK, it´s winter... we don´t care

Snow, and lots of it.. even in the mountains surrounding Madrid... OK, would we rather head out there in short sleeves and with semi descent weather? Absolutely! But, we have decided to ignore the weather and are planning for a winterwonderland adventure this coming Sunday. Without a doubt the downhills will be slippery, spectacular and not without some interesting crashes.

At 9 AM on Sunday we are planning to start our ascend of Pedriza, one of the MTB trails near Madrid, that is sure to be covered in snow. As this is all very wintery, we needed to kind of bribe ourselves..so, the tour will be celebrated (if completed) with a typical Swiss cheese fondue in one of those smelly cheese places in Navacerrada. Just to kind of round off the winter sport experience. Al this hoping that all snow will disappear quickly and that warm weather will return to this part of the world. I mean, we need to get ready for the Camino after all.

More on this MTB snow extravaganza over the weekend

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

A nice training run in Casa de Campo

Just went out on a nice training run on the MTB in Casa de Campo. By far most of the time the trails will be dry here, as Madrid does not get much rain. Now that it has been raining though the terrain was quite different. Besides the rain having created cracks in the normally flat dirt tracks, it was challenging to keep my "footing" at times due to the mud.

Besides many tracks I had not been on before, I also passed by the dreaded downhill where I crashed recently. This time I descended with skill and grace, bummer there were no witnesses. At 8 in the morning it's very very quiet in CdC. Neither Frans nor Edwin were able to join today so I guess they'll have to take my word for it.

All in all training is going well, should keep this pace up and pick it up maybe a little running up to the Camino early next year.

Am writing this blog post from the warmth of our local aprés-MTB hang out, a bar at Lago called Montaloya. The café con leche and tomato bread went down real well.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe
Enviado desde mi BlackBerry® de Vodafone

The Kodak Zx1 pocket camera

Was given a great gift today, and it´s always great to be given a present, especially when this gift is a way cool new gadget... It is the Kodak Zx1 pocket camera.



The point of this camera is to easily shoot HD footage, to be used on YouTube or whatever. This particular pocket camera is ruggedized, and all buttons are rubberized. So sand and spots of water will be no issue, because of this rubberization as well as the fact that all ports (USB, SD etc.) are sealed off with thick rubber seals.

The camera comes with a cover, so that small incidents such as a massive MTB wipe out, will not matter as much (for the camera anyway). It also ships with a special mount strap, such that it can be easily mounted onto say a helmet or perhaps the handle bars of an MTB.

This newby to pocket cameraism will set out tomorrow on an MTB trail. I will be on a mission to bring you some glorious footage from the mountains of Madrid.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

Camino del Norte planned for 2010

Following this year's Camino to Santiago (St. James Way) from Madrid, we are planning for another and similar adventure in the new year. In April or May we will be heading out on the Camino del Norte.

The Northern Way (Spanish: Camino del Norte) runs from France at Irún and follows the northern coastline of Spain to Galicia where it heads inland towards Santiago joining the Camino Francés at Arzúa. This route follows the old Roman road, the Via Agrippa, for some of its way and is part of the Coastal Route (Spanish: Ruta de la Costa).



This Camino will be a little bit longer than the one completed this year (820 km vs. 740 km.). It will also be quite different in other respects. As it largely follows the coast lines of the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia, it will present us with many short climbs. All in all though, at first rough calculations, it will be an overall climb that exceeds the cumulative climbing we did on the '09 trail. Needless to say, we have started getting in shape for this 820 km feast that we will want to complete in 7 days. One thing's for sure, we will be eating well, as the regions we will cycle through are well known for its good food.

More on our preparations in upcoming posts.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

A good weekend with two separate trails

Madrid has a number of really great spots for mountainbiking, of which many are really close to the city. Yesterday we decided to do a trail in El Pardo, a large nature reserve of which part is open to the public.

It is just north west of the city, and surrounds the village of El Pardo. This is partly known for the palace of El Pardo, which during the Franco years was the private residence of Franco himself. In below picture you can see Frans posing in front of this palace.

The MTB trails in El Pardo are great, but there is a lot of loose beach-like sand, so cutting corners here and there proved to be rather tricky. Only one minor crash though.



Today another trail in the Casa de Campo, and it is amazing how many hidden trails this gigantic city forest still has for me. Today I discovered a number of trails I had never been on before. I also descended the dreaded hill where I crashed the other day... this time I made it down OK. Casa de Campo is real popular with Madridś MTBers, and the restaurants at Lago usually serve as the watering hole for after a descent work-out.



We have started planning our next Camino, for 2010, and are considering doing the Camino del Norte. Essentially along the coast from San Sebastian in the Basque country, to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Among other great sights this will take us over the Picos de Europa. Cannot wait, we are condidering anywhere between March and June. We will be training through the winter, wanna make sure I'll be fit for this one. More on our plans in upcoming posts.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

A delightful day in the Casa de Campo

well, the day was simply amazing. Blue skies, no wind and 24 degrees centigrade made for perfect conditions for some mountain biking in Casa de Campo. This is an enormous park, a forest rather, bordering the city center of Madrid. To give you a feel of its size, it is five times the size of New York´s Central Park.

Casa de Campo is also where the mountain biking world cup was held this year in May. So we were obviously keen to try out some of these WC trails. This was by no means our first time there, in fact we have cycled through it many times before. Its extremely convenient location in the city as well as its great tracks make it perfect for a few hours of MTBing.


All was well today as we ascended and descended, until I decided to gun it down one of the more challenging and steep world cup runs. It was very steep and somehow my front wheel got a bit stuck. I soon found myself airborn and doing a bit of a somersault, with bike and all. The landing, face first, in the dirt took the wind out of me for a bit. Part of the landing was broken by my helmet and I was glad to be weiring all finger and tough gloves. Besides some token blood (to impress the girls) I was fine and left the area of the crash unscathed. It happened right underneath the gondola, and am sure it must have provided some of its passengers with a spectacular scene. I aim to please of course... ;)

anyway, the bike will need to be tuned a little bit and will go in for service tomorrow, will want to head out again next weekend of course.

hasta la próxima
Douwe