40 Km MTB trail in Cuanca Alta del Manzanares

Today I cycled approximately 40 Km´s with some friends just north of Ciudalcampo, in an area known as Cuenca Alta del Manzanares. Fairly easy terrain wihout too many long climbs, but it was a nice work out. Amazing I even made it, we set off at 8:30 AM and had some difficulty getting out of bed after a rather pleasant and late BBQ party last night. I managed to drag my ass out of bed though, and drove the 25 or so kilometers just north of town where we were supposed to gather to push off. My breackfast consisted of a delicious and large piece of left over home made tortilla, breakfast of kings.



I forgot to bring my GPS, but of you want to have an idea of where we cycled, I drew up a quick mock-up on Google Maps. Will make sure to register the trail on GPS next time.

On the way we crossed an MTB race, which looked real cool. Kind of triggered me to look at entering a race after the summer holidays. Some time to get fit still..;)

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

Back in the pool

The pool season in our neighborhood, and therefore also in our building, started a few weeks ago. Great for cooling off of course with temperattures that are already high as it is, but that are looking to get to around 40 Celsius the further we get into summer. Also perfect for some exercise, especially as I have decided to do a mini triathlon on 4 July. For more information, check it out.

It is indeed a small triathlon, so nothing to get worried over. But as it will be my first I thought it wise to get back in the pool for some training. I used to swim competitively and played water polo, so the technique is still there. Now for some more endurance. Swimming, cycling and running I have all done to more or lesser extents. It will be interesting to combine the three in a row. We´ll see...

70 kilometers on the race bike

I dusted off my race-bike yesterday and figured it might be fun to go out for a bit of speed for a change. So this morning I took it out and pushed of to Colmenar Viejo. There and back is some 70 kilometers and there are frequent ascents and descents, not very steep but enough to break a sweat.

For those of you interested in cycling this route, which can get you as far as Soto el Real, there are various comprehensive Spanish descriptions on the web: Here is an example. The bicycle lane takes you right along the M 607, so is not the prettiest of routes, but if you are set on cycling a long stretch without having to cross busy roads and deal with the dangerous Spanish motorists, than its perfect.


I left home at around 6:30 AM, right around the time that it started to get light out. There was a fair amount of wind, luckily frontal on my way out which gave me confidence of an anticipated tail wind for the way back. The other way around would have been much worse. My usual route to the Colmenar bicycle lane is by taking a bit of Madrid´s so called green ring, or anillo verde. Essentially this is a bicycle lane that acompanies the M40 ring road all around Madrid. It is not bad for easy cycling, but as there are many crossings and thus places where you need to stop, it is not that well suited for a bit of racing. At this ungodly hour in Madrid however traffic is very light, so was able to make my way to the Colmenar lane quickly.

The weather was stunning and once on the Colmenar track you are immediately awarded with a very nice view of the mountains, the ones I was cycling in only yesterday morning. I pedalled quickly and soon found myself at Colmenar, figuring that it was probably a good idea to turn around.

I really enjoyed being on a racer again for a change after having had my ass firmly planted on an MTB for the majority of my trails lately. The first few kilometers took a lot of getting used to, but after a bit I was flying down the streets and the bicycle path. I do believe to have a preference for mountain biking however, which if done well gets you to the most beautiful and remote places. What struck me as odd was that a large percentage of the cyclists that I encountered on the bicycle lane were actually on mountain bikes, what´s the use I thought... off road with an MTB is so much more fun.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

La Pedriza, an amazing 40 Km trail

The alarm clock woke me at 6 AM this morning, I had plans to do a trail early in the morning at a time that the temperature would still be bearable. Pedriza was my destination, a name for part of the nature reserve Cuenca alta del Manzanares. I got there a little before 7 AM and set out on a stretch that is actually part of the Camino de Santiago, I was here a week earlier on our way to Santiago.


The trail, including a little stretch leading up to where I had parked my car, is about 40 KM. I opted to ride the trail clock-wise and started with my climb, which promissed to be an aggregate of a little over 1 Km. I had done the Pedriza before with Frans, in fact it was the first training run for the Camino. When I look back at it that now, and remember where we decided we had had enough of the climb, I now realise that we actually only climbed 1/3 of the total. It seemed so heavy at the time, but I now know how heavy this trail really is. I was glad that I had set out at such an early hour as the 18 degree temperature was great and I was dreading having to do this in 35 plus degree weather. At the top of the regular trail there is an extra run up a peak called La Nava. It looked amazing, but I figured I would keep that for another day. I did the entire trail within three hours which I thought was pretty good. During the descent back to Manzanares I passed loads of MTBers that were working on their first ascent.

I will definitely come back to this amazing trail again soon.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe

We are checked in and ready to go

Amazing, seriously the first time ever for me that I have experienced an effortless check-in with Ryanair. Usually it's a big pain and they make you go back an forth to another desk for previously unadvertised extras you never thought you needed. It must be our Pilgrim karma that paved our way through what's usually a Ryanair hell. Perhaps I am jinxing it by being this positive before getting to Madrid and picking up our bikes from the belt in good condition. We'll see...so far so good.

As we entered the airport we saw a couple of Dutch pilgrims fannying about with Iberia bicycle boxes, desperately trying to get their bikes to fit whilst working towards a check-in deadline. We looked at each other and agreed that we did ourselves a great favor in preparing as well as we did.

Hasta la próxima, in Madrid
Douwe


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Preparing for our trip back home

We have a semi early flight back to Madrid tomorrow, so decided to prep all we can in terms of packing up our bikes. Knowing how the luggage Neanderthals throw around luggage, including items marked fragile, we made a trip to Decathlon for travel bags and the next door DIY for half a mile of bubble wrap. We wanna make sure our precious gear gets back home in one piece.

We are nearly done and than it's off to a nice terrace for beer, general relaxation and extremely bad jokes.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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We are official

We just queued for nearly 2 hours, but have our document confirming our pilgrimage. Filling out the form you could state the reason for your trip, religious, other and religious, and non-religious. As Frans took the second category and I the third, we soon discovered that the nicer document is definitely for the religious types. Go figure.

We are off for some beers.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe


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