I rode similar roads yesterday
Very proud to finally get some consistency back. I am starting the rest week of SSB LV
And today I did an awesome loop in Santa Cruz, 62 miles 5900 feet. I don’t have a road bike at the moment so all my road riding is on a gravel bike with 40c tires and 1x, awesome for the roads around here and since there are no group rides it works out.
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How I wish I had access to roads and challenges like this.
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Saturday and Sunday’s rides were under a sunny sky with the temps reaching 94F/34C. My Garmin now says I’m “100%” heat acclimated now, so I have that going for me.
Saturday’s ride was a loop from Valencia via Segart to El Garbí, the local mountain peak with three ascent routes.
The route via Segart is about 4.3mi and allegedly averages 6%, but that average is very deceptive, if not wrong, as in there is a one-mile section of 13% with a kick allegedly to 17%. This is from inside Segart, partly up the climb but clearly with most of the serious climbing in front of me. My first thought was, “I’m here because I want to be” and my second was “this would be a lot easier if I weighed what I did 2yrs ago” (15lb less).
The view is nice from the top of the hardest bit and while the climbing isn’t over, there is some spots of shade coming up. The shade is welcome because even though this was 10a, it was about 90F. On the plus side, once this climb was over, it was net descent (it’s all “downhill from here” is too ominous) to home, though there were a few bumps to surmount.
Back into Valencia, due to COVID travel issues, there are virtually no tourists. This is the 14th Century gate to the city (completed 1396 or so). Normally, the gap on the right is filled with parked tourist buses and tower and sidewalks are packed with people and the road is clogged with cars. Saturday 11:30a and it’s empty. Overall, it was 50mi with only 3k’ of climbing, in a “moving time” of 3:10 with a total elapsed time of 3:16.
Sunday’s ride was an out and back to do the other two approaches to El Garbí. First is what seems is the “standard” ride: Valencia to Náquera and up. There is a large sign early on this approach reminding drivers the route is “intense” with cyclists and frequent signs reminding said drivers to keep 1.5m from cyclists, with some signs showing two-abreast cyclists plus the 1.5m gap to the car.
While it’s ascending the whole way from Valencia, the main climb is shy of 9mi and allegedly averages 3%, but that’s misleading. Much of it is 6-7% with some shorts kicks that are steeper. Overall, though, it’s not hard. There are typically a lot of riders of all abilities, and on different levels of bike, on this climb on the weekend, which is great to see. You’ll see MTBers going up as there are trails off the road, which I hope to explore in September when I bring my gravel bike, providing travel conditions permit. As it is, staying this weekend means the kids and will have to self-quarantine for 10 days on our return to Switzerland tomorrow (I’ll have 10 days of only TR inside). If we left Friday, we’d be in the clear, but she was working last week and wanted the four days with us… so four days with the wife to make her happy paid for with 10 days of self-quarantine and no outside riding, seems fair (she’s not returning with us due to work). Anyway…
Up and over the peak, down the third approach, which is a raceway with an excellent road surface and smooth turns. Down to the bottom and I turn around and go back up, hence the “cleavage” in the hill profile looking a bit like a mirrored image. The pic is nearish to the top at slightly before 10a and it’s about 91F. This approach is only 3.5mi and averaging 5%, and generally completely exposed, just like the other approaches.
In the end, another 50mi, a few feet shy of 3k of climbing, 3:05 moving time, and with an elapsed time of 3:07. The few traffic signals were in my favor and otherwise it’s just roundabouts, so no need to stop.
A good time under the sun. Today is cleaning the chain (and the bike) and the beach, after I get out for a short run after finishing this.
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I know, pics or it didn’t happen.
Yesterday happened to be the end of my “recovery” week so I organized a dad’s ride to a brewery for socially distant-ish beers. Last “recovery week” ended in a similar ride, so its kind of becoming a thing. The first was on a paved rail-trail 12-13 miles one way for beers and finger food, yesterday with basically the same group of dads was a little shorter distance, but was on our local urban, organic, riverside path which varies from wide open dried mudflats to single track with underpasses… Beers were good, riding was fun, social hour doesn’t suck, especially when outside.
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That looks lovely!
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Another very hot day in the northeast, tried out a new loop yesterday. Nice and hilly on newly paved roads with very little traffic.
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Another hot and humid day here in the UK, 27-28C and just horribly muggy.
Went out on the fat bike again over the local hill. Took it easy for the most part but strangely got a couple of PBs and some fast times, then again you’ve only really got one speed on a single speed, I suppose that’s how it gets its name 
First descent of the ride, heads past the buildings to the left to get to the purple area.
Then it was the first of the heathery stuff - it’s in full bloom at the moment and there’s a strong aroma.
After that I had the choice of dropping all the way to the valley floor but that would have meant a 300m climb to get back up so headed back to the road and up this to head off up to the top of the hill.
After a bit of a sit down in the breeze the rest of the ride would be mostly downhill, or at least some short easy climbs. Back the way I came up but stopping at a memorial stone to a local man who died supplying the beacon that sat on top of the hill during the Napoleonic Wars.
Then one of the nice tracks through the heather to get back to the road home. It’s like skiing purple powder!
15km with 415m of ascent. I need an ice cream 
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Sometimes it’s nice to get away from the numbers, although there was no escaping the mercury numbers 
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We still had the knobby tires on so we went and found more gravel.
Crystal clear swimming hole a third of the way up:
The gravel road started at roughly the bottom of the hill, and it was so chunky by the last km or so that I walked up most of it. Couldn’t get the back tire to stay on the ground long enough to pedal, heh. Rode almost the whole thing down though!
Gulfjellet, the highest peak in the Bergen area:
(Technically that’s not Gulfjellet, that’s one of the baby mountains around Gulfjellet, but it’s generally Gulfjellet 
)
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Wasn’t really fast but I popped up to Rutland today, it’s the closest we have to a hilly area round here.
I passed Spokes cafe and whilst I decided I fancied it, it was too early. So I did a few hilly laps and came back to it an hour later. 
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@DaveWh the last picture looks like the beginning of a great adventure. My mind is saying ‘I wonder where that goes…?’
I wanted some structure but also wanted to be outside and needed to get back for WfH. So I did this:
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It’s actually a little boring - it goes back to town! But going the other way it turns into a gravel climb, to hot springs, then a single track descent. Or another alternative, a gnarly singletrack climb to the wilderness area boundary where bikes aren’t allowed (unfortunately).
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At the weekend we did a short ride to and from a bivy in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales.
Started down this old mining hush (they dammed water then let it rip out the gully in a flood)
At the bottom we saw what things might have looked like after such a release but this damage was from a deluge that hit this part of the valley almost a year ago to the day. The gully floor used to be level between the two green areas on either side, it’s at least 2 metres lower. There is only a small catchment area to this gully.
Up and over the other side via a cracking descent and then another climb over the skyline to our bivy spot at an old lead mine (the reason for all the hushes)
In the morning the mist had rolled in, really quite spooky!
My wife is only about 30 metres away in this shot. Good job I knew where I was going.
We dropped back down into the valley via a descent I’d not done before and then headed to the local bike shop/café for a second breakfast 
This just happened to be the shop where I’d bought the bike I was riding so ended up having a chat with the owner about the events of last year with him pointing out the bits of the Dale that were still damaged a year on.
Not far but quite atmospheric.
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This was from yesterday.
Mt. Evans via Idaho Springs.
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