June 17, 2023
To Segovia, Spain
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We were in bed last night by 10 PM, I set the alarm for 7 AM, thinking we would be awake early. Our room was too hot all night, even with the windows open (no screens) for ventilation. I woke up at 2 AM, dreaming about the extra 1,000 feet of climbing, when yesterday's pass already wupped my ass. I didn't feel as if I ever went back to sleep, but I must have, as the alarm did wake me up.
We wandered down after 8 AM for breakfast. Not reading well in Spanish is a detriment. I thought I ordered muesli, with yogurt and fruit. What I received was yogurt and fruit with a garnish of muesli. It was a generous portion. I took my tortilla (an egg and potato dish) to go. I don't think they do plastic ware in Spain. It took some time to find a to go container, and then even more time to find a plastic fork. Then Jacinto conscripted my container for his two day old ribs (!), and I was reduced to a ziplock bag for my tortilla.
There were more and more cyclists appearing. They were all eating a typical Spanish breakfast - pan tostada and coffee. How in the world is that enough to get them down the road? I do not know. There were probably ten riders milling around the yard as I got ready to leave. My recumbent got a number of side looks, but no comments. I told Jacinto I was taking off early, he would surely catch up with me. I wasn't worried about getting lost, I just need to continue up the road. No downhill!
I had two miles of moderate granny gear climbing before dropping into my lowest gear. Who says starting the day in the granny gear isn't fun? It was eight miles and 2,300 feet to the top. I can climb, but I do not do steep grades well. This is advertised as the steep direction to Segovia. I was not sure of my abilities. Here's an example. I've been looking for muesli, but couldn't find any. The Lodge sold some that is made locally. It looks delicious. I didn't want to carry the extra pound up the pass. My sherpa (Jacinto), is not very sherpa like this trip. I've taken on quite a few things he usually carries. Based on my poor performance yesterday, I don't dare add one extra pound.
I was passed by many, many riders. I am guessing maybe 100 riders, spread out. I feel sorry for any cars trying to drive the road. It is a narrow mountain road and there were a LOT of bicycle riders. Almost every one said something encouraging to me without me first engaging. Most gave me a buen dia. I had a few venga, or vamos. O pa sounded intriguing, but I'm not sure what it means. Google can't help me. I did get one comodo bici, a que maquina, and one jefa. Perhaps I had such a good ride because of all of the good vibes. I think it was because the grade was more reasonable than yesterday.
I would say most of the riders today did not have gray hair. There were also perhaps ten woman, greatly increasing the number of women we've seen riding. Watching the riders was a big piece of entertainment. I didn't stop much. The relief of catching my breath was negated by the agony of my quads as they took the job back up. I did take some Hammer brand anti fatigue capsules and two Hammer Perpetum tablets. I counted an allowance of those out carefully as I left home, as I knew I would be my own sherpa for the trip.
I left at 9:30 - later than I would have for such a climb. Daylight isn't until 7:30 - it's hard to get rolling. Happily for me, temperatures have been in the 70's.
I arrived at the puerto (pass) in good condition. Estatic, even. Perhaps this tour has a rosy future, and I shouldn't be dreading all of the climbing. I ate most of my tortilla, and checked my brakes and tires. All was good. It was a nice downhill. Good pavement, clean corners, not too steep. I can't ask more of a downhill. There were a few riders I thought I recognized from the climb. They must have gone up and over and back again. Most riders turned around at the top.
I had a seven mile downhill. The views of the open valley were worth the climb. Bertha prompted me to turn left. Where? Where is there to turn. In no time she was beeping at me. I stopped and looked at the map. Yes, I had passed the turn. Sigh. I went back uphill to a dirt road. I thought of the Andersons' and the Grampies - riding dirt all of the time. I could see that it was only 1-2 blocks to the pavement. I went for it. I was really going to cuss if I got a sticker. I think there were wild blackberries along the road. I had seen a few people out in the middle of nowhere, walking with baskets. Perhaps they were picking fruit. I also saw a number of hikers, and parking spots for hikers. I did not see a single identifiable potty of any kind.
I took the downhill dirt road, which dumped me into he streets of Navafria. I scored another stork on the church photo. I saw a number of women I think were about my age, doing their shopping. No shopping for this silver haired woman!
After Navafria, I was dumped onto the main highway. Jacinto texted to say he was at the top. I told him I was only seven miles ahead, to hurry and catch me.
We were now on a big road with a shoulder, N-110. There was an acceptable number of cars by Colorado standards, but not by Spanish standards. My bike started riding funny. You know what that means. A flat tire! Did I really get a flat on that dirt piece. How annoying. I was next to a guard rail and rode a soft tire to the first road entry, where there was a pull out. I found a wire in the tire, so it wasn't a thorn. I had a new tube inserted and pumped to 60 pounds. Jacinto arrived in just the right time to top off the tire. We rode the rest of the way into town, we had a head wind, but it was mostly downhill.
Once we hit Segovia, it got busier. It was also very uphill to our lodging. Cars were patient to a one. I was pleased with my day. We've only had three riding days, but this was my personal best. Even with the flat tire, I couldn't have asked for a better day.
We are at an upscale lodging. We have a room on the ground floor, right next to the office. Bikes go in the room. Score! They have ice. Score! The cafeteria and restaurant were full with two weddings going on. I was really, really hungry. We should have stopped at an outside bar in Collado Hermoso, but we were too busy getting down the road. Jacinto had two day old BBQ ribs to eat and was slightly put out that I didn't want to share them, and didn't have anything else to eat. The cafeteria here was indeed open until 11 PM, but only served drinks until 8:30. That's far too late for me.
Tomorrow is a day off. We agreed we wanted to take a bus tour, so we could see the most things without burning out with all of the walking. We walked to the area of the aqueduct, where the tourism office was. We signed up for a bus tour tomorrow.. Next was food.
We had to walk down a side street for a ways to escape the crowds. We stopped at a cafe that wasn't busy. The waiter gave us a pitch for cochinilla - which he described as pork fixed their own special way, much better than other places. He was so descriptive that I went for that over the eggs and fries I had planned to order. The laugh was on us. Jacinto said it was the spine of the pig, deep fried. I didn't even finish mine. He ate his meat and mine also. It wasn't good, but I had calories in my stomach. Then we were off to see the aqueduct. I have several good photos, which I'm excited to share when I can get them loaded.
The day was catching up to me by then. I was dreading the uphill walk back to the San Antonio. It actually went quickly! I fought with the photos, gave up, wrote this and I'm now yawning and yawning. Tomorrow we have our first included breakfast, a buffet. I hope there's no pig spines! If there is, I'm not eating it.
Edit later - We now know cochinilla is a baby piglet. I don't know if we got boney portions, or if all servings are that boney. We weren't impressed and won't order it again.
Today was a top riding day, as was yesterday (even thought I didn't find my pace on the climb). It's been a learning trip.
We have only 87 miles, but two named passes. I think we are doing well. We are enjoying learning the different customs in a new country.
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over all. We are enjoying the sights and the different customs.
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Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 89 miles (143 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 9 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 11 |
You didn't mention Jacinto's knee - I hope this means it isn't bothering him too much.
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1 year ago
Oh, the culinary stories I have of my overseas travels, well, and here in the USA as well.
I'm sure Jacinto's language skills will serve you well.
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It's enough to be hungry as an adult, much less responsible for small children!
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