July 15, 2023
To Torrelodones, Spain
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Jacinto's planned breakfast this morning didn't work out. He had been carrying Chinese noodles with chicken. He opened the container this morning, and when he picked up a forkful of noodles, there were long strings of slime. I'm happy I wasn't the one who opened that box! We shared my yogurt and milenesa from last night. We do miss refrigerators in motel rooms.
I was still planning to get out the door at 8 AM. Jacinto thought we should delay, as he had called tonight's lodging to ask if they had a restaurant. He also hopefully asked for a ground floor room. The person on the phone said that there was a wedding, they were completely booked. Not only could we not get a ground floor room, our room wouldn't be clean until 4 PM. Thus, Jacinto thought we should leave late. I pointed out if we wanted lunch, we had to get moving. That was a good point. We were out the door.
An advantage to the late night hours is that Spaniards aren't about in the morning as we exit town. That makes things easier. Except, it seems on the weekends when they head to the mountains. We were on M501, which is the road to Madrid. There was heavy traffic heading towards us. We were riding up, through a narrow canyon. It wasn't fun, but we got it done. Everyone was polite. The shoulder of the road was atypically dirty. Perhaps my rose colored glasses need to come off. It's back to real life and normal riding conditions.
We had a brief respite when we split from M501 onto a no line road. That lasted about five miles. Then we were back on an M road, which was not as busy, but still far busier than we have seen this tour.
We still had mountain scenery, when I dared look around. Jacinto pointed out that we had clouds for the first time this trip. I had to think about that. I do believe he's correct.
We saw many cyclists. More than 20. Perhaps 30? Only one woman, she was with a group of three men. I felt a little better, seeing so many other cyclists. Even if these roads aren't a pleasurable as what we've been riding, they must be the best roads around, with this many cyclists riding them.
We stopped at mile 28 for a soft drink and peanuts. What a combination. I can't believe I've been drinking soda every day. For some reason, the gas stations don't have juice. They certainly don't have V-8 juice. That's an American thing. Electrolyte drinks such as Powerade and Gatorade are also not available. Jacinto did buy Powerade yesterday at a corner type store. It was the only one of the trip.
We had just taken off from our break, and Jacinto was out in front. I felt like I had a flat tire. We've been pumping up my rear tire for days. I think it has a faulty valve stem. It's slightly soft each morning. Now it felt more than slightly soft. I couldn't get Jacinto's attention. I finally did, on a round about. Jacinto stopped right on the curve, which caused me to stop behind him. A car honked at us, rightfully. That is the only car that's honked at us the entire trip. We proceeded down the road until we found a good spot to pull off. I told Jacinto I was happy that hadn't happened in the narrow canyon. My tire was down to 50 pounds from 90. I wonder if I picked something up from all of the road debris.
I was really happy we had pumped up that tire, as we soon started up a very steep hill. A soft tire would have made the climb even more difficult.
We were only a mile from the hotel when I felt like I had a flat. AGAIN! I called Jacinto. As I was calling, I squeezed the rear tire. No, it was fine. I told him it was a false alarm, keep going. I got back on the bike. No, something is definitely wrong. It's the front tire - it's completely flat! I call him back. The good thing is that it's the front, and I am adjacent to a little walking area where I can sit on the sidewalk in the shade and change the tube. I had a largish chunk of glass. I think even Jacinto's Marathon Plus tire would have gotten a flat with this.
Finally, we were back on the road. This entire stretch was all Madrid suburbs, with the associated traffic. We turned onto another M road, which was adjacent to the big A Road (interstate). I hoped we hadn't made a routing error, and would get funneled to the A Road. No, now we turned off towards the hotel. Jacinto went in to see if we could check in anyway. While he did that, I wiped my chain off. I had lubed my chain and cleats last night, as a final hurrah for the finish. I polished the chainrings a little, and futzed around. Here came Jacinto back - we could get in the room - it was on the ground floor - AND the bikes go in the room. I asked him if he had a man or a woman check him in. It was a woman. I asked Jacinto if he was showing her some leg, that he accomplished all of those things. That made him laugh. There is something to be said for bicyclists' legs!
We were in the room. Next thought was food. Will we get food, or will the restaurant be closed? It was 2:50. If the restaurant closes at 3, we will be too late anyway. We go ahead and shower. The restaurant is less than five minutes away. We are adjacent to a hospital and university. Perhaps it's a teaching hospital? I told Jacinto both facilities should have a cafeteria, perhaps we could eat there if our restaurant was closed. As we walked up, I could see people on the deck, and hear clinking dishes. Hurray for food! I ordered an ensaladilla - which I thought might be a small salad. Instead it was potato salad with extra, extra mayo slathered on the top. Jacinto ate almost all of that. He bought fish nuggets, and we both ordered hamburgers. For such a casual meal, it was 76E. One of our most expensive of the trip. Jacinto wanted a pop to go for later. They had only glass bottles, so he couldn't buy one. Next door at a bakery, they had canned pop. I bought two cookies. They came in fancy little boxes. I haven't been tempted by the baked goods here as I think they are like Mexican baked goods, not sweet enough for my American taste.
Now we are back in the room and I need to fix my tube. The back tire is still hard. Probably I will ride on it again tomorrow. If I end up doing a road side repair, I should have known better.
We are back at the Hostal Vicky tomorrow. It isn't an exciting place to stay for the end of our tour. The free airport shuttle is the hook. There are two other hotels in the area, photos show the rooms to look about the same as the Hostal Vicky. They don't have shuttles. Our room tonight is the same price as the Hostal Vicky. It's much larger, and has a FRIDGE! The things we take for granted until we don't have them.
OK - I"m off to fix that tube.
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Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 1,129 miles (1,817 km)
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