May 7, 2023
Day 15: Toledo to Madrid
We have a long day ahead of us as we ride into Madrid. Madrid is the end city of BAC's Trans Spain I trip. Out of the 28 folks on this tour with us, 5 will leave us in Madrid, and 7 more will join us for the Trans Spain II trip.
Our day started with brisk air and some busy road before we were back out on quiet roads. According to the elevation profile, it will be a fairly flat day with just 2 short climbs. It was a fast day for us with the flats; the kilometers flew by. Photos were few, but the scenery wasn't the prettiest - a few fields and more industrial feeling as we head towards the capital of Spain.
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We arrived in Aranjuez, the city where the summer palaces for the royalty of Spain were constructed. We wandered through the area and came across a triathlon - it appears we were close to the bike/run transition zone.
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After Aranjuez the road became somewhat boring and started to feel long. We came into a round-a-bout and 9 riders entered it in front of us. The main group continued around, but 3 turned down the road we were headed for. We came up on them and they were going a bit slower than us, so Chuck decided to pass them. Of course, they jumped on and I knew we were in for it. We pulled them for about 5k at 30-35kph until we met up with their group as we entered the village of Saint Martin de la Vega. Thank goodness that was over! We stopped at a cafe for a cold beverage and watched several large pelotons pass us, a couple of which were even being followed by team cars. The number of cyclists that passed us while we sat there was huge! We decided there must be some kind of event happening since it's a holiday: Mother's Day.
We set off again in search of the bike path that will take us into Madrid.
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We made it to the hotel with only one extra loop on the bike paths in the city. The bike paths are extensive, but used by walkers, scooters, and roller blades. Chuck was pretty tired at the end.
We had a group dinner at a restaurant upriver from the hotel and we walked under the Segovia Bridge.
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The first half of our trip has been great! We had some really nice rides and we've explored a lot of history of this country. We've experienced heatwaves and now we're back into a more normal weather pattern which makes cycling much more enjoyable. IberoCycles does an amazing job putting tours on - lots of history is explained each night at our happy hour gatherings. So, if you ever consider a trip with Simon Proffitt of IberoCycles our advice is to go on the tour - he's wonderful. We also had to say goodbye to our second in command, Borja, who took care of our baggage and our bicycles. He says he can't be away from the office for a month, so he's sending another guy to look after us.
We have a couple of days now to explore Madrid before we set off on the second half of this traverse across Spain.
Today's ride: 99 km (61 miles)
Total: 1,155 km (717 miles)
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