Day 10: Oliva Nova (Cycling)

Today's route was a variation on a 2023 theme. The variations being:

1. Routing to and from the start/end points to Vilallonga/Villalonga (so good they named it twice); and
2. Extending the route to take in the Embassament de Beniarrés (EdB).

To get to the EdB it was necessary to climb the La Llacuna (about 5km; average gradient 8.6%) and then continue on up to the Colladet de La Comba (total length including La Llacuna: 9.1 km; average gradient 6% with some 15% ramps - there is a sting in the tail!)

My bike at La Llacuna:

And at the summit of Comba:

Then on to the EdB (for the civil engineering!)

On leaving the EdB the early stages of the summit climb to Margarida (9.9 km; average gradient 3.8%) provide some steep ramps to enjoy! Fortunately, approximately halfway up the climb the direction of travel changed to an easterly direction, which meant I finally had a fairly strong tailwind - goodbye headwind! Thus, aiding the climbing and increasing the subsequent speed of descent back to Oliva Nova. The descent being about 35 km in length, broken by a short climb of about 2km and a final flat run in of !

Definitely a tough, but enjoyable ride! My legs were definitely feeling it on the final climb of the day, a short, sharp climb of about 2km!

Distance driven: 0
Distance cycled: 93 kilometres
Weather: Blue skies, sunshine and about 12 - 16°C

Today's route: