Day 4: Tarazona (Cycle)
A later than hoped for awaking this morning: it was 10 o'clock! However, I was pleased to see that it was wall-to-wall sunshine. So the need to cycle was definitely going to be satisfied today. The only question was how far would I be able to cycle?
After breakfast, some phaffing and the pumping up of tyres, I hit the road at about 12:15; much later than I had hoped for.
The climbing started about 1km into the ride and continued for approximately 25km (just over 15 miles). As I cycled the lower slopes the temperature rose to about 12.5°C and layers were shed, and gloves removed. The gloves were not worn again until I reached this point ...
... where the temperature, according to my Garmin (navigational aid), had fallen to 0.4°C.
Shortly thereafter the tarmacadam road became an surfaced dirt road, which brought me to the end of the "official" cycle climb of Moncayo.
A kind Spaniard asked if I could speak Spanish, to which I replied "un poco" (a little). He informed me that a little further ahead there was a restaurant where I could get food and drink until 4pm.
Given the condition of the path/track ahead:
... and the fact that the current temperature was down to -2.7°C, I decided the best plan of action was to descend as quick, and as safely, as I could, out of the forest, into the sunshine!
I was mighty cold by the time I again had the sun on my back, by then I only had about 15 minutes to go before arriving back at the van! (where the temperature was about 8°C (20°C inside!)).
Finally, I can report that, with the exception of the final kilometres of descent, I felt no more pain on the bike than I have off of it over the past few days. However, the increaed pain towards the latter stages of the descent, may have been as a consequence of the low temperatures encountered earlier or, because the painkillers were wearing off! Anyway, I feel no worse now and, hopefully, will feel the same tomorrow!
Today's ride:
- Distance driven: 0
- Distance cycled: 51 kilometres (and a climb of 1140 metres)
- Weather: Mostly sunshine, except in the forest! Temperatures -2.7 to +12.5°C