Mission Accomplished

Day 5: Thursday 17^th March

Distance: 75 miles / 120 km

Ascent: 1941m

Ride time: 4hr 58mins (within 18 minutes of expected ride time for proper cyclists)

Average speed: 14.7mph / 24kmh, Max speed: 63kmh

Weather: Sunny, 19 degrees, light winds

Coffee stops: 1

Gels: 1 

Woke up to clear blue skies and warm air – welcome relief following yesterday afternoon’s chilly, wet end to the day. My body was feeling the effects of the exertions from the week and legs felt like they were full of air – certainly much bigger than at the start of the week, but also somewhat more useless.

Today’s ride plan was to climb up the long descent we made yesterday (25km), loop round a lake and then head back from whence we came. The journey up was pleasant with great views of truly rural Spain, kindly gradients and warm sunshine. By the time we reached the top (after going up hill continuously for 68 minutes) I was beginning to flag so we attempted to find a coffee stop a little earlier than planned. However, this failed to materialise so we pushed on for Beniarres deep into rural Valencia. Refuelled by a full fat coke, coffee and the obligatory tostada we had about 35 miles to ride home. Knowing that the vast majority of this would be down hill on sweeping roads was enough to get be back in the saddle. The views of the nearby lake were lovely but were rudely interrupted by a short (1km) but nasty climb averaging 10% and topping out at 23%.

Once we reached the summit though it was pretty much plain sailing as we rode back down to sea level from about 2,000 feet. I knew my legs were tired as any tiny break in the descent was met with immediate leg pain and a sudden slowing in pace to what could only be described as snail-like. All the time, the final climb to the villa was gnawing away at me.

Determined to complete all planned rides, I took the final right hand turn into the urbanisation above Benidoleig and gritted my teeth for the next 16 minutes arriving at the villa a full 5 minutes ahead of Adam ...... however, he stopped for about 10 minutes to chat to a local builder.

Exhausted but elated at how far I’ve come since day 1 I flopped into a chair in the sunshine and took a few minutes to assess myself against the objectives I’d set.... overall not bad:-

1.       Get used to spending a long time in the saddle after the winter break ....  21 ½ hours in total covering 323 miles (517 km) -  delivered

2.       Climb some long alpine like col’s... total ascent 8,655 metres (>2800 ft) -  delivered

3.       Do at least one day of over 100 miles ... not quite – maximium of 91 miles, but then again it was raining and hilly!

4.       To get better at descending ... increased my confidence and the second set of brake blocks were looking decidedly less worn - delivered (but still room for improvement).

So overall, not bad – 75% is an A grade in anyone’s book.... if only my appraisal at work was as good!  Furthermore, it’s brought my Jan – March average weekly mileage to 98.9 miles per week, just 1% short of my initial target!

A brilliant week’s cycling and a great holiday to boot..... now just another 17 weeks to hone my new found skills and fitness levels .... watch this space.