Greetings,
Never got my last blog post in so I'm doing it the day after our return from Spain.
John & I drove about 2 hours from our hotel to Cudillero, to watch a stage start and then follow the pro peleton for about half of their 200K route.
Cudillero is a small, picturesque fishing port which sits on the side of a mountain. Outstanding are its hanging houses with eaves and brightly-colored windows perched on a horseshoe of steep cliffs around the port.
We gained VIP access to the staging area and hung around while 'rock stars' like Alberto Contador, Paolo Bettini, Moncoutie and Valverde performed the ritual of daily sign-in and then held court before the stage began.
Within 45 minutes of their departure and after the fanfare died down, we jumped on our bikes and tooled up the same amazingly steep slope through the middle of town and began our 100K ride for the day. After getting past a couple of cat-3 climbs in the first 30K, we enjoyed a relatively easy 30K of rolling hills and false flats. It was the final climb of the day that finally cracked me - the infamous Puerto De Somiedo, a 24km climb to 4,458 feet that started with a 4.6% grade, but got nasty towards the finish with grades of 7-10%.
After getting past three cat-1 climbs the day before, I simply ran out of gas at about 80K, right on the side of a switchback, about 3,800 feet up. I waited for the SAG van to come rescue me, while John Tonner continued blasting up the hill to the very top. I'm sure he'll be reminding me of this final climb all winter in spin class :-)
It was brutal but we both felt successful at the end of a long day! We were glad to not have to bike all the way back to the hotel, and we all piled into the two Trek Travel vans, exhausted yet victorious, and headed back to our hotel in Mieres, for one last dinner with the group.
Wednesday was travel day, with van rides to the Oviedo train station, a 4.5-hour ride back to Madrid, and a nine-hour flight back the next day to the states.
An amazing experience was had by all - we made some great new friends and many, many lifetime memories!
A VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO CENDRINE DE VIS, DAN FRIDEGER AND DOUG KIRKBY AT TREK TRAVEL FOR ALL THEIR SUPPORT!!
Thanks for stopping by,
John G.
1 comment:
As expected I will indeed be reminding JG of his shortcomings on the final ascent and his gallinaceous tendencies on descents. I have already primed my 7 year old "Big Z" to suitably wind up JG on these same points.
Seriously though, now that we both know what these suckers are like there is only one thing to do, plan on doing some more and get the training in. More visits to Grandma Roth's in Mt. Horeb are on the cards! Then what is next, L'Alp d''Huez, Tourmalet, who knows?
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