I don't get how the weather office calculates the risk of precipitation in Spain. When we were riding in Navarra and got clobbered by the wind and weather, the forecast was somewhat optimistic. When we got to La Rioja, the forecast was pessimistic, but we had a pretty good couple of days - until we got clobbered again on the way to Atapuerca. And today there's a POP of 100% but the weather's been more humid than anything else. It's kind of like May in Ottawa, really. Does 100% mean that there's a 100% chance that something's going to fall at some point in the day? That there will be rain? I don't get it.
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I'm at home now, having made a quick (I hope) trip into Madrid to drop off the cold weather gear that I was using and to get both the English and Spanish blogs up to date. This weekend was ex
cellent, once I got to meet up with the Pedalibre gang - Antonios López (aka Crazy Horse) and Tirado, Alicia, Julián, Reinhold the Multilingual, Kim from Switzerland and Madame Mati. Accommodation in Brihuega was kind of tight, since Brihuega had its spring fair going on, so Alicia called in a favour and we got to stay in a storage space owned by her (friend? cousin? never quite got it) Antonio, who also brought us the ingredients to make a couple of kilos of migas, a kind of dish of sautéed bread crumbs, chorizo meat and cinnamon which is far more delicious than I've described here. The spring fair in Brihuega is more like a big family reunion than the no-holds-barred Spanish fiesta that most people think of, and since they'd all ridden up from Guadalajara that night, no one was up for cutting many rugs.
Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, and after a quick breakfast of churros and coffee, we hit the road at ten. We were hoping that some members of the Club Ciclista Yunquera would join us, but no one showed, so we took off at ten and rode down to Armuña de Tajuña, where we met up with a couple more members of Pedalibre, and rode off to try to scare up lunch in Aranzueque, where I'd eaten with Elspeth and Gonzalo back in October.
Neither of Aranzueque's bars had anything happening for lunch, so the self-catering members of the group stayed and picnicked in front of Aranzueque's town hall, while the rest of us headed off to Loranca del Tajuna, finally finding the one bar that did serve food.
The ride into Madrid was a bit of a surprise, after having been away for several weeks; I don't know how, but I'd kind of forgotten how aggressive Madrid can be. Close shaves with SUVs (more than a pet peeve of Reinhard's), one car full of teenagers who passed a group of vehicles on an uphill solid line...annoying. Luckily we didn't have to tolerate the drivers for very long, as we got on the Vía Verde del Tajuña, which follows the Tajuña River for most of its course in the area. We made it to Morata shortly before eight o'clock, and spent most of the next three hours stuffing ourselves full of carbohydrates, before collapsing in bed by 11:00 PM.
Claire and Mayte came down the next day to ride with us to Aranjuez, and the whole lot of us headed
down along the Vía Pecuaria to the campsite, where we met up with Randy Castle, who's come from a very snowy and cold Minnesota to join us. Randy is riding a Bike Friday, a type of folding bike which fits into its own Samsonite which, in turn, becomes a trailer. Randy's bike was a total hit with the Spanish cyclists, who were impressed by its simple functionality (and the fact that it could probably be snuck onto a plane or train without much fuss being made.)
Pizza for dinner, wine and beer enjoyed by the side of the Tagus river, and then off to bed. And there's been a little bit of rain today, but not much....
*************************
I'm at home now, having made a quick (I hope) trip into Madrid to drop off the cold weather gear that I was using and to get both the English and Spanish blogs up to date. This weekend was ex
cellent, once I got to meet up with the Pedalibre gang - Antonios López (aka Crazy Horse) and Tirado, Alicia, Julián, Reinhold the Multilingual, Kim from Switzerland and Madame Mati. Accommodation in Brihuega was kind of tight, since Brihuega had its spring fair going on, so Alicia called in a favour and we got to stay in a storage space owned by her (friend? cousin? never quite got it) Antonio, who also brought us the ingredients to make a couple of kilos of migas, a kind of dish of sautéed bread crumbs, chorizo meat and cinnamon which is far more delicious than I've described here. The spring fair in Brihuega is more like a big family reunion than the no-holds-barred Spanish fiesta that most people think of, and since they'd all ridden up from Guadalajara that night, no one was up for cutting many rugs.
Saturday morning dawned clear and bright, and after a quick breakfast of churros and coffee, we hit the road at ten. We were hoping that some members of the Club Ciclista Yunquera would join us, but no one showed, so we took off at ten and rode down to Armuña de Tajuña, where we met up with a couple more members of Pedalibre, and rode off to try to scare up lunch in Aranzueque, where I'd eaten with Elspeth and Gonzalo back in October.
Neither of Aranzueque's bars had anything happening for lunch, so the self-catering members of the group stayed and picnicked in front of Aranzueque's town hall, while the rest of us headed off to Loranca del Tajuna, finally finding the one bar that did serve food.
The ride into Madrid was a bit of a surprise, after having been away for several weeks; I don't know how, but I'd kind of forgotten how aggressive Madrid can be. Close shaves with SUVs (more than a pet peeve of Reinhard's), one car full of teenagers who passed a group of vehicles on an uphill solid line...annoying. Luckily we didn't have to tolerate the drivers for very long, as we got on the Vía Verde del Tajuña, which follows the Tajuña River for most of its course in the area. We made it to Morata shortly before eight o'clock, and spent most of the next three hours stuffing ourselves full of carbohydrates, before collapsing in bed by 11:00 PM.
Claire and Mayte came down the next day to ride with us to Aranjuez, and the whole lot of us headed
down along the Vía Pecuaria to the campsite, where we met up with Randy Castle, who's come from a very snowy and cold Minnesota to join us. Randy is riding a Bike Friday, a type of folding bike which fits into its own Samsonite which, in turn, becomes a trailer. Randy's bike was a total hit with the Spanish cyclists, who were impressed by its simple functionality (and the fact that it could probably be snuck onto a plane or train without much fuss being made.)Pizza for dinner, wine and beer enjoyed by the side of the Tagus river, and then off to bed. And there's been a little bit of rain today, but not much....
1 comment:
I hope your cycle adventure is going well. Sorry I forgot to get back to your email about meeting up (yea i know you sent it via des about 1 month ago! im a disaster). It seems like you're making good progress from your blog. Keep up the good work!
Owen
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