Edit: How do you resize photos with iPhoto? I don't have adobe and a bunch of pics are HUGE somehow! ARRRG! The huge ones are resized to 25% of original on photobucket, and still ginormous!
Sorry this is so long, but it was an epic ride! Plus, I think we would rather read about a sick ride than what kind of tires to get.
Around 11:45pm or so last night, my phone suddenly and unexpectedly rings with an excited young voice. Its Almansa, a local rider and shop rat, and hes going bike riding the next morning. Plan is to meet at 7:45am. After a few more hours of Spanish ladies and other fine products of the old world, its off to bed, listening to the splash of the constant rainstorm.
Come 7am, its freezing cold. Not like a normal, -1° or -2° cold, but it is coooold, and very humid. Its a struggle to make it down stairs, but its possible with shorts over tights over long johns over shorts over two pairs of socks. After spilling my entire coffee just minutes after buying it, I head out to pedal over to the meeting spot, and something is peculiar. All around our Mediterranean city, the local mountains are a dusty and speckled white! Mixed with a purple sunrise, its gorgeous, no matter how cold. Almansa is full of uncontrollable energy, and Ivan will also be coming.
After a quick stop for three baguettes, three cans of calamari, chocolate filled croissants, and some other goodies, we get park the cars at the base of this huge mountain, Cabezón de Oro. That means head of gold. Im pretty sure thats a typo for head of cold. Its quite a sight, nestled in a small town above the city. We roll out of the cars and begin the ride to the base of the hike by 9am. The whole way out to the hike, the fire road is frozen, so all the mud is completely dry. All the puddles were frozen over.
On the hike up, the trail passes one of the coolest caves ever. The views are amazing, and the snow begins to become more. We see no more people, but there are already foot prints going up the trail. From 5cm to 10cm to 15cm of snow, we eventually complete the hour or so of hiking and arrive at the summit, only to be treated to a spectacular view of the Mediterranean. We finally see some people at the top, who are amazed bikes can ride on trails.
Check out the amount of snow in one of the driest places in Europe!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/bicycleweed/IMG_0814.jpg
The descent down is basically epic. What starts as a snowy, and very icy, rock laden trail becomes very flowy, diving from pine tree to pine tree. Somehow I never had a single problem running a Larsen in back. Even though things looked a little sketchy with many black-ice coated rocks in the shade, the ride down was fine when you werent using the brakes. The snow sections were totally fine when you let off the brakes and fully committed, so thats what we did.
Ivan
Almansa
Me
At the bottom of the trail, we made some sandwiches with the baguettes and calamari, and decided a second run would be a great idea. However, once we got to the parking lot, it was full of cars. The ride out to the bottom of the hike was dotted with group after group of hikers. I absolutely hate seeing lots of people when I go into the mountains, so this was a bummer. However, it was great to see whole families with 7 and 8 year old kids who were trying to hike up to the summit. Once we got up to the summit, it was great to see the smiles on the 7 and 8 year olds who made it. There has also never been so much designer clothing that far out in the mountains.
The AMAZING view from mid way down, second run.
By the time we started the second descent, the snow had melted some, and things got a lot muddier. It was a good mud though, and treated us well by staying in between the small rocks that make up the trail and out of the knobs on our tires. The second descent was great, and everyone was ripping. Amazingly, we saw only two hikers the whole way down. Turns out everyone wanted to hike up on the northside of the mountain in the snow, and no one took the south-facing trail to get back to the parking lot. After some exporlations, we made it back to the cars for the second serving of the saucy sandwiches. All in all, it was a great day of riding. We were all thoroughly beat by the end, but that was hardly noticeable behind our smiles!
*insert group photo here. Ooops, thats what we forgot!
Sorry this is so long, but it was an epic ride! Plus, I think we would rather read about a sick ride than what kind of tires to get.
Around 11:45pm or so last night, my phone suddenly and unexpectedly rings with an excited young voice. Its Almansa, a local rider and shop rat, and hes going bike riding the next morning. Plan is to meet at 7:45am. After a few more hours of Spanish ladies and other fine products of the old world, its off to bed, listening to the splash of the constant rainstorm.
Come 7am, its freezing cold. Not like a normal, -1° or -2° cold, but it is coooold, and very humid. Its a struggle to make it down stairs, but its possible with shorts over tights over long johns over shorts over two pairs of socks. After spilling my entire coffee just minutes after buying it, I head out to pedal over to the meeting spot, and something is peculiar. All around our Mediterranean city, the local mountains are a dusty and speckled white! Mixed with a purple sunrise, its gorgeous, no matter how cold. Almansa is full of uncontrollable energy, and Ivan will also be coming.
After a quick stop for three baguettes, three cans of calamari, chocolate filled croissants, and some other goodies, we get park the cars at the base of this huge mountain, Cabezón de Oro. That means head of gold. Im pretty sure thats a typo for head of cold. Its quite a sight, nestled in a small town above the city. We roll out of the cars and begin the ride to the base of the hike by 9am. The whole way out to the hike, the fire road is frozen, so all the mud is completely dry. All the puddles were frozen over.
On the hike up, the trail passes one of the coolest caves ever. The views are amazing, and the snow begins to become more. We see no more people, but there are already foot prints going up the trail. From 5cm to 10cm to 15cm of snow, we eventually complete the hour or so of hiking and arrive at the summit, only to be treated to a spectacular view of the Mediterranean. We finally see some people at the top, who are amazed bikes can ride on trails.
Check out the amount of snow in one of the driest places in Europe!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v293/bicycleweed/IMG_0814.jpg
The descent down is basically epic. What starts as a snowy, and very icy, rock laden trail becomes very flowy, diving from pine tree to pine tree. Somehow I never had a single problem running a Larsen in back. Even though things looked a little sketchy with many black-ice coated rocks in the shade, the ride down was fine when you werent using the brakes. The snow sections were totally fine when you let off the brakes and fully committed, so thats what we did.
Ivan
Almansa
Me
At the bottom of the trail, we made some sandwiches with the baguettes and calamari, and decided a second run would be a great idea. However, once we got to the parking lot, it was full of cars. The ride out to the bottom of the hike was dotted with group after group of hikers. I absolutely hate seeing lots of people when I go into the mountains, so this was a bummer. However, it was great to see whole families with 7 and 8 year old kids who were trying to hike up to the summit. Once we got up to the summit, it was great to see the smiles on the 7 and 8 year olds who made it. There has also never been so much designer clothing that far out in the mountains.
The AMAZING view from mid way down, second run.
By the time we started the second descent, the snow had melted some, and things got a lot muddier. It was a good mud though, and treated us well by staying in between the small rocks that make up the trail and out of the knobs on our tires. The second descent was great, and everyone was ripping. Amazingly, we saw only two hikers the whole way down. Turns out everyone wanted to hike up on the northside of the mountain in the snow, and no one took the south-facing trail to get back to the parking lot. After some exporlations, we made it back to the cars for the second serving of the saucy sandwiches. All in all, it was a great day of riding. We were all thoroughly beat by the end, but that was hardly noticeable behind our smiles!
*insert group photo here. Ooops, thats what we forgot!
