Sunday, December 5, 2010

Smokey da bear

That's certainly how I feel right now: smoked. It's my last full weekend in Barca, so I wanted to make the most of it and get in as much quality riding as I reasonably could. Mission accomplished.

Yesterday was trip number two up to Girona to ride in the foothills of the Pyrenees with Michael Barry. I was on the train at 8:50 am, and by about 11:00 we were off. As we pedaled further and further out into the country, the ride only got more and more spectacular. The open and quiet country, scattered with gorgeous houses and farms that have probably been in families for generations, populated as much by livestock as they are by people, were enough on their own to provide a breath-taking backdrop to our ride. But, as we rode along, Michael drew my attention to our right, where, towering far above, were the snow-capped Pyrenees, an awesome contrast to the still green hills through which we rode.


As we climbed on, it was at times difficult to look at the road, and not over my shoulder at the view behind. The ride itself was no coffee shop stroll (though we did stop at a cafe halfway for a slice of apple-topped cake and a cafe con leche). Back in Girona, we had accumulated 4:20 at a very solid clip, enough to leave my legs aching as I chowed on a tuna bocadillo and ham and spinach empanada before hopping on the train home. I'm happy to say, though, that I was still my usually chatty self, blabbing away the whole time.


Today was more of the same, only this time back on my usual stomping grounds with Nick. Though or original plans for an epic to the top of Montserrat did not happen today, we still ticked off another 4:30 and emptied our respective tanks. By the time we faced the last 6 km climb before we could come back to the city, we were both dreaming of the food we would soon be eating. That came sooner than expected, though, as we stopped at the first bakery in sight back in Barca to stave off bonking in the middle of Sunday traffic. What just two days ago was supposed to be a rainy day turned into another great one, though we did get a bit of a scare for a little while as the ominously dark clouds overhead began spitting raindrops while we were still two hours from home. Fortunately, that was the point in our ride to start heading back, and we were soon riding back toward blue skies and smiles...and cream-filled pastries. I'm going to miss this.

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