Tough all day

I couldn’t have asked for a better day, except…

What a start. I also ate 3 small yoghurts, and 3 nectarines.

Sufficiently fortified and with an unknown route to a campsite installed into my Garmin I rode off uphill through the town.

1 kilometre out of town and onto a gravel road. I didn’t tough another piece of tarmac till I rode into the town many hours later.

Oops, that’s not good. I ignored it for the rest of the ride.

Through some spectacular single track.

Glad I wasn’t hurtling too fast when I saw this.

The only sound accompaniment is the swift flowing of water over stones, the water was from the melting snow high in the mountains.

Then into the the mighty Sierra Nevada. A myriad of switchbacks hidden by foliage each rougher and steeper than the last.

Gone is the easy spinning of tarmac and welcome to the pain of each individual slow pedal stroke.

I stopped to check my distance I knew I had been travelling for a good bit, keen to know how far I had done, 5kms…. it’s gonna be a long day.

Near the top I checked how long I had been riding, it was then that I discovered I hadn’t pressed the start button on the Garmin…..I hope the route is recoverable.

At the top the views were spectacular, 2216 meters. No wonder I was knackered. The ride down was soooo good, worth every second of the pain of the accent.

I sped down desperate to lie flat for a second in the campsite………..it was closed, grrrrrrr

Another only 5 km away. I got to a town Guejar Sierra. Bought some water and while filling my water bottles I discovered this.

Finally I got to a campsite and am now pleasantly ensconced.