July went by in the blink of an eye...

I have been lax in my blogging of late but probably because of the sheer amount of cycling I managed in May, June and July with the brilliant weather we had but July was the stand out month for cycling.
Firstly I headed off to the family holiday in Mallorca at the start of July. Mallorca is my favourite place to cycle. Beautiful mountains, amazing roads and stunning climbs.
I was in Puerto de Pollenca the same hotel as last year so was able to make great use of the Sport Hotel Villaconcha's amazing cycling facilities and bike rentals for the first week of my holiday.
I was out everyday that week but the highlights were:

1. Sa Calobra out and back. My second visit to the famous climb and still had my jaw dropping. What a climb and road.

2. Col de sa Batalla

This was a climb I had never done before and do get to it involved a beautiful cycle through a lovely valley before a spectacular climb.

3. Cap de Formentor
This is one ride I have now done multiple times but even though its a dead end its the most beautiful dead end in the world. This day was different though as it was the first time it was closed to cars so it became like the worlds best cycle track.

Once again I loved this place. No trip here next year as we are off to Florida but I am coming back ASAP.
The cycling BIG wasn't over for July though. There was lots of cycling on usual routes but at the end of the month on a super day I went for a big one. I had never broken a 200km day and I went for it racking up 230km. What a day that was.

 August had its moments but more of them in another post.

Kintyre Ultra MTB

The Kintyre Ultra is my new favourite race. Like being a parent I cant tell you why its so good because everything about it seemed to be insanely hard but I will make an attempt.
The cold but not uncomfortable morning started with waves of riders starting from just outside Tarbert on a fire road climb. This gave me a chance to feel good about myself. being in the second from last group I was able to overtake a lot of riders on my chosen steed for the day my Giant XTC 29er which proved to be the best choice for this ride.

The race then took its first real technical turn as we turned onto what was the walkers path of the Kintyre way and the challenges began. The previous months of rain and snow left it boggy and I sunk a few times before finally hitting fire road again and blasting down to Skipness where I passed my support van for the day (cheers mum and dad(see van in pic)). The weather at this point was very gray. The sunshine never really came out and even at sea level the normal stunning vistas of Arran on the east or Islay and Jura on the west never appeared leaving it difficult to tell exactly where you were till Campbeltown.

There then followed a section of road past the ferry terminal at Clonaig before heading offroad onto the Kintyre way again for what was the hardest section of the day with many "hike a bike" moments and I was glad to see the water stop at Clachan before the sweet relief of tarmac all the way to a bowl of soup at the stop in Tayinloan. Again I looked pro as while in the food stop my crew hosed my bike down before the journey continued.

The second half of the day involved some huge climbs on fire road back into the clouds with sections of more ride-able single track interspersed. 

The fire road climbs suited me and my bike perfectly as I reeled in more riders to eventually find myself alone on the hills.

The last food stop of the day at Lussa Loch saw the clouds start to thin as I started to catch some of the runners on the Ultra Marathon. Another long section of fire road descended back on to tarmac for the last 6 miles and I went for it.

I tucked into as TT a position as possible on the mountain bike and skelped it to Campbeltown as the sun appeared and I passed  a few more riders from both the Ultra and the Sportive to take 12th place on the day.

I was so pleased with the result and my performance coming in at 7 hours 54mins.

This was a great course. If the clouds had buggered off I know the scenery would have been awesome. It was never warm but never cold enough to be uncomfortable. The organisation was superb and the organisers and marshals a smiling cheery bunch at every stop. The other competitors were also great company  and this I think added to the joy of the day.

It was the hardest race I have done but its not called an ultra for nothing, but even at that I am already thinking of next year.

eXCuses at Dalbeattie

So i decided to give some mountain bike XC a try this year, going back to my roots in cycling. As you will have noted I recently bought a carbon Giant Advanced 1 XTC from rutlandcycling.com and this seemed like the perfect tool for the job. The bike was superb and handled everything with grace.....unlike its rider.
If I am being honest my legs were still gubbed from 6000m of climbing in Tenerife earlier in the week. Sounds like an excuse but you've got to find some somewhere!
 I came 10th which is not to bad but that was 2 and a half hours of hard racing. Fire road and the singletrack was fine but tge off piste sections were a muck bath and full of exposed roots making it unrideable. Running is my nemesis at the best of times so it lost me a few places. Any how I enjoyed the day and there is something cathartic about the muck and wet when you're on the mountain bike....saying that though here's to drier days ahead.

Tenerife, Teide, Torture and the TF-436

A last minute (well a month) decision by the family to book an Easter holiday away in Tenerife to escape the brutal winter we have had in 2018 provided the perfect scenario to get some warm weather cycling in and to tick of a bucket list cycle in Mount Teide.

I hired a bike from Bike Point Tenerife which is situated in Playas de Americas. I was staying about 20 miles away in Playas de Arenas but for 40 euros they will deliver and pick up the bike to your hotel which is very handy. And a nice bike it was too. A BMC Road Machine was mine for a few days and I found it to be a very comfortable ride and was extremely glad of the hydraulic disc brakes on most of the scary hairpin descents.

Mount Teide - Playground of the Pros

I made my first challenge the ascent of Mount Teide, Tenerife's mighty volcano. It stands at 3718m making it the highest mountain in Spain and the road to the highest point is the longest climb in Europe at around 2600m. It is daunting to be at the bottom of a mountain looking at the road sign which tells you the summit is 48km away but I set off, heeding advice to take it slowly to begin with. I also took it slowly in the middle and at the end of the climb. This is a monster. Never overly steep but never ending it seems. You appear to cycle through 3 different climates. First 3rd is spent rising through Spanish heat and scrub with cacti for company before you first start to reach the cloud which gives moisture to the second 3rd to Villaflor, wetting the farms and fincas as they grow produce in the rich volcanic soil followed by the last 3rd which is through the beautiful Corneal Forest which reminded me more of Dumfries and Galloway at times in its for trees. You then break the cloud and treeline into the summit of the climb and into the volcanic crater of Teide.
Wow. The desolation of the landscape is fantastic to see and akin to being on the surface of Mars. At this level this was my fist experience of the air being slightly thinner and on a long flat at the top I did feel a tad out of breath for the effort I was making.

I descended on the North road back down to Los Gigantes. I have never experienced a descent like it. At the top of Teide my Garmin read 70km. At the bottom it read 120km. Those last 50km involved absolutely no pedalling whatsoever as I coasted downhill for 30 miles along long straights in the forests and tight, scary switchbacks clinging to the sides of lesser mountains.

Mount Teide is tough and its clear to see why its the training ground of the GC contender(Chris Froome was on the slopes at the same time). I cant say at all times I was gleeful but what an experience.

You will have to excuse some of the data on the ride as my Garmin decided to go haywire on this ride of all rides but at least it got the route and time right.

Masca TF-436

So the next day I followed my biggest ever climb with the biggest day of climbing ever with a shorter 85km route which ended up raking in 3600m of climbing. You know what the day ahead is going to be like when the warm-up is a 1200m climb from Los Gigantes to Santiago Del Teide then contiuned to rise further as I followed the TF-82 higher before dropping dramatically to see level for 10 miles to the north coast of the island. This descent was a bit hairy the road surfaces were not the best (still a mile better than Scotland) and some of the hair pins clung to the sides of a cliff face.

I then followed the coast road till I reached signs for Masca, a hidden mountain village, along the TF-436(Buena Vista - Santiago Del Teide). This stretch of road proved to be the hardest bit of cycling I have done, especially with Teide in the legs the day before. It climbed for 16km through volcanic, fertile farmland which gave you the feeling of being in Colombia rather than off the coast of the Sahara, before working itself up into the mountains and cliff faces of Los Gigantes. The views, cliffs, mountains and gravity defying roads at this point were as stunning as I have ever witnessed and I stopped at a road side cafe to recharge the batteries and drink the scenery in.

I then descended to Masca, mistakenly thinking the climbing was all but over, only to find that the beautiful village of Masca sits at the bottom of a descent and a long climb on numerous quite steep switchbacks is a ahead in the next 5km.

I read later that the TF-436 is thought of as both one of the most scenic but also dangerous roads in the world. It certainly felt the later when the tour buses passed and had to do precarious 3 point turns to negotiate the switchbacks.

Finally the top came with sweet relief for the quads and another long descent tracing my way downhill for 16km, getting cramp in the fingers and arms controlling the decline in altitude back to the hotel.

So to sum up Tenerife......

It was great to finally get the shorts and t-shirt on after this crap winter and Tenerife offers good early sunshine that doesn't melt you. However if you are doing Mount Teide arm warmers and a gilet were a good recommendation for the descent.

Bike Point is a great service for bike rentals and I would use again when I am back.

The roads aren't as good as Mallorca but still good in comparison to the UK.

Maybe it was the routes I chose but Tenerife is not for the novice. I enjoy a climb and had 10000km in my legs and a season of cyclocross behind me so be prepared to work hard on the roads even at your own pace.
Mallorca is still my favourite cyclists playground but Tenerife is fantastic and I will definitely be back (with a fixed Garmin) to do Teide.

2019?