Done

We left our hotel in Cenera this am and are now in Oviedo.  The Angliru was hard.  We climbed El Cordal for about 6k before hitting the start of Angliru in La Vega, a small town in the mountains.  The climb stiffened after about 6.5k and a van stayed at a relatively flat spot.  I rode up with a young woman from Spain who spoke broken English, but I gathered her boyfriend was already at the top.  At a 21% grade, she hit a rough spot and unclipped so I went on.  My hip hematoma was getting worse with every pedal stroke and one of the C riders passed me; the A´s and a few B´s were already well on their way.  Finding myself alone was sometimes peaceful and othertimes a little scary, cliffs off to one side, amazing views of Oviedo in the distance.  Suffice it to say I did not make it to the top.  2.5 km to go, my excuse is a combo of hip pain, pitting edema of the left arm from the accident and just plain fatigue.  OK, so I just couldn´t do it.  I also was alone and debated trying for the top and riding down with Peter in the van (he was still sick and had driven a van to the top) as the clouds were coming in and the roads were already slippery with cow poop.  Long story short the descent was amazing, yet frightening.  The most amusing story is of the C group guy that made it - as the van was following the Á and B guys down, they passed the C guy going up who only had one km to go!  Truly well done.  The van had to find a spot to turn around and go back up!

The next VIP Thompson trip is in Austria.  Last year I said never again;  this year?  Debatable and only if VA and Mark goes with us. 

Next stop for me is the pool.  I want to see if anyone notices my bruise.  Pics to follow.

Day 7 in the Picos de Europas

133 km, 2300 m climb.  We left the hotel and went west, over to the ocean.  At Alto del Torno we had a great view of the ocean, then descended down and rode along the Atlantic for about 20 km before ascending up to Puerto del Mazuco.  This route took us through eucalyptus groves with epic, panoramic views of the Atlantic, before heading inland.  This is the last day for some of the people but we are staying to ride Angliru, or at least for me, see the start of it.  I will take my running shoes with me tomorrow and try to make it as far as I can before walking the rest.  We are wondering which of the A riders will make it.  We know one guy who has done the Leadville 100 a few times will most likely succeed.  We leave by van to our next hotel to the start early tomorrow. 

My hematoma is now a dark shade of purple and pretty darn large.  There´s bruising into the groin.  Ugly!! I look at it and know how lucky I was.  I´ll have to tell my endocrinologist about my ´do it yourself´ bone density test.  Needless to say, I was very cautious pacing today and descending.  Two more falls in the A group, but they are ok.  I think those guys know how to fall.

Asturias

We are now at a Paradores in Asturias, Catigas de Ortis in the town of Cangus de Onis riding into the Picos de Europas yesterday.  The ride yesterday was amazing with views and scenery that rival the Pyrenees.  We had an amazing descent along the Selle River into this small town.  The trip seems a bit cursed with a lot of people now suffering from some type of GI bug I had Monday and lately some good falls.  Today a dog ran out while we were in a fast pace line and two of us tumbled.  A woman and I ended up at the local hospital, she with a pelvic fracture and broken thumb.  I lucked out with only a large hematoma on the left hip and arm.  Ahead of us another rider clipped a pedal and fell over an embankment, but has only a minor concussion (her husband is a neurologist).  Weird.  Tomorrow I will ride cautiously.  OK, one more tidbit...a guy from Australia fell twice the past two days.  When I got to the hospital, they were casting his arm.  Carnage in Asturias. 

Amazingly enough, Joe, the husband of the rider that has a broken pelvis, took pictures.  He is an ICU doc.  Weird day.

Day 4

Day one, warm up, Day 2, 85miles,10K gain. Craig had major leg cramps. Day 3 about 70 miles, I had good views of guard rails and big rocks courtesy of something I ate.  Came in DFL!  And this after moving back to the C group. Today, I feel like I have a bad hangover but will try to ride. Oh yeah, the weather is just like Portland!  Rain yesterday and the last descent we were so cold we were shaking. A guy passed me and Craig on a turn and took a bad fall, but only screwed up his handlebars. Now this is what I call fun! The countryside is beautiful and parts look like thePyrenees.

Spain Day -1 Bilbao

We arrived in Bilbao Thursday which gives us one day to rest up and see the sites before the start of Day 1, pick-up at the airport by Thomson Tours and the start of the Cantabria Challenge. 

Today we went to the Guggenheim Museum, then to lunch with a customer of Craig´s (who left tickets for the Guggenheim at our hotel this am - typical Spaniard hospitality!).  We are staying at the Hotel Carlton, c. 1921.  Today there is a revolution according to a local.  Paris Hilton checks in.  Can´t wait. 

I read a very good bike book on the plane, It´s All About the Bike, by Robert Penn, a diary of putting together a custom bike.  VA, I will loan you my copy.  You should have written it when you were getting your IF! He even gets a headset from Chris King and Vanilla Bicycles gets a mention.  DT Swiss rims and Sapim spokes - you have to read the rest to find out what color he chooses.  

Mark told me not to whine.  OK, so can I buttache?  From the above mentioned book: 

Buttache - v.i. (slang) to complain, whining about saddle sore from riding a bicycle.

VA, Bike Chick Volunteer

VA was written about in the last Community Cycling Center newsletter.
Good job VA!

still riding

No time to blog, but yes, we are finding time to ride.  Cookie Ride two weekends ago with a Portland Velo group for a fast average pace of 21.5 for 62+ miles; Ride Around Clark County last Saturday (100 miles) and then today, a quick ride up Larch Mountain with a few Velo folks and friends.  The gate is still closed to traffic and we were only able to ride about 1/2 mile past it due to snow up there.

Mike, Barb, KRhea, VA & Steve

My friends, Judi, her daughter Annie and another friend, Barb leave next week to ride part of the Giro and also watch a day of the tour.  We leave June 2nd to ride in Northern Spain, the Cantabrian Challenge, for 7 days.  Both Thompson Tours.  Shut up and ride.

I think every cyclist has been affected by the death of the young Belgian rider, Wouter Weylandt, in the 3rd stage of the Giro yesterday.  Tyler Farrar of Washington State dropped out of the Giro.  The two were best friends and training partners in Ghent, Belgium, where Farrar had settled to train.

Velonews published an account from RadioShack rider Manuel Cardoso who saw Wouter’s crash:

Cardoso was trailing Weylandt near the bottom of the Passo del Bocco with about 25km to go when he saw the big Belgian crash.
RadioShack press attaché Philippe Maertens released this e-mail to VeloNews on what Cardoso saw: “Wouter was dropped and tried to come back to the group,” Maertens wrote of Cardoso’s reaction. “(Weylandt) then looked behind to see if he would be better to wait for other dropped riders (some 20). While looking behind, he hit with his left pedal or the left side of his handlebars on a small wall and was catapulted to the other side of the road when he hit again something. It must have been terrible.”

Cardoso later finished in a group of riders at 3:20 back that also included Leopard-Trek rider Tom Stamsnijder, who also saw his teammate fall. “I saw him crash,” Stamsnijder said at the line. “It was a very hard fall.”