Day 37: Malaga to Periana (60 km)
Roads: Very light traffic almost the whole day, and happily there was very little city/country transition today due to me going straight into thew mountains from town.
Bike: No serious issues. Could use so,e more brake pads soon, and shifting could use attention, but everything is functional for now.
Weather: Mostly sunny, but definitely cooler at altitude. Low 60s/ High 50s mosst of day.
Sunday mornings are quiet join Spain, and aside from having to negociate my exit from town through a marathon that was going on that morning, it was remarkable easy and pleasant to exit Malaga to the North. While the city sort of sprawls to the flatland to the west, it's butted right up against steep foothills to the north, and it was right into the teeth of that climb I hurled myself straight off the bat.
I could tell yesterday from my view from the ramparts of the castle I was due for a climb, but I did not quite anticipate it would be 3200 feet! It did have some mercy in the grade however, and by distracting myself with podcasts on my headphones (most of the trip I had done without as to absorb the countryside better), I was on top of the ridge in 20 km. Rewarding myself with a little ubiquitous cafe con leche and strange Spanish donut at the top, I contined, soaking in the outstanding views of the national park to my left (west) and the sparkling Mediterranean sweeping off behind and now far below me (south).
The road maintained elevation more or less for a while as I completed the next 20 km leg up the east side of Montes de Malaga national park, and then down through some charming villages. Then, going up and down through fields of neatly-tended olive groves and dramatically jutting mountains,always conserving at least 1500 feet, I got to a point near Periana around 4:30 where it made sense to stop. Granada was within fairly easy reach, the elevation was relatively low, and I knew I had a big climb directly ahead and was getting tired. Besides, I had a sweeping view of a large lake beneath and to the south of me and a dramatic mountain park to the east. Discreetly finding an out of the way spot in an olive grove, I made camp and cooked dinner in the beautiful sunset. Again, need ending to catch upon sleep from another noisy hostel stay, I slept soundly and long (having gone to bed at dark ), waking refreshed for the long day of riding coming up.
Day 38: Periana to Granada (90 km)
Weather: sunny, clear, cold. Around freezing first thing, rising to high 40s mid day.
Bike: no change from yesterday. Some work on the brakes yielded more power, but it's temporary. Will need pads in Granada, and probably both rotors replaced at home, as they are both getting warped.
Roads- pretty quiet all day with slight but predictable build up when entering Granada. Hilly but very quiet.
Since I got nearly 12 hours of sleep, it wasn't too hard to get up first thing, pack up camp, and hit the road. A huge climb awaited me of course first thing, though I knew that. It was scenic, however, and once I got to about 2500 feet, I didn't go much below that for most of the rest of the day. I did battle with a 1000 vertical feet I kept gaining and losing, but the scenery was so nice it was hard to stay mad at this lack of altitude discipline.
With the change of elevation, I have changed seasons. In Malaga, it was sunshine, palm trees, and people sitting on the beach, and up here it's bare trees and frost hang in around in the shadows all day. For the first time this trip, I had my long biking pants on all day. But fortunately I was geared for cold weather, and it just made for a change of pace as I wheeled through more pleasant villages, a very nice reservoir flanked by mountains, and of course my approach to the Sierra Nevada.
Granada is up on the shoulder of that range, but for once it had only a mildly heartbreaking climb toward the end, and actually that was 10 km out. The day was a little longer, and definitely hillier, than I had suspected, but I was still feeling pretty solid on the way into town, even after all that elevation gain and distance.
I haven't mentioned this because I have mixed feelings about it, but credit where credit is due; thank you, Mc Donalds, for having free WiFi. Multiple times now I have entered a city, and you are there very handily allowing me to zero in my GPS on the location of the lodging, effectively leading me right to it with no fuss. I feel a little bad from not buying anything, except for one moment of extreme weakness in Ronda when I was falling-down tired and ravenously hungry.
Anyway, found my way to the very nice hostel and had a great dinner in the the walk-around time, when I got the impression that all Granadans ate was churros, since that was all anyone was eating at 7:30 pm. Predictably in bed pretty early in anticipation of some high quality sight seeing tomorrow.
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