This blog has been quiet for a while, mainly because I’ve not been doing as much cycling recently, and the cycling that I have done hasn’t been all that interesting.
But we’re back in Spain and doing more fun stuff, and at the end of this ride we felt great, so here we go again…
We are staying in Ibi, a town north of Alicante, for the third time now. It’s a great place to access the scenic mountain roads without the trek up from the coast. I though I’d re-ride some of the routes I’d made before. Yesterday I chose one that got us to Banyeres and required us to do a long straight climb to the southeast out of town, which we’d done once before and somehow forgot that we swore never to do again.
We arrived back at the apartment completely spent and wondering whether we’re just too old for this game. So for today, I chose a route that allowed us to do that bit of road in reverse, and with a good bit less climbing overall. We’d both had a good sleep and felt up for it, so off we went into the sunshine for another glorious day in Spain.
First of all, we negotiated the traffic through Ibi, downhill and out on the road to Onil. Not a particularly scenic start to the ride, but after 4 miles, the route took us onto some quiet side roads and we quickly got into holiday cycling mode again. Nice and easy does it – just enjoying the ride!
After a while, we reached the outskirts of Onil, then took the turn for the Col de Canalis: a scenic, gently winding climb of about 1000 ft, with a nice gradient, never too steep. We both reached the top feeling good, and got straight into the decent that followed – a lovely easy, swooping descent, taking us back to the road where we struggled so badly the day before.
We turned left there and headed for Banyeres down that long, quite straight road, with 9.5% gradient (max). I freewheeled to around 42 mph, before deciding to knock some speed off before a bend, and we reached the outskirts of Banyeres in no time at all.
Due to a late-ish start, it was after 12 when we arrived, so a spot of early lunch was in order. Colette spotted a likely-looking cafe, where we asked hopefully for bocadillas. Yes, we could have them (ham and cheese baguettes, warmed up), along with some coffees, and that was just what we needed to refuel before continuing to Biar.
The road to Biar was as close to flat as you can get around here, gently undulating its way through a broad valley between two ridges of hills. The one on the left was closer to us and densely wooded. The one on the other side was a few miles off, and much more arid looking.
A short, steep climb took us up to Biar town, which is dominated by an intact-looking castle at the top. We reached a junction where we were offered the choice of heading for the castle or town centre. We opted for the centre, as it was time to find another cafe. The cafe we found was located on a picturesque square, where we chose a table overlooked by a lofty church tower, and with a view of a fountain gently spouting water in the centre of the square.
I had already decided to have a “Beer in Biar”, because why not? If it have been anywhere else, I’d probably have had a Fanta Naranja, like Colette.
Getting back on the bikes, I remembered there was a climb out of Biar, so got Colette prepared for it, but it seemed like not long after I got myself into the rhythm of the climb, it was over. We then had a fast descent to the next junction, which continued at a lesser gradient all the way to Onil.
It was the plan originally to take the main road from here to Ibi and through the town back to the apartment. However, there was an alternative that would keep us away from traffic, so we opted for that instead. That took us past Onil and northeast out of town. Since I hadn’t planned this part of the route, I couldn’t tell how much of this section was up and how much was down. As it turned out, it was all up, but not much of it was over 6%, so it wasn’t too much of a slog. However, by the time we got to the next junction, both of us were getting tired, so it was a good thing we were nearly home.
Just a tiny bit more up, then we had the glorious descent into Ibi, on the lovely windy road that is always equally glorious on the way up! We arrived back at the door of the apartment feeling so much less beaten up than the previous day.
That’s more like it! “You should write this one up!” Colette suggested, and that is exactly what I did as soon as I’d had my shower.