Today I used a training route <--- see the route there, slightly modified by me, given to me by a local who is part of the Neil Pryde Bikes epic rider program. He called it the "Allela Training loop" and it, in fact, does go through a small town of said name but also meanders along the Mediterranean for about 10 miles before heading north in to the small mountains that speckle the view no matter which direction you look away from the Sea. I slightly changed his route by adding in an additional climb, a great one I might add, and I also did a few repeats on the sole climb of the original route. The length of the first climb was perfect for my 4' v02 max intervals prescribed for today.
I hit the beach, and thoroughly enjoyed the view while pedaling along at an endurance pace. Looking to the left I saw the grand, very old majestic buildings of Barcelona overlooking the sea, and then straight ahead palm trees lined the route as far as the eye could see, and a slight turn to the right there's the golden, sandy beach with the shimmering sea stretching to infinity.
I had a bit of time to play before the workout started.
a beach shot taken while riding featuring the town of Badalona, Spain in the background.
Shortly after this picture I had to start working, but did take a few more photos when munching on a bar before turning around to slam out another interval. Here's one. I guess I just liked the trees:)
After my very satisfying ride, my wife greeted me with a wonderful egg sandwich with eggs that come from a different planet as far as I can tell. Richer in color and more flavor than even or fancy farmer's market eggs we get in the city, these things are what all eggs should aspire to, and they are only 1 euro a dozen at the boqueria across the street from our apartment. Add some fresh chives, shaved 4 year aged manchego, and sliced heirloom tomatoes on a wonderful fresh baked roll and she's the greatest person in the world as far as I'm concerned!
We then went for a walk to check out the still under construction until 2056 Sagrada Familia and Guell Park. Gaudi's church just barely surpasses my 'not another catholic church' status and is worth seeing with your own two eyes, and the park is really interesting as well and is sort of like a mild acid trip/ginger bread house contest. The details are stunning and I took about 30 photos to try and capture most the figures, but will provide one of the larger coverage photos here.
Getting to Guell Park was a long 2.6km hike up a hill that gradually got steeper and steeper as we progressed. After a hard workout, it was not ideal and I was dragging a bit but so was my wife who ran quite a bit today so it was all good!
Nice views aplenty from Guell Park
Impressive stonework throughout the park...
1 comment:
...one bottle still. gotta love it.
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