A day off

This was an official day off for us.  We have a great apartment in Cangas de Onis in the Asturias part of northern Spain and today was a day for watching stage 13 of the Vuelta a Espana.  We actually made a pot o coffee this morning (in the apartment) and made our own breakfast.  That was new, compared to the usual routine of riding, coffee, something to eat, riding.  Nice change.

From our home port in Cangas de Onis to the end of stage 13 is about 50 km.  If you're not interested in bike racing, then skip this blog post.  We all have our interests, right?

We didn't want to ride 50 km and then ride home, so we bought tickets for the bus, which left mid-day to deliver us to Nava just in time to watch the race before they climbed to the finish.  Nava is the little town before the last climb of the race and it was done up for the crowds.  We wandered around the various booths then hike up about 1/2 of the way to the top.

All dressed up for the show that comes later

The final climb is 6 km long and averages 14%

Las Praeres Nava

We found a great shady spot and camped out.  Not long afterwards the helis started flying over, which meant that the race was approaching.

The race must me approaching

All at once, there they were:

It is an awful video but it all happens so fast.

It was fun to cheer on the riders.  At this point we had no idea who would win, nor did it much matter.  The Vuelta is very different from the Tour de France.  The Tour is all a big media showcase and is flashy; it is the biggest race in the world.  The Giro d'Italia is the most passionate race.  And . the Vuelta is pretty low key but the racing is harder and the hills are steeper; it is the most difficult race.  Three countries, three cultures and three versions of the same thing; when you have 2 bikes, you have a race.

The second group of riders

Third group?

Fourth?

Eventually all of the race had gone by.  We walked back down to town and had about 1 hour until our return bus, so we wandered around the carnival.  Lorie convinced me to enter a silly race on stationary bikes. 

OK, the competition wasn't too intimidating

En race

I'm no. 7; Oh, I won

I gave my prize to the curly headed kid next to me

While we waited for the bus we met a guy from Northern Ireland who was working his way to tomorrow's stage, Lagos de Covandaga.  He rode the bus with us to Cangas de Onis and we promised to watch for him on the hill tomorrow.  Our plan is to ride up the course as far as we can -- that may be a big ask since the hill is pretty brutal, but we'll see.  Here's the last 12 km of tomorrow's race: