Catalayud day 2: the Jalón River

October 6, 2023

The Jalón River doesn’t look like much when it passes through the heart of Calatayud. From the looks of it at the moment it seems not much more than a decent-sized stream back home, maybe about the size of Johnson Creek that we often bike along. So I was surprised to read up on it and see that it has some significance here. It’s one of the larger tributaries of the mighty Ebro, and historically was the primary communications route between Madrid and Zaragoza. There’s a rail line that follows it, though these days it looks like it only supports freighters. No doubt it’s a much more impressive waterway in the spring than now toward the end of the dry season.

A ride east along the Jalón is one of the three I mapped out for Rachael’s consideration, and she decides that this is the ride and this is the day. We have breakfast at seven and head out to the garage around nine, planning as usual to get our ride in and be back in time for lunch, which we thinking we’ll have at our hotel again. It figures to be a good ride - paved the whole way, generally following the river, and with only one moderate climb - but one we’ll have to cross twice since it’s an out and back.

And it looks interesting - the river forms a crazy squiggle as it follows the contorted river through the hills. By a straight shot it’s only six miles to the turnback point, but 14 in real life because the road is constantly twisting and doubling back on itself.

So it looks like a natural one for Rachael to join me on, but there’s a snag - she’s only got one bike glove. She looks everywhere in our small room without success, so we go out to the garage to see if maybe it’s in her helmet or underbag somehow. Nope. So she decides she’d better stay in town and head over to the bike store after it opens at ten and hopefully pick up a replacement, and I head off by myself again.

Maybe a half hour later she sends me a text saying she found the other glove. It got stuffed down into the bottom of one of her panniers somehow. It’s too late to do anything about it though, so she’s off on a hike. I harbor a suspicion that maybe she crammed it down into the pannier intentionally as a ruse so she could have another day off the saddle, but of course I’m too nice a guy to share such an uncharitable thought when we meet up again.

A mile out of town I get a good look back at Ayyūb Castle, the Islamic fortification that gives the town its name.

The ride is about what I expect - 13 miles of biking through a gorge, surrounded by ridges that leave you constantly wondering how the river is going to make it through the ones ahead. And then turn back and repeat it all. It’s a very quiet road since no driver but a local would choose this as a route as the way to get from Point A to Point B. And I only see one other biker on the way out - a young, fit woman moving fast going the other direction. And I only see one rider on the return, the same young woman.

Since I’m on my own though, the ride doesn’t play out as it would have with Rocky along. It’s slower, with more frequent stops. The pattern gets set early on when I stop to check out a pair of swallows on a line which uncharacteristically stay put for several minutes - long enough to get a good look, if they weren’t so far off and facing away. I keep waiting for one to turn around so I can get a complete view, trying to decide if they’re just house martins again (they are, I’ll conclude when I study the photos later) or something else.

There’s not that much more to say about the ride, so I’ll just dump a lot of photos here so Rachael will have regrets on what she missed out on.

There are three villages tucked into the bends of the river. This is at the first of them, Huérmeda.

It’s a narrow valley, really more like a gorge. It’s cultivated nearly the whole way though, with the thin ribbon of bottom land planted in tree fruits.

Over the summit, outbound. Not bad - about a mile at 5-7% most of the way.

It’s nice that someone’s put out a nice cushion chair at the top for folks to enjoy the view.

Another small climb, hardly worth commenting on.

The train comes through here too - a couple of them whistled their way through while I was here, but none while I could take a shot of them. They have a faster time of it than I do, their distance shortened by bridges and about a half dozen short tunnels.

River village #2: Embid de la Ribera. Looks like a nice, quiet little hideaway - there’s lodging and I think a bar.

River village #3: Paracuellos de la Ribera. I turned back here, because I was worried about making us late for lunch.

Unlit, but short. And, in spite of what it looks like here, slightly uphill.

I’m back just past one, arriving to some bitter news: there’s a sign outside our hotel saying the restaurant is full for lunch. Rats! We should have made reservations. When Rachel returns we head across the street to a place it’s a decent sounding Menu del Dia, a place that gets reasonable reviews but is a disappointment. Rachael thinks it’s fine, but with my very discerning palate I’m much more critical. When we return to the hotel we make a booking for tomorrow’s lunch.

The day rounds out with a zoom meeting with my electrocardiologist to discuss my upcoming surgery - or rather it’s a semi-zoom meeting, because for some reason I have no sound. I pantomime and then hold up the phone, so he calls me and we talk over the line while looking at each other. There’s some good news and some less good. The good news is that he’s more reassuring about how the procedure should go than the first time we talked - he thinks there’s very little probability of something going wrong, and outcomes involving a pacemaker are very unlikely. So that’s reassuring and we both feel better about it. Also, there’s been a change in norms and he thinks I can expect to go home the same day, which would be great.

The less good news is that he thinks I should continue taking blood thinners indefinitely or even permanently afterwards, unless I have a follow up procedure to have a Watchman implant (a device to clip shut the Left Atrial Appendage, the pouch where stroke-inducing blood clots are most apt to form). I definitely don’t want to take blood thinners any longer than needed - I start in three days in preparation for the procedure, and we’re both anxious about it and the risks involved. So in all likelihood there’s a second procedure in my future, and a complication of some sort for our plans for next year. So that’s something to think about.

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Patrick O'HaraWell. I hope your prognosis and upcoming procedures are the least invasive possible!
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6 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Patrick O'HaraThanks, Patrick. I’m feeling pretty optimistic about it.
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6 months ago

Ride stats today: 26 Miles, 1,900’; for the tour: 909 miles, 29,600’

Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 899 miles (1,447 km)

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