To Vitoria-Gasteiz

September 15, 2017

So last night was interesting. I was working on the journal when the wifi died at about 10. We're the only ones in the hotel, and the restaurant is closed for the night so there's nothing to be done but try to go to sleep - not so easy for me, still working through the time adjustment.

Rachael woke up about 2 and couldn't get back to sleep, so she took her iPad out to the lobby to read so as not to disturb me. Pitch black - total power failure in the hotel, except apparently in the hotel. When I woke up several hours later we got out the bike headlights, hunted around a bit, found the circuit breaker, and brought the hotel back to life.

Rachael went back to bed to try to sleep again, while I went outside at daybreak I went outside to look around a bit. I found a path through the grounds of the sanctuary to a beautiful vista point overlooking the mountains. It's pretty grey out this morning so the views aren't the best, but it was very peaceful walking through the beech forest.

A closer look at the Restaurante Bizkarra

Now that I know what I'm looking for, I'm pretty sure I'll recognize the next beech forest I pass through.

The path from the sanctuary to the viewpoint has a very ancient feel, with huge crosses and crypts scattered through the forest.

We started biking at about ten, during a break in the light rain that fell off and on throughout the morning. We had a longer ride in mind for the day, but we're electing to shorten it - partly due to the weather, but mostly because we decided that the prudent thing to do was to stop in the bike store in Vitoria-Gasteiz to discuss the situation with Rachael's derailleur. We left with the goal of reaching the bike store around noon, so it could get a review before the store closed for midday break.

I picked a terrific route for today, if I do say so myself. There's not much to be done with the first nine miles, to Legutio - there's really only one option, Route 623. There's no shoulder for most of the way, but traffic was quite light this morning and it really wasn't a problem. At Lefulio though we left the highway and spent the entire remaining miles on empty country roads, a beautiful ride along the rim of the Ullibarri-Gambia Reservoir, and then the asphalt cycling path that girds the city. Cycling doesn't get much better than this.

At Legutio (perched on the ridge), we left the highway for this small country lane.

For several miles our route skirted the edge of Ullibarri-Gamboa Reservoir, the large lake northeast of Vitoria-Gasteiz that supplies much of the water for the region. This is San Andres Church, in the village of Ullibarri-Gamboa.

I really like these old roads that still have stone markers. I'm not sure, but I think they're color-coded here - on one of yesterday's roads the markers were orange-capped.

Dropping southeast, with Vitoria-Gasteiz just beyond the ridge.

On the bikepath, nearing Vitoria Gasteiz. The city is encircled by a complete ring cycle route. It would make a fine day ride, I'm sure.

At the bike store in Vitoria, we received a confirmation of yesterday's sad news - it looks like Rachael is destined to ride the whole tour with a derailleur designed for a bike with two chain rings, even though her BF has three. The mechanic fully understood our situation, and even called a few other nearby stores but wihtout success. Apparently three chain ring setups are oncommon here.

This isn't ideal of course, but it's looking like it should work out ok. It was adjusted to optimize for the smaller chain rings, so as long as they're functional she should be fine. We've given it a fairly good test so far and she's had reasonable results. As some compensation, Rachael found a new short sleeved cycling jersey at the store - something she's had her eye out for recently.

From the bike store, we biked to our nearby lodging, at most a half mile away. For reasons that still escape me though, it took us the better part of an hour to get there. I can't recall a time recently when we've made so many navigation errors in succession.

Our lodging for tonight is Habitara, a small third floor hostel just south of the historical center. It's a nice place that I'd recommend, but it comes with a very small elevator. We could only fit on bike in at a time, balanced upright on its rear wheel.

After checking in we immediately walked off to find lunch, with the plan that this will be our main meal for the day. One delicious salad, a fish entree and wine later, we were both bushed and headed back to the reoom for an afternoon nap.

I don't take many food photos, but today's salad was something to remember.

Much refreshed two hours later, we set out for an exploration of this fascinating historical city. Wonderful, but too much to throw into this page - it's worth a room of it's own.

Heart

Comment

Link

Total elevation gain: for today, 900'; for the tour, 4,800'

Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 65 miles (105 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0