2014 Tour of Spain Day 7 Salamanca to Madrid - 72 mies

Day 7

The miles are starting to take there toll on my body now, from Day 1 my usual problem with my left knee started and I have to take care to keep my leg aligned straight with the cleats, anything right and especially left of centre just opens the joint a bit on each turn of the pedals and multiply that by about a million and you can see why I need to be careful.

Well last night I awoke in bed with both knees putting with pain just from the pressure of the bedclothes on them, when it was time to get up at 7:45 (yes I overslept) the pain had gone which was good news.

I walked into the Plaza Major which was 20 yards from my hotel for breakfast and had a ham toastie with a coffee and an orange, oh and a great view across the square ... All for €6 - not bad in my book!

The walk up 2 flights of stairs back to my hotel room told me my legs were not 100% so today would certainly be interesting with on paper a 135 mile ride into Madrid with 10,000 feet of climbs.. In practice I knew that anywhere after Avila I could catch a train but may have to come back for my bike or put it in the bag if the was time. So off I set and I dropped straight down to the river in Salamanca and coming back up the other side my Garmin started recalculating the route and sending me silly, it said first riggt which I took, next it said double back on yourself around the n3xt roundabout, so I ignored it till I was out of town then switched off the auto-calculate route function.

I stopped at a garage to get some energy drinks and some snacks for the route as today there was very little between Salamanca and Avila and I doubted any of the villages en route would have a shop or bar.

One of the assistants was interested how far I was cycling but I didnt know the spanish for 100 to say 100km which is the rough distance to Avila so I said Avila and he looked puzzled so I said the city Cuidad Avila - he then said yes he knew and started to ask his colleagues how far it was, I paid and left and headed for Alba de Tormes which was the first and biggest village en route

Unfortunately I had came out of the city slightly too far south due to the stupid Garmin and I had to pick across through a new urbanization called Carbajosa de la Sagrada, unfotunately it went up a 200 feet climb which was about 10% gradient - it tested the legs but I could have done without it, at least I knew I had some energy left in them.

So the remainder of the day was very alike - if you turn a saw on its back and imagine cycling from the end to the handle over the teeth, well it was like that hill after hill, up and down, but every up was that bit higher than the previous.The wind which gad been westerly all week (when I was cycling Southwest) now decided it would blow from the east as I was heading east today and as if the hills weren't hatd enough the wind made them twice as hard.

I looked at the profle and could see Avila was over 4000 feet up (Salamanca is only 2500) andin the last 15 miles there were 4 major climbs each one getting bigger than the last culminating in a 1200 feet climb, a 1000 feet drop and another 1500 feet climb to reach Avila. I knew then that that would be as far as I cycled today.

The countryside was very rocky full of boulders and outcrops but what struck me was it was all fenced off, now tgere were occasional fields with bulls in them so I was glad thaey were fenced off but mile after mile of countryside seemed to be inaccesible and the only bits you were allowed on was the road.

I remember seeing a fox run ontonthe road just near Munico it saw me then turned and ran back into the field it came from, I also saw two mallards fly up from the roadside ditch right in front of me and a white van ivertook me , the second duck was about to be wiped out till it took evasive action and just missed both the van and myself.

Every km to Avila was signposted from 49 out and the progress was tedious but at last I reached the 300 feet drop which was before the 2 big climbs, Avila was getting close now, within 15 miles and when I checked my Garmin I realised the second big hill was after Avila, I only had one 1200 feet climb to do then it was al, downhill to Avila ... Jubilation, I fair flew up that hill and at the top I peaked out for the day and the tour at 4450 feet above sea level. There was no sign to say top of tbe hill or anything, the nearest sign to the top showed a bull so I stopped there and took my picture full of anticpation for an 8 mile descent into town dropping 1000feet.

As I crowned the apex the wind once again hit me gusting at what felt like 50mph, the descent was not as easy as it looked and at times I couldnt get onto the big chainring and to show ho hard the wind was I didnt once get above 20mph coming down hat massive hill.

Eventually I saw Avila an impressive walled city, although the walls weren't as big or as thick as I expected and they looked quite new but they are extensive and still impressive. I cycled round them and found the train station straight away so now just the awkward job of getting my bike on or not onto the train.

The girl at the counter didnt speak English, not a good start so I asked for a ticket to Madrid and pointing at my bike said bicicleta so miraculously said that was ok and did I want the 17:30 - it was now 1725 so I asked for the nxt one -this wasn't till 19:05 so I said the 17:30 and thought I will need to suss this quickly, the girl then took 3 more minutes to lprint the ticket which was doing my stress levels no good, but she tgen said tgere were no bicycle places on the 17:30 so the 19:05 made sense and I enjoyed some food and drink at the station whilst typing up this blog.

As its now 18:50 and I have to get to platform 2 and figure out how to put the bike on I am signing off for now

As a postscript the Renfe trains are excellent with 3 apaces to hang a bike and for 1 euro to lock it in place, the platform attendant was most helpful and I am now on my way to Madrid, the temperature has dropped to zero and it looks bleak outside so for once the train is a good option.