Madrid to Valencia

After abandoning my project of biking along the Atlantic north coast of Spain, I looked at weather forecasts and topographical maps of Spain to find somewhere exciting for biking without no rain. I took the train from Santander to Madrid, and then a local train to Guadalajara just north of Madrid, since I wasn't particularly excited about starting the trip by biking out of Madrid in rush hour. Before I left Guadalajara I located the bust of Moses de León, the most likely writer of the Zohar, the most important part of jewish Kabalah. Even if I am not jewish, it was kind of cool to touch some mystic writing from the 13th century.

The mountains stretching from Madrid to Valencia don't really have a name, they're just part of the mountainous central regions of Spain. It starts with a slow rolling majestic hill landscape, with half an hour hard uphill riding and then 5 minutes downhill. Repeat all day, until I reached the gorgeous Rio Escabas canyon, which I rolled up at sunset.

It was dark when I finally arrived at the hotel I had booked in Fuertescusa, finding it closed and dark. Contact number had no subscriber, closest hotel according to phone support at Hotels.com was 29 km and 600 meters of uphill climbing away. The prospect of having to freeze like a dog alone in a deserted village waiting for sunrise was not particularly appealing, so I decided to roll back through the night to Cañamares, only illuminated by the almost full moon, hoping to find a hostel, which I did. A wee bit too much adventure for me.

Next day was about 100 km under a clear blue sky, but it was cold. Frost was evaporating directly to steam. I was also weary of invisible ice on the road, so I had to be extra careful downhill. But these hills are gorgeous, and the road surface was perfect, except for perhaps 10 km, where I had loose gravel and actually chose to bike on the meadows. A memory I will never forget.

The third day was under also mostly blue skies. After two hours of gentle uphill came the big surprise after the Puerto de Hontanar pass: 12 km of insane downhill, most of it at 7%. One of the craziest downhill rides of my life. I tried to beat my speed record, but I need a steeper downhill and tail wind for that.