July 22 - L'Angliru - El Infierno

Wow what a day

Holy crap! What a day.

We have been training for two weeks for this ride today, which are are doing sadly without our beloved compadre El Tortuga. He is too injured and in too much pain for this escapade. His bike is packed up and washed, and he is still in a sling and in pain. All we can do is check and make sure he has enough meds, books, soup, grapes, and a hundred other things he doesnt need. He needs to ride a bike and we need him with us but not today.

This is our hotel corridor, as we wander down, the auto lights click on and I cant help singing the "Get Smart" tune by Buck Henry. The escalador at the end sadly does not resemble a phone booth

 Look out, SuperModel on the fang, obstruct at your peril

 Yes that is cava in the corner. No we didnt

 LM was the hombre del dia for wearing lycra to brekkie

 Obligatory pre ride photo, how happy we look

 Asturias is beautiful and confronting. Rural use and domesticity sit cheek by jowl with heavy industry and power plants. Its an old industrial country, much cleaned up, but its no wonder kids leave for the city, get an education, get ahead. Yet the rural lifestyle changes with each valley we encounter, and often it is very charming

 Snail shit. Lots of slow. Lots of shit. July 22

 Pretty train station

El Olimpo del Ciclismo. Definately the hardest day on the bike ever for me. Im not sure of the numbers, they dont equate to "hurt" very neatly. Sure I've done time trials where I have pushed my limits, this was another scale altogether, or maybe my memory of time trialling is vague. Angliru is infamous as a named climb, used during the Vuelta d'Espana it makes seasoned professional cyclists instal 34x32 gearing on their steeds. We've been running that for lesser climbs, there is nowhere else for us to go. Except up.

Ride data here.

Somewhere below is the road that took me to this spot where I had brain cells that could coordinate a photo

Heading into the clouds, 12% is easy, its a recovery grade. Yes this is true.  Later on 16% becomes a recovery grade

Welcome to hell. You idiot

After this it gets steep

It got so steep, I had to ride using the drops just to move my centre of gravity lower and forward so as to prevent the front wheel lifting off with each and every pedal stroke. After two weeks of climbing you'd think I could promote a smooth pedal stroke but the stress of climbing at higher than 20% disrupts everything. Breathing, steering, balance, rational though go out the window. Sanity has long gone, all that remains is grit.
The shit of the road, the spit from your mouth that cant make it to the ground, the dust, the clouds, your breath becomes the cloud.
The road turns and at each switchback I use the short respite to dodge the cowshit and enjoy the 11% gradient, then back into climbing.
Over twnwty percent you fight gravity with everything you have, its amazing the bike stays upright at such speeds, zigzagging becomes natural, anything to artificially lower the hill, even by making it longer you fight the bike. One hundred metres of this and you have climbed three storeys, and then you do it again. No respite. Worst feeling ever because you know if you stop you cannot restart, one pedal stroke is not enough to get the other foot onto the pedal and get going, so you keep spasmodically pushing one leg after another and dont stop. Dont unclip, keep going.
The signs on the side of the road are there to help but they lie and they laugh. This next section? Average of 15% with a maximo of 23.5% for 250m, I dont know how long this takes Im just refusing to stop.
I see a sign for 1.5km to go at an average of 15%. Piece of piss I think and then the gradient hits 20%!! Only 1500 pedal strokes, turn and turn and dodge shit and rocks and passing cars and cows.
500m to the cimo at an average of 6% but its over 15%. What the actual fuck?
Now this just makes me angry and nothing can stop me. The view from this high on the hill is nothing, the clouds obscured 500m and 4 kilometres ago.  Lost sight of SM ages ago, somewhere behind is LM and OGF.
I crest the hill and the GPS says keep going until doing a u-turn, as I start riding downhill towards the mountains plateau SM is riding back? What? There should be a plaque, or a statue or a plinth or something? I blindly folow the direction of the GPS and the blessed downhill road emerging onto a wide carpark and its over.

I can hold the emotion in, I've gone too deep today, refusing to give into this iconic climb. I need a moment, but compare this pic to the one 100 minutes before down in Riosa.

Both LM and OGF have conquered this beast of a climb twice now. Imagine subjecting yourself to this twice knowing the pain to come?

It becomes a slow ride downhill, were concerned by heat build up and I notice my tyre has a trace of dirt on it. Turns out my front tyre has a deep slash and the tube was bulging through. Potentially dangerous, so I add a patch to the inside of the tyre and reinflate, but very careful of heat buildup through braking.

An excuse to stop and let the wheels and brakes cool

We pass a few cyclists today, nothing like the Tourmalet, this hill is far harder. I can conquer most mountains having done this,not that Im in a hurry.

The ride back takes us through interesting rural country, towns, hamlets and eventually back for a well earned beer back at Las Caldas.

I'm emotionally wrought, exhausted and tired.

Sleep and wander through the city of Oviedo beckon for dinner.