So Today I was apprehensive – I had cycled through Rioja twice before, the first time I nearly froze to death in a blizzard in May ! and the second time I caught Covid in March 2020 and was really ill for 2 months.
Today’s ride would also be the longest of the tour, through the most remote region with a horrible weather forecast …. What could go wrong (and yes I did have several bail out plans)
I had prepared a military operation with checkpoints and timings all the way as I didn’t want to get caught out in the wilderness in the dark.
As I set off it was gentle drizzle but as I was in a deep valley I couldn’t feel much wind and that was fairly true for the first 70 miles. After a wake up 6ooft climb which went well and the legs were good which concerned me because I literally found no food in Huerta de Rey, last night the best I could do was a bacon tapa and a pork tapa, both very small and had been sitting on the counter all day until they were warmed under a grill, just to make sure any bugs were thriving before I ate it. This morning breakfast consisted of a coffee and a pre-packaged donut – I felt like I would hit the wall today if I wasn’t careful.
Multiple wagons passed me coming the other way which worried me a bit but shortly after the climb I turned left onto one of many tiny roads with literally no traffic and I dropped into a beautiful little town called Pinilla del los Barruecos which was a small village build into some huge naturally rounded boulders – it looked idyllic.
Shrtly after I had to join the N234 which is the main road between Burgos and Soria but I was only on it for 4 miles, it was smoothe, fast and heading slightly west which meant those awful easterly winds were helping for 4 miles. Burgos was only 50km away and I did think I could be there by Noon.
But no I followed my route turning off at Sala de los Infantes and along a small road through Barbadillo del Pez and Barbadillo de Herreros. Between them I stopped as another vulture was sitting beside the road sensing meat – I took a picture. Next I turned a corner onto a hill and there were bulls loose wandering along the road – I wasn’t happy but proceded carefully.
At the second Barbadillo I was bang on my time schedule so I stopped for a coffee and a light snack as I thought I needed energy for the big climbs about to come. Once again all there was were some packets of pretzels at best !
So I headed off again and had a couple of climbs, the first was a false top at 3950ft from which I dropped 200ft before passing through Monterrubio de la Demanda which had a sign claiming a summit of 1200m after which I entered La Rioja region and climbed a further 100ft to reach the true top of the day which once again saw me above 4000ft for the 4th day on this tour.
As I looked at the ditch on the side of the road it truly was a watershed – I was cycling between two great rivers, the Douro (Duero in Spanish) and the Ebro, this climb bidged the two and I was standing on the watershed. Any rain that landed in fron of my bike would head down into the Ebro and out into the Mediterranean north of Valencia and any rain landing behind the bike would drop into the Douro and end up in the Atlantic at Porto.
The descent was tricky as it started to rain, the road was lumpy, I was cold and the drops didn’t have many barriers, I even thought if I come off here I’d never be found and that vulture would have a full belly.
The descent was a lot slower than I hoped and I reached a dammed lake called the Embalse de Mansilla – It was over 10 miles long and I was riding along the west side of it – I had expected to be going downhill but it obviously makes sense it had to be level if I was following a lake. In fairm=ness the road meandered up and down 50 ft consistently for 10 miles.
At one point there were sheep across the road but they were being mastered by an old big white dog which mustered them out of my way like a true pro – I acknowledged the old boy by saying “Well done kidda” as I passed.
I stopped for lunch in pretty much the only restaurant on route at 50 miles, it was 2pm (bang on schedule) Another coffee and bocadillo followed and I was off by 2:30 a regimented pit stop.
The road dropped from 4000ft to 1700 feet by the time I reached 70 miles and it had taken me through some fantastic scenery, just a shame it was so wet.
I then had 18 miles to go shadowing the motorway, but worse I was heading east into that horrible 20mph wind again and there was a 450ft climb to contend with as well. So although I was 15mins ahead of schedule at Najera, I ended the day 1 hour late into Logrono but crucially daylight.
The climb was tough and then the expected descent ended up being on a gravel track so I was still only doing 8mph. I passed through Navarette and another 100ft climb over a new motorway junction being build so I was on a camino which was good on the way up but again at the top it deteriorated and I ended up in a field with a compressed clay track.
Eventually I found tarmac and better still a car which meant it had to go somewhere, and it did through a park and into the edge of the city – I was here – Third Time lucky I had had a cracking ride in La Rioja through a fantastic route.