Day 14: Miranda de Ebro to Burgos 50 miles 2900 feet of climbing.

We finally got a copy of the article from the local Dronfield newspaper.  Nice coverage!

Looks identical to
my rides through the
US West.

I had no legs.  They just weren't there.  For the first ten miles, I was really feeling the effects of yesterday's mountain climbs.  Today was not a day to recover from all that activity.  But somewhere around the 15-mile mark, I woke up and was able to cycle effectively for the remainder of this short day's ride. I would guess that we probably were riding uphill for about 60% of the day, 30% on a level surface and about 10% downhill.  So it was a fairly constant need to pedal much of the day.

It was not a tough day from an altitude standpoint.  Most of the climbs were somewhere between 2-3%, with a couple of climbs that ranged from 5-8% gradients.  And not much wind to speak of, just an occasional mist from the fog that was rolling off the mountain tops.

It was a peaceful day on the road.  A slight misty rain fell from time to time as we climbed in Burgos.

The ride and the road itself was very reminiscent of one of my rides from out west in the States.  Lots of tractor trailers all day long as we rode in and out of mountain canyons and along farmlands.

The Spanish are very proud of their cattle in these parts.  Or is that Paul Bunyan's Blue ox Babe?

Burgos Old City entrance 

As we arrived in Burgos much earlier than we've done in previous days, we got a chance to do some sightseeing.  A true chance of pace.

And, as we're in Spain, dinner starts later, as does breakfast.  So our 87-mile ride to Villadolid tomorrow will start later than our normal 7-8 a.m. departure.

Burgos Cathedral

After dinner postscript:

When we started this trip, forest fires were raging in southern Spain and in Portugal.  The temperatures in England were way above normal.  So here we are in Burgos, two weeks later, and the temperatures have dropped this evening into the 50's.  I haven't checked this out, but I was told that tomorrow morning's temperatures willin the upper 40's when we depart.  Yes, it'll be in the high 80's by the time we reach Villadolid in the late afternoon, but we're all wondering how many layers to put on as we leave here in the morning.

As we met this evening for dinner, we were all wearing more clothing than we'd put on during any day of this trip so far.  On a personal note, my jeans were looser than when I wore them on the plane 15 days ago!