EEC Tour Day 11 - Madrid

Don't really feel there is much to document today.  We all slept in and then saw beautiful sunrises from our beds and balconies.

Breakfast at 8am was quite nice.  Half selfservice with our Jaen friend bringing stuff and taking orders.

We got two stamps today.  One from the Parador and one from the Tourist Office.   The tourist office lady seemed kind of excited about Bob being Chinese until she found out he was Canadian.  Spain is considering PRC tourists as high value visitors.  She hoped one finally found their way to her little town.

We checked out of the Parador at noon and went back into town to sit in a cafe.  Our ride didn't get there until 3pm.  One of the things I noticed going up and down to town is how heavy my legs felt.  They were tired.

Back at the hotel we had all the gear ready and the wheels off the bikes when Jesus, or driver, showed up.  He made fast work of the trip back to the TaCH Hotel.  Scared the crap out of Mike and made me a little nervous.  It was a fast, tailgating, lane changing journey.  With the finest not-by-the-original artist hits!

At dinner I was fading away, but Bob did eat a whole plate of shrimp and a whole plate of mussels with fries.  Maybe you don't have to be PRC to be a high value visitor.

I think that about wraps it up.  In the morning after a final breakfast I go to T4 to meet Brendan and Bob and Mike go to T1.  An amazing adventure has come to an end.

I found Days 2 to 8 to be absolutely great riding.  Day 1 was mostly a throwaway city ride; fine for testing the bikes.  Days 9 and 10, still had the odd really good section but was much like North American riding.

These knights have finished plundering for now.

EEC Tour Day 10 - Molina de Aragon

First, from Daroca he demanded full tribute,

Then Molina de Aragón, there, to the west,

...

They entered Molina, a fine town and wealthy;

Avengalvón, the Moor, served them without fail.

Whate’er they desired, naught there was lacking,

Final day. Hard to believe it went so fast and at the same time I don't remember anything from before the road. Time to start thinking about the next things. Brendan will be leaving San Francisco tomorrow and arriving Madrid on Sunday. Winand will be arriving at the Malaga airport tomorrow, staying in Granada, visiting the Alhambra and then meeting us in ALR on Sunday.

Tomorrow we hang around the hotel and head to Madrid in the afternoon. The next day we all go to the airport, Mike and Bob to head home and me to pick up Brendan and the car.

We had a nice bonus this morning as the hotel bar is open 24 hours and we were able to get coffee before packing up. It makes things a little easier.

We meet at reception at 7am but it was 20 minutes before we were on the road with loading the bikes and putting air in the tires. The road was a little busy but there was a shoulder and the route kept taking us into little towns off the main road. El Cid got tribute fro. m a lot of these places so it's a little strange they all embrace the guy who took their stuff. I've been reading bits of the poem and it's pretty funny. I think he came to these towns and said give me some stuff and if they didn't he took their stuff.

One part I was reading he captured this dude, took his stuff and said, "Hey man, if you have dinner with me we can be friends.". The guy refuses and first and the relents. Cid declares them friends. The guy says, "Can I get my stuff back?". "No. Mine now, but we are friends!"

The ride today was a bit of a grind and the towns not particularly interesting or pretty. About 20km on most flat we turned toward the mountains and climbed very gradually but steadily for about 40km. The road was quite straight and the cars and trucks were going very fast. Fortunately, we had a decent shoulder. We complained about it but if we had the same conditions in North America we wouldn't have given it a second thought. We probably would have considered it a good road.

As we climbed things got a little more interesting and the air and scenery improved markedly when we passed the sign welcoming us to Castile-La Mancha. From what I've seen Aragon and Zaragoza are not my favorite provinces. 

Passed the peak we got some nice downhill and Molina de Aragon came into view. It's quite impressive. The town is very nice except for some completely out of place 10 story apartment building. We are staying at the Parador. Quite a nice hotel. Very new but blended into the hillside. Amazing views of the castle ruins.

Fancy place we even had to pay for bike parking. The girl at reception was a little thrown off her game when three sweaty bicycle men brought their bikes into the lobby. We got a 9:30 reservation for dinner and an 8:00am breakfast slot.

After cleaning up we walked to town to find some lunch and found a nice menu del dia for 14€. After a walk around town we came back to the hotel for a little lay down. At 6pm we regrouped and hiked up to the castle.

The Roman bridge in town turned out to be a faux Roman bridge but it was built in the 11th or 12th century.  Here even the faux stuff is 1000 years old.

Almost time for dinner. This better be good!

Well it was good, not great. The restaurant was what I thought was the coffee bar. Light was bright and harsh and I even felt a little overdressed with my convertible pants in long mode. The wine was very good. Bob defaulted down to his third or fourth choice because there was a festia somewhere and all the wine was gone. Service was good; our waiter from Jaen was attentive but I could not figure out the town name he was saying. Overall, I was expecting a little more from a Parador.