You’d think with all the riding, and the post-riding beer, I’d sleep like a log wouldn’t you?  No.  No idea why really.  Sleeping in a single bed is not something I’m used to.  And something liked to wake me up around 6:00am every morning, quite probably a cockerel, which you’d have thought I’d be used to, considering the number of them there are around here.  Still, at least getting up for the 8:00am alarm call was never an issue.  I was usually a little early down for breakfast, making a beeline straight for the coffee machine!  Having been made to realise that boiled eggs were a bad idea yesterday, today I decided to have a Clif bar for breakfast instead, and asked if maybe we could get some rice cakes for following days.  Those at least I can eat.  And cover in Nutella 😉

Day 3’s ride was due to be considerably flatter, but longer – 80 miles this time.  Once again the weather was lovely, and we set out at about 10:45, this time with mein host Wheels in Wheels MD Graham Temple driving the support van.  You’d have thought flatter would be better wouldn’t you?  Oddly……no.  The rest of the guests were just that bit too fast for me on the flat, and I was constantly slogging to keep up, without any respite from downhills.  I was finding it pretty hard work and my PMA took a bit of a nosedive to be honest.  However, it being the ‘Ride Like A Pro’ experience, and with all the ride leaders miked up, they did their best to communicate this to each other so as to rein things in a bit when necessary.  Oh, and I also accidentally dropped a Clif bar at some point, and Margriet retrieved it, raced back to us, and returned it to me.  Even more Pro 😉

There was a long stretch through citrus groves in the sunshine where I just gradually dropped backwards, however hard I tried,…my PMA doing the same…until we got to the top and I was informed that we’d actually been doing the climb of the day, at which point I felt much better!  In fact we’d been going up, albeit gradually and not very high, for about 15 miles.  That explains it then.  Maybe I should check the gradient on my Garmin from time to time?

I cheered up even further after our break at the top and the fab descent afterwards which was not at all technical, and therefore large amounts of fun.  The downward trend also continued for quite some time which was far more me than up is! 😉  I didn’t do so well on the coast road afterwards though.  I think the word James used for it is “undulating”…  It was very scenic, in fact stunning in places, but most definitely rolling, with a nasty coast head wind to boot.  Never enough down to get me up the next up, and never enough up for me to get into my crawling rhythm.  I sat at the back of the group and did my best, occasionally sheltered by Margriet, and tried to let those views and the sunshine distract me.  Hey, I might not have being doing that well, but it was a Monday and I was riding my bike in the sun by the beach, which is more than could be said for anyone else I know 😉

We had a coffee stop about halfway ’round, somewhere facing away from the beach, which mean we were sat in the shade, and restorative though it was, I was just getting colder and colder.  I could have used half an hour sat in the sun, listening to the waves, and doing nothing.  But then that’s always true 🙂  Becky and Hannah didn’t stop, and headed off to do their own thing, presumably because we were too fast for them 😉  Still, having been told off by James the night before for not eating enough when riding I was doing my best to eat more today, and coffee and Fanta count too right?  And yes, I know, my not eating enough is not news to anyone 😉

It was really good to get back underway and warmed up again, though the coast road didn’t get any flatter and the wind seemed to get worse.  Fighting a non-stop headwind is hard work, and I’m glad I wasn’t on the front!  Everyone went a bit quiet after a while and, taking his queue from that, James made an executive decision to cut the route a little short, turning 80 miles into 70, but no-one was complaining.  As we came back down the rural lanes, past the golf course, the wind was a little more in our favour, which was nice, and also a lot quieter!  Again with the not flat though.  There’s an annoying climb there through a leisure resort which seems oddly pointless as it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, followed by what was starting to feel like our bête noire – the 8% main road climb at Antas, which had to be negotiated before we could get back to the villa.  I’m sure it’s not a big deal really, but it always felt like it at the end of a ride!

Cycling time: 4:05
Distance: 69.0 miles
Avg: 16.9 mph
ODO: 8198.1 miles

I was definitely flagging towards the end, and sneezing a lot for some reason.  Flat for Andalucia is not the same as flat for Somerset for sure!  And if James ever tells you the route is flat, find yourself a very large pinch of salt to take that with, it’s just a comparative term 😉  Still, another ride was under the belt, and there was plenty of time leftover for some R&R in the sun, as well as for me to both wash my kit and get it dry.  Even more fabulously the beer was still cold 😉

To further emphasise how wonderful chef Julia is, tonight the main course at dinner, after vegetable soup and salads, was lasagne.  Which is not me-friendly.  So she made me my own version, with no cheese sauce, and replaced the pasta with layers of grilled aubergine.  Aw.  How cool is that?  And it was delicious too.  As were the local strawberries, some even coated in chocolate, that were the alternative to tiramisu.  See, I was doing my best to eat, honest!  Well, it wasn’t really optional, Day 4 was ahead, which threatened to make this one look like a walk in the park 😉