Wide range of riding grounds

Some kind of heatwave has hit Spain and we have been enjoyin it full-heartedly. Days have been filled with sun bathing combined with running and riding. Also our caravan is now bright and shiny, as we spent one morning waxing it. Now we can greet all the other caravan owner in their polished cars with pride. The assistant probably broke her personal record today by swimming in the see though the water was not more than +15 degrees, but the combination of the sun, turquoise water and pure sand was just irresistable.

This week has been very versatile riding wise. In both Totana and Zurgena the motocross training was a bit dusty, as the sun dries the tracks rapidly despite of the watering. On monday one of the local friends took the rider for 2 hours enduro ride trough hills and trails near Puerto Lumbreras. Unfortunately the helmet camera was not working right in the beginning, so we needed to go back to capture the best parts few days later. On Friday it was time for a lovely cruising under the olive trees in Lorca. Links to the videos of this weeks enduro riding are attached below.

Enduro seems to be very popular among spanish people. Especially during weekends you can see huge groups of pilots either getting ready for days ride or cruising along trails, which cover all the hillsides and dry river banks. They seems to be everywhere, and for example today it took only 5 minutes from our arrival to the beach before a group of pilots rode past. The rider started to plan that next time he'll have his gear and bike ready and he'll just join the group and see where they go. The only downsides for foreigners are that without not knowing the routes you might get lost and lots of trails go trough privat estates, so you need at least to have a permission to ride, if you are not riding with some local. There is also a possibility to get shot if you are not aware of hunting seasons.

http://vimeo.com/20222297

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Some new photos also available  https://picasaweb.google.com/tk2inc/TheTripEndOfFebruary2011Spain#

Perfect day

Slowly awakening from dream.. opening your eyes to realize, it's already morning as the light is beaming trough the paper curtain covering the roof window. When slightly opening the curtain you'll have to screw up your eyes as the sky you see is so bright blue. For breakfast you have all the time in the world; cafe latte, nice slice of bread completed with chocolate croissants/donuts (the rider) and fresh oranges (the assistant). There are worse ways of starting your day.

After completing the training on Sunday, we decided it was a good day for a new tourist trip. The assistant still hadn't seen Aguilas, which was one of the towns the rider lived during his year in Spain. As it was located by the sea and the sun was still shining warmly, it seemed like an excellent destination.

We chose a view route and have to admit that it really was one of the best during this trip. The road was twisting and turning in between green hills, which occasionally turned into almond tree fields and villages. The only minus was our current vehicle... the curving road would have been even more fun in some nice sport car.

Aguilas was a perfect example of seashore town in Spain. Narrow streets trough the city lead to palm-tree-lined seaside boulevard, which connects harbour, beaches and squares. Two landmarks rise above city profile; ancient castle and white windmill. A speciality is Californian style long and high pier adding flavour to the coastline. After getting home we had only one thought... "venta piso en Aquilas". Unfortunately we are still lacking the lottery winning.

Change of plans

Despite of the extreme weather conditions the other parts of Spain (lots of snow in north, storms in south) are experiencing, the spring has arrived in Murcia. We have been having truly amazing days and as the weather forecast is currently showing figures above +20 degrees for the next 10 days we are having second thoughts about our travelling schedule. Somehow +10 in Italy doesn't sound so appealing after all... The original plan was to change the country in the end of February, but maybe we'll have to at least postpone the departure with few days.

Have to admit that we also had our share of the strong winds that tortured southern parts of the country. On Thursday we had to end the training in Totana sooner than planned as it was impossible to do any jumps in cross-wind. During the night we started to worry that the wind will actually turn our styrox box (called caravan) upside down as it felt that the other side was indeed rising every now and then. Luckily that didn't happen and we woke up next morning with the perfectly blue sky. Also the night lightning has been odd lately. The full moon has been luminating the whole neighbourhood so that it's almost like someone forgot the turn the lights off.

Kawa was in very intensive use while KTM was lying on the garage, but since the orange devil is back the rider has spent this week with 2-stroke. Some new tricks have now been planted deep enough so that they start to show while riding. The most visible one is probably the use of rear brake while jumping. As 2-stroke motors don't have such a powerfull motor brake as 4-strokes do, the front of the bike doesn't fall as easily during the jumps. With 2-stroke bikes the desired effect is achieved by using rear brake "manually" and with brake light shining jump curves nicely. Video from Totana is attached below.

http://vimeo.com/20093699

Two motos is not enough

Our weekend plans changed unexpectedly as suddenly both of the motos were our of picture. On Saturday the rider was testing the newly designed Totana track with Kawasaki, but after completing the second round we noticed that one of the front fork was leaking oil. As it was almost streaming more than just dropping, we concluded it was better to stop riding as oil was heading to front brake disk. The KTM had already spent a week in Antonio's garage waiting to get the suspension fixed, but due to unfortunate pilots (breaking their bikes just before the big race on Sunday) its delivery was postponed to Monday. You can watch some riding at Totana with Antonio link below.

Fortunately the weather was on our side and because we couldn't ride on Sunday we spent a nice day laying by the pool for a change. On Monday we continued with the same theme during the afternoon and headed then to Antonio's after siesta. KTM was already waiting and we also got the front fork fixed, so now both bikes are like new again. The assistant also was once again wondering the quick daily changes in Spanish weather. At noon, on the sun, the bikinis were exactly the right thing to wear.. and 6 hour later, just before sunset, the winter jacket was well needed on a field while shooting the rider's figure-of-eight circulation (sounds a bit dum but is actually a really good training). Anyhow, no complains. Compared to the news we have read about the current Finnish weather up to -39c record temperature this is more then fine.

Some pictures of Toledo are now uploaded and can be seen in the link below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/tk2inc/TheTripBeginningOfFebruary2011Spain#

http://vimeo.com/19876335

Next stage marathon?

After busy weekend in Madrid we have been enjoying the quiet life of a small town. Despite of relaxed atmosphere we have still managed to be efficient. The only thing on to-do list still waiting "a right weather" is waxing the caravan.. but considering the latest weather forecasts it seems that also that might get done some day in near future.

The assistant has been running in ecstasy. Apparently almost 200 kilometers on spanish ground is starting to pay off as jogging feels even better than before. This combined with the sunshine leads to need to limit the running speed. It happens that she increases the speed without noticing and it's probably not good to execute all exercising above hardcore pulse limit... It's a shame that she hasn't been able to use Sport tracker while running here (employer paying the phone bills might not have appreciated the continuous use of internet connection); the route map would have been a lot more interesting after this trip.

On Tuesday we visited Cehegin track and with help of new front brake disc the rider was able to approve the lap times with 3 seconds between first and second rounds. On Thursday it was time for re-opened MX circuit in Zurgena. The track was very spanish like, built on a hillside and offering a nice view to countryside. It might still need a bit more watering but otherwise it was in excellent condition. You can see the video of the day in the link below.

http://vimeo.com/19813173

Caravan's first night in real camping place

Though Repsol has served us well, we missed electricity and decided to spent the other Madrid trip night on a real campsite. We chose one near Toledo, both because it was close to Sonseca track, which was on schedule on Sunday, and because Toledo was told to be a really nice old town. The camping site was very nice and it turned out there are benefits in travelling during low season; besides us there were only 3 other mobilehomes, one camping trailer and one tent. And yes, you read right: tent. As we took a late walk to see the city in the night light, a couple was comfortably sitting in front of a campfire beside their tent. That night we didn't complain about the little chilliness... only one look to the thermometer which showed figures close to zero and we were very satisfied with our styrox walls and extra floor heating.

On Sunday we took a tourist tour in Toledo. As told, the former capital built on the hilltop was very attractive with old stone houses and narrow alleys. As the downtown was surrounded by a river, there were also impressive bridges leading to city. On one occasion we decided to follow a quide with large red flower held above her head. Because of this we are probably now represented in several Japanise holiday pictures, but at least we got a good tour. We'll add some more photos of the town later.

The Sonseca track was watered and prepaired very Californian like. It offered excellent groove training tought after 2 intensive riding days the rider was already a bit tired. Some ideas of the track in the video below.

http://vimeo.com/19719743

Spanish hospitality

On Saturday we spent the sunny day at Yunquera track and met more old friends. We got to the conclusion that the spanish way of motocross training is lot more fun than the finnish one. The pit was crowded and most of the pilots had their families and friends along. When the siesta time came, the grills started to appear and soon there were picnic groups everywhere. Of course it is possible that the differences in average climate conditions have something to do with the fact that this is not seen in Finland.

Also the hospitality of spanish people is remarkable. During the 5 first minutes of reunion with the madrileños we were offered a place to stay the night as well as possibility to do loundry. However, as we already had plans for the next night and as the Repsol once again served us well during the previous one, we didn't take advantage of the offer.

The circuit was very nice; serpentine track on a hillside, covered with red clay and well watered and prepared. Around you could see wavy green fields with snow covered mountains in the horizon. The adjustements of Kawasaki are getting better every day and the moto is starting to feel really good. The locals forgot to mention, that you are not supposed to complete the new step up with 250 bike. As the rider nicely beat the jump round after round, other pilots started to gather along the track to see and ask details of how it was done. Video of the day is attached below.

It turned out that the pit was the most difficult place on the track. It was located at the top of the hill and it was a bit challenging to get the caravan there. Fortunately there is gear one in all cars... Also the rider had problems in finding the way from the track back to the pit and partly because of this he rode a "light" 50 minutes warm up. Maybe the main reason for this however was, that he got carried away with the new circuit.

Later it turned out that the riding is not the most dangerous part of motocross. After completing the training without falling the rider accidentaly left his finger between wall and garage door while loading the bike back in after washing it. We were already planning how to cut the glowes to be able to fit the swollen finger to them, but luckily it survived without any visible injury.

http://vimeo.com/19643144

Alleys, smog and fields

We have noticed that there is one crucial weakness in our TomTom navigator; it's missing a truck setting and for some reason, it's always leading us to centers of small villages through the narrowest possible allies. Yesterday we took a very close look on house walls (good thing the more experienced pilot was driving) in Tarancón before finding our way out of town again and to the track we were looking for. Judging by the amount of raised eyebrows and long stairs, ours was the first caravan the locals had ever seen... 

However, after an extra tour in the center we found what we were looking for and spent a very efficient day with both motocross and jogging. As there is not much to see in running through field roads, you can see the motocross part in the video below.

After training we headed towards Madrid. The assistant had been thinking about taking a tour in the city somehow, but as we got closer it didn't seem so appealing anymore. There was a thick smog cloud hovering above the whole city and the eight line motorways were crossing in all directions. Propably the city center would be nice, but also more suitable for a separate long weekend some other time.

Oh, and one more addition is required: if you don't have a watch, try to live with gas heating. It's like a clock and the bottle will be empty at 3 a.m. sharp.

http://vimeo.com/19609709

Jumps and barriers

You could think that on a holiday you have all the time in the world.. but still we are too busy to stop and write few lines of our days. So some words before we run again.

The rider has been testing bikes to the limits. On Tuesday it was motocross with Kawa in Calasparra. The track is located on the hillside and surrounded by pine trees and mountains. The view was awasome and as you can see from the video below, the rider spent most of the time in the air. Yesterday it was time to torture KTM with some enduro indoor training. Tyre barriers and stones gave up after all and the rider got some good training for next summer's cross country races. Some clips of that one also attached below.. and what a great song we found to go with it!

During the past few days we have been enjoying the sunshine again. As the weather forecast looks promising also when looking at Madrid, we'll be heading north either this evening or tomorrow morning. More of that trip later, and meanwhile you can see some new pictures here http://picasaweb.google.com/tk2inc/TheTripEndOfJanuary2011Spain#.

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