Adventures in the Ribera del Duero

The most difficult thing about getting going was waking up at 7:30am. No one else was awake at that hour, and when I stepped outside, it felt as if all of Spain was still asleep after a party-hardy Thursday. But now with a couple days of early mornings, I feel ready to really get going on my journey.

Yesterday I rode from Burgos to Roa, where the 4th stage time trial of the Vuelta a Burgos was taking place. It did not take long to leave the city limits of Burgos, and suddenly I was in heavenly fields of hay and sunflowers. The only other kind of agriculture I would encounter the rest of the day would be vineyards. The Rio Duero is the main source of water for this area, and the combination of the dry-ish earth, the 800m elevation, the climate, and the water make for perfect grapes. So, this area is home to the best wines and vineyards in the country. Time and again the Ribera del Duero wines win the highest prizes for Spanish wine. And, much like the coffee growing regions of Colombia, the success of the industry is evident. Rolling through the towns, there are many bodegas, storerooms where the wine is aged. Some are hundreds of years old, although most of the really old ones are totally dilapidated and unused. The areas outside of the old historic town centers are scattered with beautiful large houses, and you see slightly larger, nicer cars on the roads. Wine is obviously in these people´s veins, and it seems to be the primary industry.

The roads, which are marked on my map as tertiary paved roads, are good for riding. No shoulder, but not enough traffic to merit one anyways. The drivers so far have been courteous and beep, slow down, or both as they approach. I had good weather and good winds all the way. Saturday I encountered one of the nicest roads I have ever biked on, reminiscent of the roads in the horse farms of Lexington, KY, and worthy of a photo.

Once in Roa, I caught some great cycling action. Roa, a town of 2,500, was also celebrating its fiestas, or regional holidays, something which doesn´t exist in the US. So there were some extra people in town to cheer on the cyclists. Watching a time trial is funny. You have no idea how the riders are doing by just seeing them ride by. They also ride by even quicker than usual, leaving the spectator wanting more. Despite that, it was exciting to see Alejandro Valverde put in a superb effort with a winning time of 22 seconds over second place, putting him 2 seconds behind the overall lead.

After 2 hours of spectating under the hot sun, I realized that at some point the heart rate monitor that I had affixed to my bike with velcro had sallen off. So no heart rate monitoring for the rest of the trip. That was the first bummer. The second bummer was that, because it was the fiestas, nothing was open for me to get food or water. The third bummer was that I was told by someone in town that it was illegal to camp solo in public spaces. This is different from what I had been told earlier.

Enter the first show of outrageous hospitality: Jose. Jose was standing outside the bullfighting ring, waiting for it to open because there would be a bullfight for the fiestas. When he realized my predicament, he offered me lunch at his house and pointed me to the nearest town with camping facilities. Lunch, at 5pm, was delicious homecooked fillet and tail of lamb, blood sausage, and salad all made by his wife. They had already eaten, but they kept me company and we talked, or rather, Jose talked while I ate. He hit on subjects ranging from problems with the economy, Argentinian relations dating back to the Franco era, to the Spanish version of Betty la Fea simply called Bea, and how much he disliked George W. Bush. Jose and his wife live in Aranda de Duero, the nearest city with a population of 40,000. They moved out there 42 years ago where Jose got a job working for Michelin, worked there for 36 years, then retired and is now pensioned. They were both born in Roa, and after his parents passed away, he kept their house in Roa, and now use it as a place to escape the city and come home to more familiar surroundings. Their only family are their children, the youngest of which is 26 and lives in Madrid. They´ll never read this blog, even though I told them about it, but regardless, I want to say thank you for everything.

After dinner, they pointed me on the way to Aranda de Duero, where I could ask for camping sites. The town was filled with young people attending a 3-day pop music festival. I almost attempted camping with those masses, but I figured I would get a better night´s sleep at a regular campsite. Plus, those of you who know me know my feelings on pop. The campsite was a good 5km outside of town, making my total for the day over 120km (75mi). That was more than I wanted for my first day, but it was good practice.

The campsite was significantly more elaborate than I expected. It had a restaurant, hot showers, laundromat, and lamp posts. The one thing it did not have, though, is grass, which is essential for setting up my tent, the Bikamper. The Bikamper, though cool, requires softer earth than this campsite could provide. I managed to make it work, but it definitely cuts down a bit on versatility. That notwithstanding, my first night "camping" was great. I got a hot shower, and a pizza for dinner, leftovers of which made for great breakfast. And I slept like a baby.

This morning I was up late (9am!), and packing up took an hour. I knew the Vuelta a Burgos would be finishing in Burgos at about 3pm, so I wanted to book it to see the end. I got my wheels rolling, and made my way back to Burgos via a slightly different route which cut off about 15km. I arrived in time to catch the end of the race, and see Mauricio Soler finish with the pack, making him the winner of the 2007 Vuelta a Burgos. I brought a bandana-sized Colombian flag from Boston just for this kind of occasion. I was tired, sweaty, thirsty, and lugging my bike around, but I was incredibly proud to be a Colombian in that mass of Spaniards, who I could hear saying, "this guy must be from Colombia". As I was heading to the Redondos´apartment, two or three people stopped to congratulate me for having a paisano win the race, one of whom was working for a sponsor of the race, so they gave me free waterbottles filled with ice cold water! There is certainly a very different attitude towards cycling and bicycles here.

Tomorrow starts the first real leg of the journey. I want to be in Santiago de Compostela, 500km away, on my birthday on Thursday. I doubt I´ll be camping, seeing as there seem to be decent pilgrim accomodations along the way. I´m also not sure about internet, but I will get to it as often as possible. In Aranda I asked for an internet cafe, and the town librarian told me outright that there just "wasn´t a lot of that in Aranda."