End of Sportive season

For now the cyclo-sportive season has finished in my part of Spain (Murcia) although it won’t be long before the new season gets underway. Following my introduction to this type of event in Cartagena in September, I managed to fit in a couple more, one based on the attractive coastal town of Aguilas, and the other just north of Murcia city. Both were around 95km in length, run off in good weather and each had its fair share of serious climbing. The Aguilas event incorporated 46km of climbing, one of the climbs being around 22km in length and the rest of the uphill kms were split between two other major climbs, gradients of around 12 – 13% max. The average speed of this event was quite slow at around 24kmh but I guess considering the terrain, that wasn’t too bad.

The final event in October, based on the town of Molina de Segura, some 15km north of Murcia, passed through some beautiful countryside where much fruit is grown for use in jams, hence the name of the event, “Ruta de Conserva” or “Route of the Jam”. Soon after the start we had a 4km climb through a golf complex and here the gradient rose to around 15%, quite steep with so few kilometres in our legs. Following a fairly undulating route after that we headed towards the famous town of Ricote which lies in a beautiful valley and is locally renowned for its cheese. However to reach Ricote we first had to climb over the “Alto de Ricote”, a demanding “little” hump of 5km but incorporating a “wall”, about 1000 mts in length and rising to a grade of almost 20%. Fairly bonecrushing and having reached the top of that section, the remaining 2,5km of normal mountain road to the final summit seemed tame to say the least. This was followed by a long fast swoop into Ricote where the streets were lined with spectators shouting encouragement. All this, was of course on roads closed by the rolling closure technique so we had kerb to kerb space. A great feeling. The event finished at high speed through the streets of Molina de Segura crossing the line outside the main sports centre. I was in a leading group of around a dozen riders and we had averaged just short of 28kmh. The event was well organised, fantastic police cooperation and good fun all round. Roll on the 2008 season of sportives which all being well will include a 4 day event around the plains and mountains of coastal Murcia.