Insane!

What a Gran Canaria day!

Ever the optimist, Rich thought he saw a cut-through in the mountain where the road went. Knowing the height gain and having plotted the ride, I gently encouraged a little more realism! As he pointed out later in the day, we can't have been more than 25% of the way up.

Our ride has totally surpassed our wildest expectations.

As you can see, the hairpins just kept on coming (and this isn't half of them!) At a gradient that you could keep on spinning, we happily climbed and climbed our way up and up to our high spot, and lunch, at Soria. The fresh mango juice that was offered and accepted the moment our tired bodies alighted was entirely worth the seven euros apiece, as I'm sure every collared cyclist would agree!

We savoured every moment of the climb once more while tucking into our Spanish tortilla before enjoying a magnificent descent to the coast.

Even better was, with a strong headwind, tucking in behind Rich and twizzling my pedals so that Rich couldn't tell how little work I was having to put in while he worked hard to make it down to the sea and back to base along the coast. Sometimes a dodgy hip works entirely in your favour!

We've had dinner on the front and I've just had an amazing sports/shiatsu combo massage which I'm hoping continues to improve the contracted muscles that seem to be locking up my hip. It's done well today but I do have to point out I was sensible, taking a taking a taxi over the undulating and less than exciting coastal section of the ride. Last week, I couldn't imagine taking on anything like this so I'm more than just a little chuffed!

It's 13 minutes to nine and I'm fairly certain Rich is already asleep.

Me next!