It's Sunday now and we sadly put the last of our warm weather cycling gear in our suit cases in preparation for our long trip home. The worst part is the news of more snow and indoor riding back home. We came off of two great final days with huge personal accomplishments and a great wrap party in beautiful Cala Figuera that always includes some cliff jumping to kick off the evening.

Read more: Amazing........

How fast your time in Spain flies by. We are just finishing our week 2 day off, here now on Thursday. This one was much more needed  by all after some fabuously challenging rides over the last 3 days. We are also looking pretty genious with the schedule to for after an amazing hot and sunny day yesterday for the epic ride, today we woke up to drizzle which slowly increased to a down pour as the day went on. What to do? Well after a conversation about moountain biking with one of the guides here, Dieter, that was quickly turned  into a trail running idea. I decided to find company and go run a trail to a monestary.

Read more: Looking for Adventure

Following our day off last Thursday we eased back into things with our Petra Cake ride. Now although we seem to stop for cake on every ride, Petra has become famous in our minds over the last 4 years for the best cake within our riding routes. Petra also provides one of the nicest sitting areas for upwards of 100 plus cyclists at any given time through the day. A very cool spectacle. Saturdays ride was delivering us among other things, a 7km climb at 6-8% and an 11 km climb at about the same percentages.

Read more: Tough Days Bring Everything Campers Expected and More.

It’s now been 4 days of riding and 1 day off for being tourist. On the off day typically everyone rents cars and heads off into their direction of choice depending on what they want to do. Some look for the shops, others like the architecture found in the small untouched towns built many, many years ago. Others stay close to home and enjoy a truly relaxing day around the resort and down onto the near by beach. Wednesday was everyone’s first taste of climbing with a ~ 6km climb near the town of Betlam.

Read more: Ready Set Climb!

For those back in Alberta, you'll be happy to know that it's not always paradise here. We did have to ride through some rain and cooler temps today. We were quickly warmed up though with the fantastic scenery and tough climbs. Our guide today must have caught some of the Paris Roubaix on the weekend, as we were unknowingly lead onto a very rough stretch of cobble stone. Sarah and company would be happpy to know that other ride leaders pulled this on me possibly as pay back for the interesting rides i tend to find for our riders sometimes? The group is fantastic, keen to try everything even by the 3 rd workout of the day and then still take in the 8 pm lecture, most staying awake. Wednesday will be our first longer sustained climb of ~ 6km, so everyone is excited to what Spain riding is really all about.