Vitoria
June 24, 2009
It’s fun to be back in Vitoria. I made three week-long trips here in 2007 so I’m already familiar with the city. Vitoria has a nice pedestrian area of the new town and a nice old-town. The pintxos have been really good since Pamplona and this city is no exception. My hotel room has a balcony that fronts a pedestrian street with a dozen bars where we usually bar-hopped for dinner.
view from my balcony at Hotel Dato
The road from Lekietio was nice, but had a fair amount of traffic. I missed a back road because I couldn’t place the signed names on my map. After climbing into the mountains the road dropped down and intersected the main highway between Bilbao and San Sebastian. At the closest I was only 14 miles from Bilbao. It felt strange to be that close to where this trip started. I’ve seen so much that I test myself by trying to name every place where I’ve stayed in the last 25 days.
The route went east to Durango then got really interesting. In five kilometers it gained 500 meters (1640’). It averaged 10% grade with sections of 12%. That’s the same steepness as Alpe d’ Huez in the French Alps. I sure would’ve had a much harder time doing those grades at the beginning of the trip. It’s going to be fun to get on my 16.5 pound road bike after riding a 50+ pound bike for 24 days.
view from the climb
celebration cerveza at the top
Once at the top of the pass it was a quick and easy ride into Vitoria. I went past the industrial park where the Aernnova office is located, so I recognized the roads into town.
Tomorrow I will go to Aernnova. It will be fun to see some of the people I worked with for the past four years. I haven’t seen most of them for almost two years.
Assuming I take the bus to Bilbao it’s time for the statistics.
Distance ridden: 2254 km, 1400 miles
Average speed: 20.8 kph, 12.7 mph
Time on the bike: 108 hours
Total elevation gain: 25,803 m, 84,634 ft
Temp’s while riding: 11-39 C, 51-102 F
Frowns: quickly forgotten
Smiles: too numerous to count, but will be long remembered
View Larger Map
It’s fun to be back in Vitoria. I made three week-long trips here in 2007 so I’m already familiar with the city. Vitoria has a nice pedestrian area of the new town and a nice old-town. The pintxos have been really good since Pamplona and this city is no exception. My hotel room has a balcony that fronts a pedestrian street with a dozen bars where we usually bar-hopped for dinner.
view from my balcony at Hotel Dato
The road from Lekietio was nice, but had a fair amount of traffic. I missed a back road because I couldn’t place the signed names on my map. After climbing into the mountains the road dropped down and intersected the main highway between Bilbao and San Sebastian. At the closest I was only 14 miles from Bilbao. It felt strange to be that close to where this trip started. I’ve seen so much that I test myself by trying to name every place where I’ve stayed in the last 25 days.
The route went east to Durango then got really interesting. In five kilometers it gained 500 meters (1640’). It averaged 10% grade with sections of 12%. That’s the same steepness as Alpe d’ Huez in the French Alps. I sure would’ve had a much harder time doing those grades at the beginning of the trip. It’s going to be fun to get on my 16.5 pound road bike after riding a 50+ pound bike for 24 days.
view from the climb
celebration cerveza at the top
Once at the top of the pass it was a quick and easy ride into Vitoria. I went past the industrial park where the Aernnova office is located, so I recognized the roads into town.
Tomorrow I will go to Aernnova. It will be fun to see some of the people I worked with for the past four years. I haven’t seen most of them for almost two years.
Assuming I take the bus to Bilbao it’s time for the statistics.
Distance ridden: 2254 km, 1400 miles
Average speed: 20.8 kph, 12.7 mph
Time on the bike: 108 hours
Total elevation gain: 25,803 m, 84,634 ft
Temp’s while riding: 11-39 C, 51-102 F
Frowns: quickly forgotten
Smiles: too numerous to count, but will be long remembered
View Larger Map
posted by Gary and Jani at 11:14 AM
4 Comments:
Looking forward to listen from you what we've been reading in the blog.
AWESOME STATS. 84000 VERT. NICE. THAT IS 68K MORE THAN SKAMR.
i hope to climb the emmons this weekend if you are back in time.
Congratulations! Except for that last pic, you have a real eye for composition. All the photos are great. I have a strange feeling you're finally down to fighting trim after the trip. :)
Enjoy your last days there!
BB
Congratulations Gray! I have really enjoyed traveling along via your blog. Your pictures are fantastic! Safe travel back to the States…. Cheers, Jen
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