Photo: The village of Àlora. I passed it on the valley floor on the way out then climbed up there from the other side on the way back.

Winter sun training camp, Málaga, Day 1

My plan for today was to head out West, roughly following the Guadalhorce river. A 120km relatively flat run to stretch the legs ready for some climbing tomorrow. It was great to be back in shorts.

The theme of the day turned out to be ‘Mind the gap’. The whole point of coming out here was to get away from London, not be haunted by a tube warning.

My first gap was local knowledge.  I had researched the cycle paths that are recommended for getting out of the city. The problem was that Strava hadn’t done the same so I ended up putting in a few extra km as I tried to match the cycle paths to the Strava route.

Once in the countryside I noticed the regular appearance of these ‘Mind the gap’ signs:

This was my first experience of riding in Spain and very positive it was too. Drivers did indeed leave a gap and, as required by law, slowed down when overtaking. I reciprocated by slowing down to let them pass. I got waves of ‘thank you’ several times. Motorists and cyclists can indeed get along.

Once away from the city there was very little traffic. At one point there was no traffic at all. A bridge had collapsed, making the road definitely ‘inundable’.

CycloCross isn’t my thing, but when there is no road, there is no choice:

 

My final themed moment of the ride was coming back into Màlaga. I’d been on the path for a couple of km when this happened. I just couldn’t get a certain TfL announcement out of my head.

 

Year to date

1,611km / 17 rides / 94.7km average per ride

13,484m elevation gain (1.52 Everests)