Shock , Horror …a gravel blog on NTSR ….its a sign of the times .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
8 NTSR veterans or 7+ John (CLS) Harty to be correct had a 3am start for dublin airport to checkin for Malaga flight , Compulsory fry but no Guinness that I am aware of . Met by Adrian at Malaga and packed ( literally ) the bikes plus a small portion of my finger in the trailer . 2hour 40 transfer to the start point for our adventure with PURE MOUNTAINS<\/a> at Hinojares . Met by Jenny , Tatiana and Tim with cold beers to aid the bike reconstruction . <\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n\n\n\n The cast included COC , herself , John (SCO) , John (CLS) , Sean ,Peter , Kevin and Cahill . A fine selection of ultra endurance athletes ….and us . Once the bikes were together and sorted it was staright to the pool for a dip and a fine display of John (CLS)’s james bond togs. Dinner and probably too much wine ensured a good nights sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next days trip to Gorafe was 90% at least off road , 60KM 1502m generally south , the promised rain never landed and our destination accomodation was epic ….cave houses set into a cliff <\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_1_placeholder\n\n\n\n Day 2 took us first on an outstanding loop of the badlands , a colorado-esque landscape , hard to believe you were in spain , ,just 53KM and 1117m but sure felt like more …all off road . Fair play to John (CLS) who required intercision to separate him from his zwift avatar and coped on the loose gravel really well . Sean then managed to order enough boccillados for the whole town instead of a few tapas , the milky bar kid he is not!<\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_2_placeholder\n\n\n\n Day 3 billed as a sort of rest day , despite being 75km and 1300m . All the climbing was at the start and then we had 40 km on a greenway with a delicious tailwind that blew us all the way to TABERNAS , John (big watts) Harty took the KOH easily , even Tim (“don’t feel you have to chase me” ) Kirkus gave up the chase. Another delicious hotel with pool and a great meal . <\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_3_placeholder\n\n\n\n Day4 .The spaghetti western day in the TABERNAS desert started with a great climb up to 2200m , then a fantastic gravel plateau which became a race track for the watt monsters . Then an amazing descent of the famous VELEFIQUE , stopped at the bottom to let the brakes cool off . Then more amazing riding along a dried diver bed to our destination in SERON , 75 Km 1310m , a great sea food piella in the hotel and then out to a bar for too many beers . Transfer the next day back to Malaga airport past the greenhouses of Almeria …. gobstopping 40000 hectares of plastic greenhouses…<\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_4_placeholder\n\n\n\n