Training
Training
Before I get into the planning / training part I'm gonna say one thing. If you think you can do a trip like this without regular training, forget about it. It wont happen. If you aren't prepared to commit to regular cycling you will not be able to do this and should look at other ways of enjoying southern Spain. I did it solo, I'm happy enough as a solo traveller. If you are doing it with a friend, and they aren't training, forget about it. Its deeply, deeply rewarding but you can't do one of these trips on willpower alone.
Cycling in Andalusia is above the level that would be considered beginner, or even intermediate. There are significant hill climbs at least once a day, your bike is going to weigh a lot, its very warm and other people also are using the roads. The place is literally made out of mountains. You need to be able to maintain a speed that you'll be stable and not wavering all over the road and you'll need to get good a talent for prediction of gear changes as you transition up hills. You should be very comfortable with cycling 50 – 80km every day up and down hills. Spanish drivers are some of the most considerate I've ever cycled alongside and would recommend responding to that attitude by being equally considerate towards them, and part of this is not being a hazard.
I found this hill nearby where I live which was similar enough in altitude to the main climb and my weekend mission for a few months was to go up this maybe once or twice. When I started planning this trip I really wasn't all that fit. I did 7 km twice a week for a fortnight, bumped that 14 km for a fortnight, then to about 30km and so on until I was doing this hill pretty regularly. I'm sure personal trainers are reading this and crying about how wrong I did it, but it worked for me. From here I worked towards doing 50 or 60km a day and also making sure I'd all the supplies I needed on the bike as opposed to relying on local shops along the way. I didn't book any flights or accommodation till I was comfortable around 50km's with hills a few days in succession.
This was one of my routes. The really useful feature here is the altitude graph on the left. I knew months before I was going that I had to be able to at least climb 564 m of road in a day, and be able to cover 84km. Not being able to do these things means not going on the trip.
I found this hill nearby where I live which was similar enough in altitude to the main climb and my weekend mission for a few months was to go up this maybe once or twice. When I started planning this trip I really wasn't all that fit. I did 7 km twice a week for a fortnight, bumped that 14 km for a fortnight, then to about 30km and so on until I was doing this hill pretty regularly. I'm sure personal trainers are reading this and crying about how wrong I did it, but it worked for me. From here I worked towards doing 50 or 60km a day and also making sure I'd all the supplies I needed on the bike as opposed to relying on local shops along the way. I didn't book any flights or accommodation till I was comfortable around 50km's with hills a few days in succession.
Next: The Bike and Gear
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