What ever "MASS" it is... it's on tonight.

For those of you who are in Madrid this evening and would like to take part in the.... well, they don't call it Critical Mass here...it's the Bici-Crítica here....here are the details.

Riders taking part in the Crítica meet in front of the Palacio de Comunicaciones (the white, wedding-cake post office building) in the Plaza de Cibeles, at around 8:00. By 8:30, instructions are given to the riders about the route; they don't like distributing maps or giving anything graphic out because, under Spanish law, that would constitute the Crítica being an organized ride (requiring the organizers to get a permit.)

The ride usually takes about an hour and a half. Although you'll see others jumping reds and trying to keep the pack together, it's better to obey traffic rules - it doesn't mean that you're going to end up getting lost. And yes, in the best spirit of relaxed cycling everywhere, there's beer at the end of the ride.

If your Spanish is up for it, check out the Bici-Crítica's new webpage (which probably includes the biggest collection of cycling t-shirts in Spain):

http://bicicritica.ourproject.org/web/

A bit of shameless self-promotion....

Want to know what would motivate someone with a comfortable life to give up everything and move to Spain? The Toronto Star has been running features on Canadians who live abroad, so I decided to throw my bit in and see what they'd publish.

http://www.thestar.com/article/250864

I really DID do it with the intention of promoting the web site, but now that I think of it, it was a good way of letting friends in Toronto in on what I'm currently up to!

Jill, I'm about to abuse your hospitality.....!

Just got a message from my buddy Jill, who has probably spent the most interesting summer of anyone I know: she's spent most of July and August in Mallorca, learning how to be a helicopter pilot. Valencia's where she normally lives, and has asked, for the third time, when I'm going to visit her.

Three is the magic number. And you can take bikes on the train down to Valencia....

http://www.viasverdes-ffe.com/viasv_htm/vv_xurra.htm
http://www.viasverdes-ffe.com/viasv_htm/vv_ojosnegros1.htm

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have our cyclepath for the October 12th long weekend. Valencia and its greenways, it is, then!

I'm getting itchy feet

One of the great things about living in Madrid is that there's always a long weekend coming up in the not-too-distant future which allows you to plan a getaway. Luckily, I'm not working Fridays this fall - I'm solid Monday to Thursday and free after 6:30 on Thursdays. I'm still recovering from the Camino de Santiago. But there's still the call of the open road, especially since the weather has been so crappy this summer that, dollars to doughnuts, we're gonna have a great fall.

Hmm... Any suggestions on where to go from you folks out there? ;)

I feel like racking up trouble.

Just noticed that, in front of The Casa Encendida (http://www.lacasaencendida.com/LCE/lceCruce), the cultural centre where I do most of my online stuff and photography work, there are usually four or five bikes locked to the gates, to the shrivelled plane trees out front... Considering that the Casa Encendida includes the environment in the scope of the work it does....why aren't there bike racks out front?

Hmm. Perhaps the Cyclepath needs to get involved in some civil action...I don't understand why Spaniards don't want to ask for decent, safe bike racks to lock their bikes to.

I think this is going to be a challenge for next year - see how many bike racks I can get installed around the city.

And Cyclepath makes four...

I don't know why the thought of contacting the cycling club was so intimidating. Aside from the fact that it was the same club that Tour de France winner Alberto Contador was once a member of. Madrid has two main biking clubs, and this one appealed not just because it was so close to home: it also produces people who do reasonably well in competition.

So I did it; I wrote the Real Velo Club Portillo, asking them if they would consider taking on a total newbie who wasn't just experienced, but also suffering from, as they say in Spanish, being someone of the feminine condition. A seemingly nice guy named Sergio wrote back saying no problem you're more than welcome... the other three ladies in the club would welcome the company.

Huh?

I know I nearly failed math in 9th Grade, but....three gals out of a core of how many guys?

Are they cyclists? Sympathetic moms? Girlfriends who got roped into taking part in Sunday hammerfests and never got their names out of the database?

Oh well. What doesn't kill you... is ultimately a funny story to tell over drinks.

Planning for upcoming holidays

One of the disadvantages of not taking holidays at the same time as everyone else is that, at times, it's hard to resist the siren call of planning other holidays at the same time. This fall, we've got quite a number of long weekends coming up, so here are some thoughts about some getaways that I've been toying with:

Puente del Pilar (the weekend around October 12th): The original idea was to do a fundraising Tour of the Comunidad de Madrid, starting in Somosierra, right at the top, and take three days to ride to the bottom, at Estremera. It's still in the planning stages, but Moncho and I were thinking about how cool it would be to get a bunch of people together to ride and collect money ("Queremos cambio" / "We want change") for Descubre América, a charity Moncho's brother is involved in.
Length: Three days, about 120 km
Difficulty: Easy

....or there's always La Rioja. The middle two weeks of October mark the vendimia season, when the grapes are harvested - a bit of a nightmare for finding cheap accommodation, but what colour!

Puente de Todos los Santos (November 1st): Tough one, this one, since the beginning of November is when weather starts to get a bit dodgy. That said, there's always the possibility of doing the Ruta del Quijote, in Castilla-La Mancha. Southern Castile can get really hot during the summer, but if it hasn't rained, the dirt paths that constitute the 3,200-kilometre Ruta might make a good getaway.

Puente de la Constitución (December 6th and 8th): This is the tricky one, since it means having to travel while everyone else in the country is also taking a long weekend. Personally, I'd like to try doing the Ruta de los Nazaríes that links Córdoba with Granada. I'd mentioned doing it to some other people last year, but ended up going back to Canada to visit my folks instead...if the weather holds out, it could be a great getaway before having to head into the cold of Canada the week after!

All of which means that while I'm planning this, I'm not riding. But such is life!

Contador just can't get a break!

Just heard on the BBC that the Discovery Channel cycling team will be disbanding by the end of the year. This, in spite of the fact that Discovery took two of the three podium spots during the Tour and still has one of the strongest groups of pro cyclists anywhere.

I feel bad for Alberto Contador, most of all. Twenty-four years old, thrust into the limelight, every time Contador manages to get one step ahead of all the crap that's going on, he suffers a setback. He signed with Phonak...and spent months recovering from an aneurysm. He signed with Astana... and got pulled from the2006 Tour because of Operación Puerto. He signs with Discovery, manages to win the tour for them (with Levi Leipheimer taking third), and a month later, the team announces that it will cease to exist after this season because they can't find a sponsor.

If this kid ever finds a team that offers him stability and the chance to grow, he's going to mature into a great cyclist who will kick everybody's butt, half out of resentment, half out of talent.

Biking Singles, Part Two

I'm not usually shy about giving out my business card, but I wish I'd been a little smarter about it this time.

One of my friends, who I'll call A.OK, is quickly gaining fame as the marriage-hungry member of the group. She teaches ESL, and a couple of months ago, took on a student who needed to pass an English-language exam to get a job with the Banco de España. Turns out said student is a mountain biker, so she passed on a copy of my business card for the guy to look at, and thought that I might be interested in meeting this guy.

I went out with him last night. I had a quick, ninety-minute drink with him that I do not plan on repeating. Let me just say that whatever the opposite is of "spark", that's what happened. While I don't necessarily blame A.OK for what happened, I do wonder why people assume that if one person is a cyclist, that translates into being the friend of every other cyclist on the face of the planet.

Said guy is a mountain biking geek. I don't mountain bike for various reasons, but mostly because I don't like it. I do have lots of mountain biking acquaintances with whom this guy might want to go out. I offered to send him the names and numbers of people like that. But all through the 94 minutes of our encounter last night, I kept feeling like this guy was trying to turn me into a mountain biker. (And mountain bikers, please refrain from sending me all kinds of diatribes about how mountain biking is so much better than cycle touring. To each his/her own.) Yes, it would be nice to have people to go out with. But I'm leaning towards being a roadie. No amount of nagging or probing or offering me to lend me a €4000 Specialized will probably change that.

So this morning I wake up and check my e-mail and find that this guy has sent me no fewer than six different websites dedicated to mountain biking in Andalusia. L., if you're reading this, thank you for the links. But I'm really not interested in mountain biking; otherwise, I would own a mountain bike. And in spite of A.OK's best intentions, I really don't think that I'll be quite as profligate about giving out my business card to "some guy who's interested in cycling" again.

Rant over.