Madrid-Gijon-Madrid 2026 (1200km Audax)

This has been my 12th Super Brevet (13th if I count London Floris London)

I feel I can claim I know a few things about long distance cycling.

I knew it could be very hot in central Spain. 

It was.

I knew it would rain all the time the route went through Asturias.

It did.

I knew I was in great company and I was going to have a fantastic time.

I was and I had it.

I also knew I was going to ride easy the whole route.

I did.

What I didn’t know was how tiring it is to ride easy. I am completely wasted.

Keep learning young grasshopper

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19867305688

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

To The Moon (La Luna), the long and unknown way

Are you familiar with the song Pedro Navaja from Ruben Blades? Probably not if you are not Spanish or Latin American. 

It is one of my favourite songs. The chorus goes “Life gives you surprises, surprises are given to you by life, oh God” (my translation).

I had that song in my mind during the ride today.

Xuancar suggested a route yesterday. Being the planner I am, I studied it. It had a couple of climbs I had ridden once or twice and a climb (4km @ 10.5%) that was completely new to me. I even knew where I was going to take my gels. 

The first thing he said this morning was we were not riding that route. 

The best thing you can say to a cyclist with slight OCD.

The song says “life gives you surprises” but in my life it is Xuancar who gives me surprises. 

Xuancar gave me a description of the new route but it was as useless to me as a route planned by JFW (Although, to be fair, the description seemed to work for Miguel). Without a route in my Garmin, not knowing where we were going, and, what is even worse, not knowing if I had enough gels in my pockets, I did the only reasonable thing. Moved to the back and sat on Xuancar and Miguel’s wheels.

At the beginning I recognised the roads, but at some point the roads looked new to me (Strava disagrees). I wasn’t lost. I knew, more or less, where we were and the direction we were taking. What I didn’t know was the profile of what was coming ahead or how far the coffee stop was.

The profile was a series of short, punchy ramps that, somehow, I found myself at the front for many of them. “Xuancar gives you surprises” I sang to myself in each of them. 

The coffee stop was farther than I thought it was going to be (“Xuancar gives you surprises”). Which means that by the time we got to La Luna (The Moon) I was already tired, hungry, and craving for caffeine. 

When we finished it was around noon and we had to be back home at 13:30. 

Xuancar set his tempo and I was thinking to myself “SALSA” (Pedro Navaja’s tempo) and the chorus came again, “Xuancar gives you surprises”.

I was home at 13:25.

Before saying our goodbyes to Xuancar we agreed we were riding tomorrow. “An easy ride” I begged. “Cicloturismo” (touring) answered Xuancar. 

Then, when Miguel and I were riding the last kilometres he warned me. Whenever he says “Cicloturismo” we end up riding at 30km/h average speed. 

“Xuancar gives you surprises, oh God”.

And I don’t know how many gels to take with me.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19652962245/ 

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

KW - Tanhouse

Everything was pointing to a great day and I wanted it to stay that way.

The weather was perfect, I was fresh, and I had a coffee in the morning that made me feel strong and optimistic.

So much so that, somehow, I found myself at the front of the ride pretty much from the beginning.

Unusual to say the least.

Also unusual to see I had opened a fairly big gap on the steep section of Newlands. 

Not being used to being in that position I eased off my pace fearing I was going too hard and inevitably I was going to blow up before the top of the climb.

It always feels great when you ease off. You feel strong and clever.

Until Rupert passes you full speed…

And before you can react Nigel passes you also at full speed.

Third at the top of Newlands. Not that strong, definitively not that clever.

 

To make things worse Rupert said this “sprint” reminded him of our sprint at the top of Soller. A sprint in front of a bunch of cyclists that were spectating. A sprint I was almost celebrating when Rupert passed me about 5 metres before the line. A sprint I tried to forget for years and I had hoped he had forgotten years ago…

That’s when I realised the day wasn’t going that great and a strong course correction was needed.

At Tanhouse I had a late (second coffee of the day) and, of course, a scone with cream and jam.

Overdosed in caffeine I fancied my chances for the grand finale.

I did fairly well on the section to the bottom of Juniper. Following wheels, only pushing the pace when it suited me. 

I was a bit silly at Juniper. Moving to the front at the beginning of the climb wasn’t my best move, but someone has to play the JFW’s role now that he is not a cyclist anymore (he is a runner!!!). Luckily for me no one wanted to challenge the KOM. First win of the day.

But it was the Horton sprint that I was thinking about. A sprint defeat requires a bigger sprint win.

From the top of Juniper no one saw me at the front. As soon as we got to the roundabouts I made sure I was well positioned. Everyone in front of me.

Well, everyone but George (someone please remind him of the great philosopher famous words’ “The position of annoying Spanish speaker sprinter has already been taken”).

And then Nigel moved to the back of the group.

Being third wheel in a group of five, having Rupert in front of me, and approaching the last roundabout is not ideal, but it isn’t that bad either.

Rupert taking the sprint and me being fifth (FIFTH!!!! ffs) brought me memories of what I wrote on the report of that sprint at the top of Soller. 

“What a great spectacle we gave [...]. I was so happy for him! [Rupert] After all the effort he had put leading me[...], divine justice was made and he took the sprint [...] with me shouting words of encouragement. I almost cried of joy. I was so happy for him that run out of words in English and had to switch to Spanish to shout more expressions of happiness”. 

This Horton sprint is another sprint I’ll try to forget for years.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19554263157/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

AST - Tolivia Fest the hilly way

I suspected something was going on when I saw Xuancar with flip flops in his pocket.

Before I knew it I was in the middle of a 12 riders group riding at a decent pace up Gargantada and up San Tirso.

A quick refreshing stop before tackling la Colladona. A 5km@7% climb that we rode easy at the beginning but accelerating as we were going up to finish at a pace that almost killed me. 

After the Colladona descent the surprise came. We took a short deviation and found ourselves in Tolivia. A tiny village in the middle of nowhere that, very conveniently, was celebrating a craft beer festival.

It was hot, we were thirsty, the atmosphere was amazing (watch the attached video and pictures), the beer was cheap, and it tasted great. Yes, I also had a beer (and if you know me that is some exception).

The flip flops were a fantastic call (I wasn’t wearing them). That probably contributed to the group feeling comfortable and being by the fifth or sixth one by the time Rober and I had to leave.

I am back home and I’m pretty sure the rest of the group is still there. How they are going to ride the 50k, including climbing up Gargantá, to get them home is a mystery to me.

I was told the party will last until 3am. They might decide to ride back tomorrow.

Next Kingston Wheelers training camp in Asturias will be around 10th of July. They have to experience the Toliva Fest…

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/19269860169/ 

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

KW - Col du Petit St Bernard to La Tuille

Dr. Stephen Seiler uses "building the cake vs. eating the cake" as a metaphor to explain the 80/20 rule of endurance training.

Today I decided I was going to build the cake riding in Zone 2 the three climbs of the day. Three hours and a half of cake building.

When TY and Bennett overtook me. I told myself “you are building the cake, you are building the cake, you are…”, and I kept my own pace.

When I almost caught up with TY and he dropped me again I kept telling myself “you are building the cake, you are building…”. It wasn’t easy to beat the temptation to push a bit harder but I managed to keep my own pace.

On the other side of Petit St Bernard was Italy. A descent to La Thuile and I got a capuchino there. 

We started the climb and I went back to my cake building pace. With TY on my wheel. 

At some point he started to pass me. Very slowly. I had enough time to tell myself…

You are building the Cake.

It is going to be an amazing Cake.

It is going to be the best Cake.

I will BUILD THE CAKE!

Going up fast. I need the Cake more than ever!

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

There is when I realised the coffee in Italy is very strong and it has weird effects on me. I should probably stop drinking it.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18879140114/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

KW - Col de la Colombiere + Col des Aravis

Almost €3.5M was the cost of the 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, and 11 doors(!) chalet in Morzine (see it in one of the pictures) that was the subject of a bet between two members of the group. The first one at the top of the second climb wins. 

There was a bit of a debate about what was the second climb but we all know who was the loser anyway (in the video below his declarations). It is great to know that a Kingston Wheeler will own such a nice chalet in Morzine. I foresee lots of cycling training camps here.

As I was a winner no matter what, I wasn’t involved in the first two climbs (by my counting). I focused on climbing the first one (Col de la Colombière) at a steady pace. I went easy the first half of the second one (Col des Aravis) and allowed myself to push it a little bit in the second half.

I found myself following The Pope and GC Denis’ wheel in the last two climbs. Those were two easy climbs and they were not pushing it hard but, still, just being there is a win for me.

Good sensations. Form is coming.

What is not coming back is my common sense / race craft.

700m to the top of the last climb, the winning line. Overexcited Javier decided it was the moment to launch his attack and take it all the way to the line. In my mind I was planning to celebrate with both arms in the air.

200m later I ran out of steam and came to an almost complete stop. The Pope first and then GC Denis overtook me and opened a gap.

100m later, 400m to the line I felt fully recovered and thought, again, that I still could win this race. 

Stood on the bike, put the power on the pedals and gained speed. I passed GC Denis first and I was still gaining speed. 

I passed The Pope and I quickly opened a big gap. 

100m to the line I ran out of steam again and came to an almost complete stop. Again. The Pope first and then GC Denis overtook me, this time wondering what the hell I was doing.

I was third on the climb.

I won the self-confident competition though.

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18812647488/

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González

3Down 2026 (300km Audax)

It turns out I have ridden the 3Down 300 in 2011. 15 years ago!

2011 was the year of my baptism in riding Audax in the UK. Pete Mastenko was my cicerone through the whole Super Randonneur series we rode that year. A few things have changed since.

I am a much stronger cyclist than I was 15 years ago. I rode this 3Down with the intention of riding easy all day, just enjoying the ride. My average heart rate back then was 120bpm. It was 115bpm on this ride and I was more than 3 hours faster.

I am now a much more experienced rider too. That ride in 2011 was the 35th time I had ridden a road bike in my life. This one was my 3,465th time.

I am a much more experienced Audaxer too. That was my first 300k in the UK. This was my 16th 300k out of 80 Audax events I have ridden so far. 

But there are a few things that never change…

I do have a ride report for that ride, both in Spanish and (broken) English. The attached pictures are from that report. Back then I wrote how we had ridden 316.93 kilometres, 10 km more than the official route. This time I rode 316.79, 3 km more than the official route. 

In both cases because I got lost.

I am improving though. 3km is less than 10km. I have done the math and at this pace of improvement I’ll be able to ride a 300k Audax in the UK without getting lost by 2033.

I’ll make sure I ride the 3Down again in 2033 to see if my hypothesis is correct. 

The ride in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/18719701214

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González