The story that I tell is that I first learned to ride a bike at age 4 when one of my older sisters taught me on an old yellow Schwinn. I don’t know for sure if I actually remember the experience or if I’ve just told the story enough times that I have a detailed image in my mind of the whole thing. Me straddling the big bike, my sister holding the seat, me hopping on the pedals as she dutifully ran behind holding on to keep balance until the fateful moment I went on my own. Suffice to say, I have loved bicycles from an early age, however I was never much into the competitive side of cycling. I much preferred the freedom and adventure that a bicycle provided. (See the Dolomites tour, and Caminito del Rey tour).
Alozaina is a pueblo of about 2000 people, and it happens to be along the route of the 2024 course of the professional road cycling race La Vuelta. Even though I don’t know much about professional cycling, I made my way to the town rotunda to get a first hand look at this race. I also wanted to get a chance to spot some of the riders from the Astana team who I used to see almost daily training when I lived in Kazakhstan.
The stage that came through Alozaina was on August 22. I followed the race news that said when the peloton would come through town and I arrived about an hour before they got here. What I found fascinating was all the interesting team vehicles carrying spare bikes. Mostly German made station wagons (estates, as my British friends would say in a much more classy way), but there was one stand out with a motorcycle.
I watched the cyclists come through town. They road very fast up the 5 kilometer or so hill that crests about 2 kilometers out of town. From what I could gather, the fastest riders were going well over 30kph, and it is up a 10-15% sustained grade. Such physicality and strength.
Seeing the race come through on the roads that are part of my Alozina daily life was a cool experience, and a humbling one too.