BIKE Magazine - August 2021

SNOWDONIA • FRANCE • IRELAND • CROATIA • SCOTLAND • TURKEY • E-BIKE

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STEEL UK’S LEISURE CYCLING AND TRAVEL MAGAZINE AUGUST 2021

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TOP 5 UK’S BIKE-FRIENDLY CITIES

GAVIN TOWERS INTERVIEW

E-BIKE

THROUGH

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PANTXIKA AND FRED’S

PART

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David

Cachon ExtrEmadura PyrEnEEs! AUGUST 2021

£6.99/€6.99/$9.99 MADE IN THE UK

14 -15 AUGUST ALEXANDRA PALACE LONDON | 10am-6pm Entrance: East Car Park Tube: Wood Green Railway: Alexandra Palace Rail Bus: W3 or Shuttle Bus

Try out an electric bike this summer – ‘eBike Grins’ guaranteed!

15+ Brands 75+ Bikes 40 Minute Sessions 2 Demo Tracks

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Brands include: Ridgeback, Saracen, Specialized, Gazelle, Wisper, Tern, Electrify Bikes, Revolution Works, Talio, ARCC, Cannondale, GT, Angell.bike, Volt and more to be announced soon!

Register to ride www.cycleshow.co.uk Attendance is free*. To GUARANTEE your ride and skip the queues you can register for just £5.

Details correct at time of print. Riders must be aged 16 or over. Advance registration is recommended.

Access time up to 40 minutes. *Customers arriving without a paid ticket will be offered to ride on a first come, first serve basis, dependant on capacities in the Demo Village. There is no guarantee of entry or wait times.

Book in confidence knowing that, should the event be unable to go ahead, tickets purchased will be refunded.

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AUGUST 2021 BIKE MAGAZINE

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CONTENTS BIKE-MAG.COM

INSIDE AUGUST 2021

12

EXTREMADURA PYRENEES!

20

CYCLING IN PORTUGAL

26

36

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

LEAVING EUROPE PART 1

54

70

BEAUTIFUL BRITTANY

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JUAN AIZPURU

78

IGALO TO PODGORICA

NEW

Ribble Endurance AL e

Experience the freedom of the open road and indulge in the benefits that the Endurance AL e brings to every ride. Breathe fresh air into your lungs, feel the rush of the wind around you and the warm glow of the sun as the endorphins flow and your euphoria builds. It’s the perfect e-bike to satisfy your appetite for the sheer enjoyment of the open road.

Find out more

bike-mag.com/ribble

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WELCOME BIKE-MAG.COM

WELCOME

to the August issue!

Firstly, I’d like to say a big welcome to you all, and to the BIKE Mag team. I’m very excited about taking over the wheel(s) on this title and am always looking forward to hearing about the exciting cycling adventures our fabulous writers are undertaking every month.

With the sun shining and the temperatures soaring, it’s extra important to stay well hydrated and fuelled, when out and about.

With a sudden temperature spike in the weather comes a sudden need for extra hydration and it’s easy to get caught out – especially if out for your usual amount of time, or cycling one of your usual routes – so plan ahead.

Water requirements of the active human body are: 1ml per kcal burned – so 2000kcal per day = 2L of water – and that’s just at an RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) level. A 15st (95kg) person, cycling for 1hr at 20mph, can burn around 1500kcal, so that’s an extra 1.5L of water.

Factor hot weather into the equation and you can add another litre to that.

Obviously carrying 4.5L of water with you on a ride isn’t really an option for most, so check your route, time your stop-offs, and keep an eye on your water intake.

Dehydration and overheating in the hot sun is no joke – and it’ll ruin your times too!

Also of great importance – even in the bright sunshine – is visibility: the greater the better. I live near Oxted in Surrey, a county famous for its topography and also its cycling. Sadly, I can report that about 500m from my house a man in his 50s, riding in convoy, is still critically

ill in hospital after an accident, whereby a tipper van pulled out in front of him on a hill. It’s clear from the reports that the driver simply hadn’t seen the cyclist and pulled out of the junction into his path, and therefore the poor guy went into the side of him. It’s a steep, wooded hill with several bends.

Now, there are lots of scenic woods in this region, which make for great rides, but as both a cyclist and a driver in this area I can attest to the fact that, when driving through these areas, cyclists in dark coloured outfits on dark coloured bikes become hard to see, especially in dappled sunlight.

I don’t know the exact details of the accident, but it would be interesting to see what the exact ‘visibility’ conditions were at the time. Driving and cycling from areas of bright light to shade means the eyes take time to adjust, and moving through dappled sunlight at speed causes a strobe-like effect, which can also confuse the eye. Therefore it’s still important to keep your lights on, even in the summer in daytime, and to wear at least one piece of hi-vis clothing or equipment. All these things can be spotted in the blink of an eye – which is often all you need.

Barnaby Dracup Editor in Chief Barnaby is a Personal Trainer Level 4, twins dad, writer & editor oxtedpersonaltraining.co.uk

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So, if you’ve had any adventures of your own, or any other cycling related news, views and stories you’d like to share, then please don’t hesitate to contact me at barnaby.dracup@bike-mag.com

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SNOWDONIA • FRANCE • IRELAND • CROATIA • SCOTLAND • TURKEY • E-BIKE

BIKES OF

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TOP 5 UK’S BIKE-FRIENDLY CITIES

GAVIN TOWERS INTERVIEW

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PART

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David

Cachon ExtrEmadura PyrEnEEs! AUGUST 2021

£6.99/€6.99/$9.99 MADE IN THE UK

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PANTXIKA AND FRED’S

Front Cover: David Cachon MTB

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EXTREMADURA PYRENEES! Text & Riding: David Cachon Photography & Film: David Ponce Video editing: Alberto Porras

Imagine a place surrounded by mountains, full of gorges and natural pools where you can cool off at any time, with trails and tracks to travel hundreds of kilometers sheltered by forests of chestnut, oak and meadows. That place is the region of La Vera, in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain.

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At the foot of the Sierra de Gredos The region of La Vera is located in the northwest quadrant of the province of Cáceres, occupying the entire southern slope of the Sierra de Gredos with an eastern orientation.

It is also known as the ‘Extremadura Pyrenees’ due to the great altitudes that its mountains reach, exceeding in many points 2000m in height. From there large gorges descend that serve to irrigate the entire Tiétar Valley.

These gorges are undoubtedly one of the main swimming areas in the Extremadura community. In the province of Cáceres they are well known for their enormous environmental value and on a tourist level they are recognized throughout Spain, undoubtedly being one of the main points of interest for swimming and bathing in inland areas.

The area has a great architectural heritage with reference to the municipalities of Villanueva de la Vera, Valverde de la Vera and Garganta la Olla. Other places of undoubted historical interest are the Monastery of Yuste, where he spent his last years of life under the Emperor Carlos V, and the Parador Nacional de Jarandilla de la Vera.

It is an area of great traditions and legends, such as the Serrana de la Vera. Legend has it that a beautiful woman with the appearance of an Amazonian and certain supernatural characteristics lived in the mountains and she took the men with whom she crossed to her cave to kill them, after getting them drunk and seducing them!

As far as riding is concerned, the area has endless tracks and well-groomed and properly marked paths. Trails are plentiful throughout the area, almost all of them shared by hikers, cattle, and cyclists. In the town of Jaraíz de la Vera you can find trails and circuits built by the local biker community, all of them very well cared for and of very good quality.

Day 1: Jarandilla de la Vera - Guijo de Santa Bárbara Like any adventure worth its salt, you always have to have a starting point, this time it turned out to be the Jarandilla de la Vera National Tourism Parador, a castle-palace where

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Emperor Carlos V stayed for months. His food is quite popular in the area and even though I could only drink a coffee at the time – I could see how they prepared their star dishes: Extremadura crumbs, potatoes ‘revolconas’, tomato soup, suckling pig, kid stew or repápalos with milk and cinnamon.

At that moment I realized that I had to get out of there quickly, if I did not want to turn this MTB adventure into a gastronomic adventure!

In the morning we were visiting some roads located in the surroundings of Jarandilla de la Vera until we came across the Puente del Parral that solves the pass of the Jaranda Gorge. An impressive medieval bridge that hides the first natural pools of our trip, what better time than this to cool off a bit.

In the afternoon we went to Guijo de Santa Bárbara, where we decided to continue the ascent of the Garganta Jaranda. It is one of the main gorges that the region of La Vera has, it collects water from the snows of the Sierra de Gredos, it is located on its southern slope because the region of La

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Vera occupies practically the entire southern skirt of the Extremadura part of the Sierra of Gredos. There El Trabuquete was waiting for us, which is the name of the route that goes up the entire gorge. The area is well known for its many pools for bathing and the trail is very fun although somewhat technical due to the stones that form it.

Day 2: Madrigal de la Vera Villanueva de la Vera For the second day we decided to change the area slightly, we headed a few kilometres away towards one of the great tourist attractions in this area, the Roman bridge that crosses the Alardos gorge. This gorge is the other great gorge that the region of La Vera has, it has the peculiarity that it serves as a boundary between the provinces of Ávila and Cáceres, thus being situated in the easternmost part of the region of La Vera. It is one of the most characteristic bridges in the region due to its height and dimensions.

After this visit we had to find the Cascada del Diablo that is located near Villanueva de la Vera. It is another of the points of main landscape relevance due to that very characteristic waterfall that forms the river in the Gualtaminos gorge, a landmark at water level in the region of La Vera.

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Day 3: Valverde de la Vera - Jaraíz de la Vera - Garganta la Olla We had been wanting to visit the historic center of Villanueva de la Vera since it is one of the best preserved in terms of traditional mountain architecture, this is the name given to traditional architecture in the Sierra de Gredos area. So we headed back to this town.

The mountain architecture is characterized by the use of granite and wood. A friendly and quiet town that you fall in love with as soon as you enter it. I remember the words that a married couple said to me who were interested in the bicycle and the cameras we carried: “We are from Madrid, but when we came the first time on vacation we knew we would live here, and we have been here for 30 years”. I understand what they felt when they got here.

Valverde de la Vera is another of the main architectural centers of reference in the region of La Vera. So we decided to take a walk through its streets, admire its balconies and beautiful houses. Hunger was already taking its toll so we decided to have a snack at a local tavern, bread with local cheese and some “porras” gave us enough strength to continue our journey.

In the afternoon we decided to do some tourism and head to Jaraíz de

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Watch Extremadura Pyrenees on YouTube

la Vera (known as the World Capital of Paprika), there are two places that you cannot miss if you are in the area. These are the German Cemetery of Cuacos de Yuste and the Monastery of Yuste.

The first dates back to the First and Second World War, in which many of the German soldiers, airmen and sailors who reached the Spanish coasts and lands due to shipwrecks or the downing of their planes are buried. The German government decided to gather in a single place the bodies of the German soldiers scattered throughout Spain.

And the second, the Yuste Monastery, is known above all for being the last dwelling place of Emperor Charles V, the place he chose to rest and meditate after a reign full of wars and political and religious conflicts. It is one of the most important tourist and historical points of interest in the La Vera region. It is located in a beautiful natural environment. The guided tour inside the Yuste Monastery is highly recommended.

In Jaraíz de la Vera, do not forget to visit the lake that, due to its size and services, is undoubtedly

the main bathing area in the natural gorges of the Vera region.

Our last stop of the day was in the town of Garganta la Olla, which together with Villanueva de la Vera and Valverde de la Vera, are the three urban centers that best preserve traditional architecture.

Day 4: Jaraíz de la Vera and the trails The last of the days promised to be a great riding day. The local riders of Jaraíz de la Vera have worked very hard and for many years to rescue old trails and make them 100% fun and cyclable. Dani (a well-known local rider) and his companions have designed different circuits on the Jaraíz hill. They will not leave you indifferent, they are of great quality, fast, fun, with jumps and slopes, but well thought-out and safe.

And after a whole day of riding… what could be better than a bath!

For more information, please visit: turismocaceres.org bikesatforest.com

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T E Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, loved cycling. When he left the RAF in 1935 he cycled to his Dorset home, Clouds Hill, from Yorkshire. This year we want to encourage visitors to cycle to Clouds Hill, rewarding them with a special Clouds Hill shortbread biscuit. The cottage is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 11am-4.30pm, until 30 October.

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