chopped wood pile is fallen tree

The Mezmorizing Mobile of Drying Spandex

old western playing here

On a dusty road, rising out of alhama de granada, we came upon an abandoned casa, and we shouted into the canyons below hooooolaaaaaa


The sun setting at one of the most beautiful and
magical camping spots we found, in a valley by a small river named Rio Frio.

Goats crossing Rio Frio in the morning.

At the base of the mountains where Rio Frio begins, lies an abandonded village with a few broken down houses and a mill.

Some more goats we met along the way...

We spent a night in an olive grove in the mountains, sleeping under the protective branches of an olive tree.

Sun rising in the olive grove.

At this point in the ride, we felt like we were in an epic film. We bravely rode our donkeys(bikes) into the bright andalucian sun.

Oh those ondulating green hills...

After we left Rio Frio, we had a climb ahead of us! This is at the top of the mountains, before heading down into the beauty of the gorges at El Chorro.

WOW!! El Chorro surprised us with its gorgeous cliffs. We had no idea what we were coming into until we rounded the bend and saw this!

The rocks here are amazing, dizzying in fact. It was as if we stumbled upon the Yosemite of Spain.

Incredible caves awaited us around the next bend.

Monique, of course, climbs them!

In retrospect we should have holed up in a warm cave in the valley of wonders. The wind picked up and the clouds moved in quick as we climbed out of the national park. We thought about camping on the banks of this lake but were detered by the ominous clouds and our lack of whiskey. We needed something to warm our bellies.

AHHHH!! Our first snow of the trip!!! This was on the ride between El Burgo and Ronda, 24 kilometers, the majority of which is straight up until we hit "El Puerto del Viento" (The door of the wind) at 1190 meters. We were actually thankful for the uphill ride in the snow - it kept us warm!

A view near the top...brrrrr!

We were excited to capture the beauty of the snow on our bags. After a few hours of riding in the cold wind, the snow had piled up on our panniers and, by this time, we were in no mood for taking pictures. :)

Into Granada and our bike to Alhama de Granada

on route to Granada we spent a night in the desert, with sheep!

Sadly, Nadia and Annie were held captive in the back of a rental van for 4 hours, kidnapped by two locos, Bryan and Monique.

floating on an island of our stuff

Granada's blinding light

The gardens around the palace Alhambra

The entrance to Alhambra

view of Granada from the top of Alhambra

The Harem

(sorry Bryan)

the snowy peak of the Sierra Nevada looming over Granada

Leaving Granada we picked up a friend, named by us, Trip. Trip followed us for miles despite our request he stay behind.

We tried to carry him with us...

Stunned, we camped by this gorgeous lake in the mountains

Thermal springs!

Seafood soup!

Valencia

The first wild pomegranate tree we found on our ride to Valencia. We took the mountain route inland for a few days to avoid nasty coastal traffic. The climb was totally worth it for the remoteness and beautiful views. One night we found a great camping spot in the middle of a rosemary field, near an almond orchard and under some pine trees.

Or map features of picture of this lovely Roman arch. We road a ways out to see the famous handywork only to feel a bit gypped. "Who ever said Rome wasn't built in a day, didn't see this."-Monique Milleson

Ah, Velencia! This city is so beautiful we could eat it. The train station looks like a wedding cake, actually most of the buildings look like wedding cakes.

And Bryan!

Unbelieveable graffiti

back to our ride to Valencia

another extremely weird campsite

don't be shy

BOO!

Greetings from an Outsider in Gandia

I´ve been asked to write a guest entry for my friends here and i´m hoping to offer a bit more of an outside perspective to the irregular updates that we´ve all been following over the months. I arrived in Spain on the 6th and, though I wouldn´t consider myself a ¨sista,¨ I did bring my bicycle and I like to think of myself as an honorary member of this elite unit.

My impressions of the trip are too many to name here, but I´ll share some of what I´ve witnessed since I arrived.

Most of the entries that I´ve read here seem, in a word, soft. Make no mistake, there is nothing soft about these girls. Riding down a coastal highway on a bike strapped with fifty pounds is not for the faint of heart. This occurs to me when a cargo truck blows by at seventy kilometers an hour, leaving a margin between collision and a blast of disarming wind at about three feet.

Many in Spain seem to view them, in passing and in conversation, with undeniable admiration. Some seem to think they´re crazy. Some might not be far off on that. They´ve all begun talking to inanimate objects including their food, bikes, and some of the more charming trees. Nadia won´t stop going on about ham sandwiches. I don´t believe they´re crazy, but simply dancing on that fine line between bravery and insanity. This is not a dance that one does on such a grand stage without a bit of practice and, if I know anything about my friends, I´d say they´re well rehearsed.

I´d like to say more about my reasons for putting my trust in this lot, but I´ll probably save that for another time. The one thing I will say is that Spain is beautiful, my guides are extremely experienced and I know that I´m in good hands.

That´s it for now. Beun viaje.


bryan

Our radio interview in Barcelona

Click on the link below to hear our interview on Radio Bronka, 104.5fm Barcelona, with Annie, Monique, and two of the Biciosos, Sebastian and Lalo. It´s all in Spanish, but features some great bicycling music. We weren´t kidding when we said the festival was full of bike nerds.

http://www.archive.org/download/FtbRadioshowencuentroBiciosxsYCyclingSisters/20081103-FUCK_THE_BASTARDS_64kb.mp3