We’ve been weekend cyclists for quite a long time. We used to ride just for fun and the love for the sport, a couple or three hours every Saturday and/or Sunday. One day we thought it would be a good idea to do a weekend trip by bike, 250 km from the start to our final destination divided in two journeys. We liked the experience so much that a few months later we planned another weekend trip. Next summer we rented a camper van and took our bikes to the Pyrenees stages of the Tour de France. What an experience! We fell in love with this new way of tourism.
Pic. 1: Camper and bikes Tour de France
It was time for a longer trip. Checking for routes, we found one from Madrid to Barcelona, and thought "why not?". At that time we were also planning to buy road bikes, so timing was perfect. Till then we had been doing all our bike trips on our full suspension bikes, which were quite heavy and not so easy to maintain. We equipped our bikes with power meters to keep track of our efforts and oval rings from ROTOR to increase the efficiency of our pedal stroke.
Trip to Barcelona was around 600 km in 7 days, with like 7300 m of elevation gain. We stayed in hotels/guest houses, so our luggage was the minimum you can think about. One bag each in our handlebars and one saddle bag each. Saddle bags were for tools, tyres and energy bars. Handlebar bags contained some clothes, some liquid detergent for handwashing, sun cream and electronics.
Pic. 2: Our newly bought bikes with all our luggage
The trip was quite an adventure at some points, but all in all, an awesome and unforgettable experience.