A Small Taste of Home

Now don’t get me wrong, the people I cycle with are a great bunch and I wouldn’t change that but…..

There is something nice about having a different type of person to mix it up; ones who aren’t focussed on their latest efforts and where ‘wattage’ can be put in a sentence and ears prick up around the dinner table! ….people who don’t really understand why you shave your legs (and smile through you!) and who couldn’t care less about the whole ‘glasses over or under helmet straps’ debate.

I recently had my best mate from school (Harrison) and his girlfriend (also a good friend of mine, Kira) come out for a week and then my Dad and brother Zak came out the following week for a mini-break.

With Harrison and Kira, they came out with a very relaxing goal. Funnily enough they had no intention of smashing out miles on a bike and be concerned about how many miles they could cover in a day. They simply wanted to unwind, enjoy the scenery and take photos, which is Harrison’s big passion -he is very good at. It was great to catch up with them over a few meals out and hanging out at the Villa and in Calpe. When we were out on our rides they would often hang out at the villa or head down to the beach. With them here it genuinely felt like a small slice of home had come out.

The following week my brother and Dad flew out for a weekend. A quick stop over, Friday to Sunday job. They hired bikes and came out on a few rides with me. Similar to Harrison and Kira they also wanted to unwind. So two days of double café stops were my plan for them and a 45 minute climb for good measure!

As they arrived late on Friday we woke up Saturday morning and headed down to pick up their hire bikes before heading out on a ride. We simply hit up café after café for the weekend. I was trying to show them bit of what we like to get up to while we are out here but with the ‘cushion’ of a few more cafes than is the normal routine. Painful though it was for them, I did taken them up a lovely climb (only 45 mins continuous ‘Up’!) out of Xalo which wraps back towards Calpe giving us a lovely view out over Calpe towards the sea on the way down.

The following day I headed out early to do my FTP test before meeting them in Altea for café crawl number 2. We met in D’Origen before heading along the coast to café 11 in Moraira. Two perfect cafés with slightly different personalities. It was a really nice way to spend time with them. They headed home that evening, and may return later in the trip.

You can forget sometimes what grounds you in life – these were timely reminders - mates and family are great foundations!