Cyclotourist
The March II-Cofrentes Ayora Valley will be held on 08-05-2010 and will depart at 8.00 am from the Calle de la Marquesa de Zenete, before the door of the City of Ayora (Valencia). The route will be 151km. The arrival will take place at Calle de la Marquise de Ayora Cenete front of City Hall, the control will close at 16:00 on the same day of the march
To whet your mouth you can read the chronicle of his first edition, published in BB , the magazine of cyclist. MOUNTAIN
and mouflon
By Jordi Escrihuela
Photos: www.paucatlla.com
"Valencia is a land and sea, but in Ayora is mountain and mouflon"
After the explosion
a huge fireworks, how could it be otherwise in this land, they put us up on 9 May, and they passed three minutes from 8.30 am, the nearly 500 participants of this first edition, with all the enthusiasm in the world Club members organized Cycling Castillo de Ayora, with the firm promise of offering a different trajectory, beautiful and hidden valleys and mountains, at least in most of the 118 km of roads by passing the test, with a menu selected up and down, not without a hardness contained. And we were not disappointed.
With an excellent day for the practice of cycling, with a perfect temperature-not pass to ride the 22 º C, and cloudy, so the sun is not going to feed us and no real threat of rain, we were about to traverse much of the Southwest of Valencia, near Albacete, through the fertile lands irrigated by the river Júcar and Ayora Valley tributaries - Cofrentes, to beautiful places like the Natural Park of the Gorges of the river Cabriel or Muela de Cortes and the Cañada de Jarafuel way to the big ambush the day: Pico Caroche (or Caroig ), which undoubtedly will become the star of "media" on the fly.
output at full speed, benefiting from the fact that the National Highway 330, where it runs the first mile, is flat and downward trend. At breakneck speed, quickly devoured the first tranche of transition, occupying the entire width of the road the big squad, which made the Civil Guard was within an ace to suspend the march. Luckily everything was in a warning. The first serious difficulty of the day was going to put everyone in place: the port Chirrichana a very affordable climbing smooth asphalt and ... beautiful views of the valley? If you ask me certainly are, but I can not ignore the ugly view of the cooling towers of the controversial nuclear power station Cofrentes.
We took a sigh of many groups that have formed on the ascent, and the crown we realize that this port is a single side and we went out to stop Requena Plateau. So no break, continued by the National Pedrones The address now, for a long, straight eyelashes. Luckily the shelter of a small squad the face at a good pace, because I do not even want to imagine what it must be cycling alone around here at the mercy of the wind. On leaving the village turn left and ... finally! starts up, at least for me. Now, narrow mountain road with good asphalt for the most part. We have entered the Parque Natural Cabriel that now accompany us on our left as we descend by a fun and technical road until you reach the River Houses, where we can victual.
It was in this section which have appeared willing partners, at all times show us the way forward, crossing signs, indicating potholes, loose gravel ... a massive undertaking that met with a smile from ear to ear.
These roads, like the one pedaling now, they paved forest roads, escape routes for the population, provided and maintained by the Nuclear Emergency Plan of Valencia (PENVA). Hopefully, these roads still exist for the enjoyment of cycling and are never used for what they were designed.
Whereby pedaling is now a fun and endless succession of slides, with a ramp to 16%, and where you saw people who had to stop to put the chain that they had gone, dropping sharply from large bowl small bowl.
follow the road right now encased by large outcrops of rock and stone. We passed the Cofrentes hydroelectric, and miles beyond, we on our right a magnificent golf course. No, I will not fall on the topic say that he envied those who were playing much more relaxed without suffering and without breaking a sweat ... all, do not change the bike clubs and crazy golf.
lined up again towards the National 330, through the Cofrentes spa, where the organization had graciously hosted. After a turn, appears to us, imposing, majestic figure of the Castle which is at the top of the Villa on the Júcar and Cabriel.
left behind this beautiful picture of the population, and by the national played back up now to Jarafuel, through Jalance, plague spot again, long and straight upward making good the adage that "is Jarafuel on a high, Jalance on a slope, and Cofrentes between two rivers. "
new supplies in Jarafuel complete, where we still find cool drinks. Here we have a lot of people. It is noted that the town has turned and is everybody on the street. Children clap you, as if we were idols, and we hit them hands on an act of complicity, thanking the spirits that give us our way. Again
descent, another narrow road and re-emerge with the figure of the volunteer force, where one can find almost every turn or the dangerous, working tirelessly since we do not know what time is that this fall, a new rural paved runway, another PENVA-is something dangerous. Enter fully into the most spectacular part of the route, once crowned a first tack, leaving us impressed by the beauty of the landscape, at the gates of the largest natural park in Valencia: the Glen of Jarafuel, we received between poppies and yellow flowers, surrounded by vast mountain formation de la Mola de Cortes and completed by Caroche massif at 1126 m altitude, where you can find copies of the mountain goats and wild sheep, but we saw none.
At this stage of course we already have in mind the great difficulty of the day, the penultimate, the ascent of Pico Caroche, which we were told that was short but very hard. We started the climb, gentle at first, but then a poster of the organization warns us: "Top to 2.5 km, 10% stretch, which is hard, where everyone puts all it takes or just starts off with the bike in hand, what makes me remember another woman named port, and that is, relatively speaking These miles have a resemblance in hardness, with peaks at 16%. Each mile is marked and the penultimate stage remains at 10% and the last, 500 m, 12%, very hard and sustained, long time where you see many cyclists as they climbed in the distance, on this wall. A major surprise that caught many off guard, at least as far as development is concerned.
At the top, new supplies, which recover energy and chatting for a while with volunteers, discussing the play and the hardness of the port, of course. We explain that this route is very common in the outputs of the club and say that from here you can climb even further, to the very peak, by an unpaved rural track, and hard, but totally cyclable.
Although virtually finished up we take it for, we warn that the final difficulty remains: the rise of the Cuesta de Zarra, who will face after a new and fun descent, we will overcome and sparing nothing, giving all, because we know that at the end and finally descend comfortably to Ayora, where the organizers, their heads visible Manolo and Miguel, we expect to taste the typical ayorino gazpacho that has nothing to do with the Andalusia or Extremadura, since it is based on rabbit, chicken and partridges, following the traditional recipe from the modest kitchen of the shepherds.
In total 117 km with a height of 1700 m, although the organization "was" 2000, but this is not important. The first came in 3 hours, among which were distinguished as Javier Otxoa and say that many complained of the low hardness of the route. Anyway ... being told that those who arrived last.
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