cycling rural spain blog

Spain is home to more wines than any other country in the world and has a national wine output exceeded only by France and Italy.
All 17 regions of Spain produce wine to some extent.
Our tour takes us to the region of Aragon, this region is diverse, edged by mountains at either end, the landscape varies from snow capped mountains to parched plains and green hills.
Large cooperatives play a significant role in producing Aragon's traditional wines, they are mainly reds based on the Garnacha grape, other varieties include Carinena and Tempranillo.
On our tour we will visit the old traditional cave bodegas (caves inside the mountain), where some people still make their own wine using old methods of pressing and storage.
We may even have the opportunity to taste some of these wines from the family's bodega, even better if the wine comes with a plate of Serrano ham and cured cheese.
The red wine from this area (Valdejalon) is deep red in colour with a high alcohol grade, they are intense in flavour, well balanced with a hint of black berries.

Vamos a hablar! (let's talk!)
Whilst on holiday in Spain, you would like to be friendly to the locals and exchange a few pleasentries.
If you don't speak any Spanish, you could learn a few words to be able to greet people as you ride along or stop for a taste of tapas.

Hello   Hola
Good morning   Buenos dias
Good afternoon   Buenas tardes
Good night   Buenas noches
Goodbye  Adios
See you later   Hasta luego


Listen to the Spanish greetings here:

Are we excited ?  Yes we are!!!  
The Spanish vuelta is riding a section of two of our routes this year and passes right through our base camp in Calcena.

The 13th section begins in Calatyud and finishes in Tarazona, Moncayo, 168Km of really testing climbs and very fast decents (click here and check out our you tube channel for footage )

Keep checking our website and facebook page for details of our up coming competition to win a free stay at our base camp and see the Vuelta on the 4th of September this year!

Unfortunately as we get  heavier  the more stain we put on our joints, ligaments and tendons, this can lead to more sprain,  stains and therefore less activiy ! The less we are able to move the more we loose muscle mass and strength.

Apart from the obvious ligament knee strain,  the foot has to take all our weight 50% of the time when we walk and so conditions such as planta faciaitis is more common. The The foot will tend to flatten in the arch and so add to calf stain. Unfortunately when ligament is over stretched it does not ever return to its original state and so the joint it supports becomes more flexible and unstable and more prone to dislocation. Arch supports and a well devised personal training program 

Posture is greatly affected and preasure is placed unevenly on the joint leading to more wear and tear on smaller areas so these wear out sooner leading to osteoarthitis and chronic joint inflamation and pain.

 A postural assessment and well devised personal training program along with arch supports would greatly assist in rehab. 

Cycling, static or road based is a really good exercise to assist in rehab given it has  low impact  on the joints and will induce more synovila fluid  or  joint grease within the joint capsule and therfore lead to less joint pain and the ability then to increase exercise levels.

As a personal trainer the question I'm most asked is 'How to loose weight' and often its about  specific body parts.  ' I want to loose my belly or trim down my bum etc ' The truth is we can't be selective about where we loose fat however with exercise we can drop our body fat percentage and we can tone specifc muscle groups, Abdminals glutes etc.

As we exercise the body will exchange body fat for lean muscle which needs more energy and so we burn more fat, even when we are sat watching telly!  The reality is that our weight may remain the same but the percentage of lean muscle to body fat changes, so it is important not to be too focused on the Kilos!

Cardio exercise is the best form of exercise to burn calories however if you want stronger lean muscle then strength training is key. It has the advantage of producing results quicker taking less time each training session increases your VO2 max, ( the rate at which we can uptake and burn oxygen as a fuel). It is also less likely to produce overtaining injuries, strain sprains and stress fractures etc.

If you are serious about loosing some kilos for 2015 have a look at interval or fartlec training which could really  help with your cycling goals.

For more specific advice  please call me or visit my personal  training and sports injury web page.