Andalucia Bike Race Day Two to Five

I'm running a little behind on updates. It's been a great but tiring week thus far, between time adjusting, and the seemingly constant schedule of wake, race, wash, eat, wash, eat, sleep.
The courses are great, very scenic and delivering on the landscapes I expected to find in this region. Trail difficulty thus far has been about 4/10. Big climbs, fast descents, but not much to challenge riding ability. A brief synopsis of the race developments to date:

Day 2: shorter neutral start and some nicer trails in the cordoba area right away. Today we are riding strong and making our way though groups that beat us yesterday. At the midway point Scott suffers a fall and is pretty banged up. Further analysis that evening leads to diagnosis of broken ribs, but we scrape out a 19th place in category. After this day and the persistent water on trails, I am becoming very familiar with the process of washing clothes in the bathroom post-race. The standard European hotel washroom comes with a handy accessory for this also (pictured).

Day 3: early rise at 6:30am to hop in the car and travel to Priego de Cordoba, about 120km away. Trails in this area are nice and the terrain is more mountainous, starting from a base elevation about 1500ft higher. There is snow on surrounding peaks and some standing water in high alpine fields is frozen. Post-race we move on to Jaen for the remainder of racing.

Day 4: today is the big day. Another early rise for a bus transfer deeper into the mountains. It's cold as heck when we arrive - 1 degree celsius and windy. I hop off the bus and run into the nearest cafe to wait for the start, but it is already stuffed with cyclists and a frenzy of coffee. I drink 3 sequential espressos and suddenly don't mind the cold so much.
Fortunately I packed sufficient clothing and layers. Scott was in too much pain to continue and pulled out at the first feed station ~1hr in. I continued on solo for the riding and experience.
Today contained about 6000ft of climbing - more was scheduled but cut out due to snow on the higher elevations. Highlight was the second major climb of the day, going from roughly 2000ft to 5000ft and passing though the snow line along the way. I reveled in the frozen climbing conditions as I chased down other teams, somehow feeling back at home in Calgary with the combination of elevation and frozen ground!
Managed to catch Jon & Kate, then Thomas on the way up to a finishing time good enough for the top 50 elite, so good to stretch the legs regardless. The effort took a lot out of me though!

Day 5: I'm tired. We awake to wet snow falling on our hotel, and I have second thoughts on how productive 4 hours of riding in the slop for an unofficial result can be. Fortunately race officials made that decision for us and cancelled the days stage. i don't know the full extent of why, but may have to do environmental damage and emergency access to the course. Ashley and I were happy to make the most of it around Jaen, and catch up on some much needed rest and recovery - even for her the early mornings and travel are wearing.

That was a big catch-up... Outside of racing, I am really enjoying the local areas when we get the chance!

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