Attempting Pico Veleta next week

[Pedal Castro]

...regretting not making more effort to lose at least stone in the months beforehand 

[jamesld8]

Good luck  I rode this in near perfect weather just on five years ago--3 1/2 hours up and 40 min down 

It`s a very long climb, good steady gradients 6-7%  all the (45 km ) way up too .



Thinness of air kicked in about 2 500m on the day and last 6km on a poorly surfaced road was tough---made it ALL way to summit trig though over last unsurfaced km and rocks 



Highest Viner in Europe ?? 

Well worth doing, just hope weather is good for you---you`ll remember it 

[Pedal Castro]

Weather looks perfect, although I was sort of hoping for snow and ice at the stop to give me an excuse not to go all the way...

[Pickled Onion]

Fixed?

[Pedal Castro]

Fixed?

It's a hire bike so no mind you, one gear up, flip the hub for the descent, and Bob's your uncle.

[Pedal Castro]

Full story here

[peliroja]

Fantastic! I love the photo of the house cut into the mountain.

[Pickled Onion]

Inspiring stuff!

[SJR]

A regular climb for me when I'm at my house near Granada. Awesome climb, glad you liked it. By riding up via Monachil you chose the most scenic route, although perhaps the toughest lower slope climbs. Good weather helps. Been caught in a whiteout on an Easter descent once...very scary and VERY cold.

[Pedal Castro]

Got a bit further this year
https://youtu.be/XbDjrl5ox7E

[bodach]

Liz and I went up about 10 years ago at Easter but we did it from the south. if my memory serves me well we started at Orgiva and passed through several villages one of which featured as a stage finish in this year's Vuelta. we were touring so had panniers. We were harassed by some young boys in the last village who threw some stones at us. the tarred road ran out eventually but we continued up on the land rover track until we left the trees behind. Some time later we hit the snow but decided to struggle on. Eventually at over 3,000 metres liz refused to carry on and after much mumping from me we headed back down. I knew it would have been an epic to carry on but it was better not to inflict that on Liz.
Only other time I have been cycling at that height was when I went over the Paso Cortes (4000m or so) between Izztacuatl and Popo' in Mexico. Managed to drag the bike up to Las Cruces but dumped it and went up the Ventorrillo route over the ice to the top before cycling down the other side to Puebla, Oaxaca and on to have a dip in the sea near Puerta Vallarta.