Iberica Traversa - Part 2 By Jim Sutherland

24/9/25 Borja to Ateca

Last night ‘the Noreste’ dried most of my washed clothes outside the motel.  My slightly damp socks were strapped to my Aeropack and I knew that once the sun hit me they would be dry by lunchtime, wherever that was!

I left well before sunrise and enjoyed weaving around the lanes and quiet streets until getting established on an old road through the olive groves.  It was lovely to get into a rhythm whilst pedaling and listening to my podcast about food.  Shortly after 7:00 am the sun started to send shafts of soft light down the rows of trees.  By 10:00 am I had reached a quiet farm village where I found a local bar/cafe to have a coffee and some food.  The three or four local farmers there were already on their second brandy of the day and I have to say it would have been SO much fun to have joined them!  Instead I used my best broken-Spanish to order what turned out to be an omelette in a toasted baguette.  I couldn't even manage all of it so I wrapped a third of  it in my sandwich roll for later.

Around midday I arrived in a strangely quiet village.  I had enough food with me so there was no need to look anywhere.  Instead I used the shelter and shade of a bus stop to reorganize the cockpit of my bike. I decided to remove the aerobars from my bike as they were making life really difficult with the other food bags and my sleep system bar roll.  I also centered the mounts for my Garmin, phone and SPOT tracker.  If you are spending in excess of 10 hours looking at the bars and set up of your bike it is important that it does not distract you!

Two truck loads of telephone/national park workers arrived and also sat in the shade to have some lunch.  They were all pretty young and healthy looking so I took the opportunity to ask if any of them wanted a free set of aerobars.  I was delighted when one of them said yes, I do hope that she enjoys using them.

Shortly after they left I started to hear very loud music.  At first I really did think that I was losing it.  But the music was coming from the speakers mounted high on the telephone poles in the street.  I have no idea what it was for but it made for an unforgettable stop in this place.

Later in the afternoon I had to deal with a 5 mile climb which gained 2200 feet.  My Garmin has a feature which represents the gradient of climbs with a color.  On this climb I pushed my bike for any red sections and initially the orange but towards the end I was riding more than when I set off.  This was encouraging and showed me that I was getting into my own mode of travel.  After all, earlier in the year, back home in the UK I had taken part in much shorter race events where I was riding 80 miles a day and climbing in excess of 7 or 8000ft of ascent over three days!

I thought that there was one last climb and then the town of Arteca.  However I had forgotten about the crazy, exposed trails through the red sandstone rock formations.  There were some sections where a pedal strike or a wander off trail would be your last.  For sure.  Obviously I did not ride these sections late in the day on a heavily loaded bike.  The setting sun was gorgeous as I wound my way through this incredible terrain.

As the light started to go my SON dynamo light came into its own as it provided the perfect amount of illumination to weave through the singletrack.  At 100 miles on my odometer I had expected to start to see the lights of the town but little did I know that I had misread the cue sheets and in actual fact Arteca was still 5 long miles away.  By now the incessant barking of dogs was something that I had become used to in rural Spain even although it was something that I did not particularly enjoy.  At least this noise told me that I was nearing civilization.  Soon enough I rode into town.  At this point I usually stop navigating from my Garmin and use my phone to search for a bar, or pension using Google Maps.  Unfortunately I was drawing blanks until the very last bar at about 8:00 pm.  There I met Alba who along with her two friends got me sorted out with a ‘one night special’ in their friend Eduardo’s apartment.  Unfortunately I was not able to buy them a drink as a way of saying thanks as the barmaid was clearly in a hurry to get closed up.

Eventually I got myself and my bike up the stairs and into his gorgeous place.  No dinner but at least I had a place to sleep!

25/9/25  Arteca to Molina de Aragon

I stupidly thought that the 58 miles to Molina de Aragon would be ‘an active rest day’.  It still took me more than 9 hours with a false summit after the big 3 mile climb of 1000 feet.  However it was still pretty chilled with time at local Bar Moran (!) for pan con tomate and I did try a wee nap at another place because I was grumpy.  Led Zeppelin on the sounds soon sorted me out once I started riding again on roads that were like deserted carpets.

Once into town I soon homed in on a place to stay just off of the main street.  At Pension Martinez I met two Spanish riders who helped a lot with checking in and negotiating the street door and stairs up to our rooms.  Unfortunately a French rider was not able to stay here as she had a dog hidden in her panniers and quite rightly was not allowed in as she had not made this clear.

Safe in the knowledge that tomorrow is a ‘zero day’ I had four or five beers and a huge mixed salad with pork chops along with fries in a local bar, Parilla de Maria which was excellent.  With wifi connection I took some time to see where I was on the leaderboard.  Already a couple of faster riders have scratched due to injury or mechanical failures. My plan was still to learn about riding in hot, desert climate and finish the route, whatever it takes.

Carlos & Javier started to make conversation with me at the bar and we spent a lot of time showing what our home country looked like.  They were from Chile & Costa Rica so there was a lot to talk about!

26/9/25  Molina de Aragon

I got up at 9:00 am and contacted my Spanish friend Jaime to confirm that I will need to camp somewhere on my way across to the next checkpoint.  After taking care of laundry and resupply I had a rest in my room in the afternoon before an early dinner and more rest.  This reset/zero/rest day was also the point in the ride for me where I started to come to terms with the remoteness and lack of companionship.  I was now ready to get into robot-mode and get riding.

27/9/25  Molina de Aragon to Santa Maria de la Val

After a cold supermarket coffee and pastries in my room I think that I left town about 7:20 am and it was very cold indeed.  I had the hot aches at one point which was something I did not expect on this trip!  Soon I reached the national park boundary and thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful roads.  I had my second breakfast at a big carpark surrounded by campervans and people waking up ready for the day.  My route followed a crystal clear river and was shaded by beautiful pine forest - an absolute delight.  At a significant junction I stopped to have some lunch in the shade.  Soon I was talking to a couple of Spanish riders who were also having a lovely time.  In the midst of exchanging notes/contact details/showing photos one of them appeared to have accidentally taken one of the leg warmers that I had in my hand at the time!  Soon after Juan from Madrid appeared.  He was a professional photographer and the two of us had fun swapping bikes to take photos of one another.  Juan said he was very jealous of me riding all the way across his home country.

The rest of the day continued to be above the big gorge which at times was a long, long way down.  Today’s big climb was on pavement and I only needed to push for about 1500 ft of elevation.  Some nice downhill to the mountain village of Santa Maria de la Val where I had a hunch that I was going to be able to set up camp in the park right in the middle of the square.

As soon as I arrived I headed into the local bar to ask about food and generally get a feel for the place.  The lady behind the bar agreed to have some food for me when I came back at 8;00 pm so all that was left for me to do was to quietly set up my Deschutes tarp in the fading light.  I hung about for a bit to see what happened.  Nothing.  Well maybe a couple of older, inquisitive ladies came by to see what this strange gringo on a bike was up to!

I spent a nice evening in the bar enjoying some toasted sandwiches washed down with a few glasses of vino tinto.  Before leaving for the night the lady told me that my pronunciation was good.  When I got back to the comfort of my shelter I started my list of broken or lost things in my notebook:

1. Burst zip on my framebag

2. Air mattress is leaking

3. Lost leg warmer

4. Aeropack QR axle keeps coming loose on rocky descents

5. Front forks keep coming out of lock out

6. Broke one leg of my riding glasses

28/9/25  Santa Maria de la Val to Cuenca

In the morning I noticed that Jaime in Segovia had messaged me to say that there was a weather system to the north and east of me.  Rain, wind, snow and the cold are not things that I am afraid of.  After many years of guiding and mountain rescue I would like to think that I can look after myself and others in a hostile mountain environment.  What was bothering me was encountering dirt roads that would turn to death mud in the torrential rain that was forecast.  A 30 mile section with a couple of climbs might end up taking two days.  Throwing  in the remoteness of the area and no resupply it was clear to me that taking pavement where possible was the responsible thing to do; DQ or not I was not bothered!

I pulled into Cuenca at 4:30 pm and hoped that there would not be the same need for riding high, paved mountain roads on the hardtail as it was very, very inefficient.  In Cuenca I found a lovely, clean two star hotel room for 45 euros.  I had my dinner in a local bar then went back to have a video call with my wife which really cheered me up.

29/9/25 Cuenca to Villalgordo de Jucar

The days had started to blur.  This is something that always seems to happen to me after a week or so on the trail. What day of the week it is has no relevance whatsoever.  All that matters is to get your feet on the floor in the morning and start the process of eating, packing and waking up.  After that it is easy - ride your bike, stay on route and if you stop try to make sure you do at least 3 things, e.g. reapply sunblock, adjust that squeaking part of your bike and take a photo or have a pee!  

The rain did sneak up on me today but it was not to any significant degree so I made it into Villalgordo de Jucar and found a hotel.  The window cleaner who was working on the front of a bar told me that they were closed.  I was disappointed but there did not seem to be much I could do.  As I started to ride away I saw a couple of staff emerging from another door which looked like the hotel.  My notebook came out again and I asked if there was anywhere I could get a room.  Despite my lack of Spanish I sensed hesitation from them.  I deployed my joker phrase "Estoy cansado.”  That did it!  I was told to wait.  They explained that the hotel was closed for a deep clean and the owners were away on holiday but maybe they could clean a room for me.  I tried to apologise to the window cleaner that I was not being rude to her when I asked someone else about a room.  She smiled and it was clear she understood.  I was shown around the side of the hotel and taken into the garage.  Now out of the seeping cold of the rain I would have gladly set up in the garage!  Whilst waiting for them to sort things out I started my daily derigging routine of collecting wrappers, orange peel and half eaten bars together for later disposal.  That morning I had done a two day resupply so it was a simple case of rotating tomorrow’s food from one of my packing pods into my frame bag and feed bag on the bars.  Next I had to get my damp outer layers off and pull on my insulated jacket.  At the Iberica Traversa registration we’d all been given a lovely cotton gym bag.  I used mine for shopping or carrying belongings to a hotel room and sometimes to show interested people where I was headed by using the map of Spain which had our route on it.  Into the bag went my electronics for recharging, my journal, my toilet bag, water bottles, sandals and long trousers.  By the time I had done all of this Laura came back to greet me.  I was treated to a beer and some snacks in the bar.  My notebook had three pages of phrases that I would use most days.  What was turning out to be a lot of fun was learning new ones and adding them in.   

Laura showed me up to my lovely twin room and then kindly took me up the street and around the corner to show me a bar where I could get food later at night.  It was only when I headed back up to my room that I noticed the glass cases in the hallway that were filled with really, really spooky looking dolls.  Fortunately they did not come to life, or if they did I was too tired to notice.