Tale of the Mountain Goat: CCC Cantabrico Stage 2: Los Corrales de Buelna

Weather forecast today was rain by 3 pm and maybe some showers earlier in the day...turned out it was rain almost 5 km into the stage and it was there for a majority of the day. Winds were also on tap, more on that in a bit.

In typical CCC fashion, slightly heavy legs were present this morning, but luckily yesterday's 120+ mile ride vanquished all jetlag - last night's sleep was solid.

Jen and I rolled before sunrise to the site of flashing red lights in the distance and were greeted by the rain on the very first climb. It stopped at times and did result in great panorama views for most of the day. Unfortunately, there were some crashes today in the group along the way with wet roads and sudden downhill bends but all were ok thankfully.

The main features today topographically were two big climbs (Caballar and Covadonga) topping out at 1200 and 1077 meters. The slightly steep (by Spanish standards) gradients they included was only part of the challenge. Rain and wind had settled in for the afternoon. Most of us were able to get to the top of the first big climb with major wind gusts blowing you from right to left. It was the second climb where the final summit where we (Dirk and I) were not able to make the small last final push to the summit. I was halted to a trackstand a few times up to that point but when I started to go over completely, it was time to head back. Of course when attempting to put on my rain jacket I was blown completely into the nearby rocks but got sorted after getting some shelter. The descent was littered with down trees and branches, so caution was in order. But we made it back after 135+ miles with something near 17,000 ft of climbing.

A challenging day in the rain of Spain, so hoping things clear up soon which looks to be coming.