All about The Tour
A 14 day tour starting & finishing in the province of Alicante. The route heads north west up to Toledo, then south down to Granada. We then head east through the Sierra Navada & the Gorafe Desert before hitting the coast at Mojacar. We then head north east up the coast, back to our start/finish point. Over the 14 days we'll cover approximatley 930 miles, climb 65,000 feet, and do a fair bit of off-road riding in the desert area.
Further details of our planned route can be found on our Route page while details of progress made, daily reports and photos can be found on our Progress page.
Details of the participating riders can be found below.
Gordon Stead
AKA The Scale Smasher - once the giant of the tours, he's lost over 20% of his weight since the 2022 ride from Scotland to Spain. Want to know how he's done it? Give him a call at 'Slim Down Solutions'.
84kg (and dropping)
Hates the Uphills less than he used to but now needs to pedal more on the Downhills
Loves the heat - the hotter the better
Pet hate - someone offering to share a 'leg' of twix
Jim Ryland
AKA The Tight B****** - what's the only thing tighter than a stereotypical Yorkshire man? Jim Ryland of course. Example - on a previous multi-day trip, when his 100+KG companion was getting the hunger knock after not finding food during the day, Jim offered to share a 'leg of twix' with him. Not give him the twix, not half the twix with him, but share one 'leg of twix' with him. He wanted to keep the other 'leg' (as he called it) for another day.
Retired (full time athlete) and working hard to maintain his 80+kg bulk.
Doesn't like the uphills much
Favourite place - Pitlochry, Scotland
Hidden talent - small talk
Chris Staples
AKA The Red Baron - he flies fast and low but does have the occasional crash landing. He is considerate though and doesn't take anyone else with him. Despite a number of painful landings this doesn't put him off flying again!
Trip essentials - travel insurance and Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC)
60kg
Likes the uphills
Strange Habit - likes to have a daily cold shower.
AKA - the streched mini cooper - the body was streched but someone forgot to put a bigger engine under the bonnet.
If you followed the last trip (2022 Ayrshire - Los Montesinos, Spain) you might not recognise Eric as he has been enhanced. I'm sure he'll add some photos to the blogs to show this off.
80kg
Hates the uphills and crosswinds
Partial to a wee brandy during/after a cycle
Hidden talent – able to rapidly eat Russian Salad during a cycle and not throw up