Hi from the sunny Algarve

[Reefcat]

Recently retired early to the Algarve, aged 60, after a brief flirtation with prostate cancer, now clear I'm glad to say. Gave up smoking (now vaping) about five months ago, and have plucked up courage to try and get fitter. My wife & I have Trek 7.3FX hybrid bikes & we live in a hilly part of the western Algarve near to Lagos.

We are into month 2 of our cycling journey, both with a bit of weight to lose. We are making steady progress at the moment, riding every other day when we can. Now managing rides of 20k or so, with around 300 metres of elevation. We take our time and are having to stop fairly frequently on the hills to recover breath and let muscles recover a bit. But we are noticing improvements in our fitness after nearly every ride, which is very encouraging.

We have also bought a couple of second hand mountain bikes, this area is covered with trails that look like fun. However, my wife doesn't like riding on loose surfaces, so they may stay in the garage for a while, until I can persuade her to give it a try again.

We are blessed with fantastic weather, and when we are fitter, some fantastic riding opportunities. I do have some questions regarding upgrading to road bikes, but will save them for another thread.

Sorry for the long post, very pleased to be here Bob

 

[Mrs M]

Hello
Sounds fantastic!
Hubby and I love the Algarve, been over loads of times, so relaxing with lovely people .
We have ridden some trails near Praia da Luz, quite scary but fun.
Nice to hear you're keeping healthy and getting fitter.
Best wishes.

 

[welsh dragon]

Hello. Welcome to the forum

 

[midliferider]

Welcome
Would love to see you in my next cycling holiday in Portugal

 

[Reefcat]

Wow - thank you for the warm welcomes

We don't know any cyclists over here yet, not sure our fitness levels allow us to be called cyclist quite yet, more like enthusiastic bike riders

Would love to meet up with any forum members if they were passing our way. We had lunch in Praia de Luz today & spotted a few trails nearby on the map, will try and do an explore some time soon

 

[mjr]

Is it just me, or do cycle tracks in the Algarve do mad stuff like dump you onto the wrong side of roundabout accesses?

 

[mjr]

Oh and hello

 

[Neilsmith]

Hello and welcome, if you promise to not mention the sun too often I'm sure we will get on

 

[raleighnut]

Unless they're strewn with rocks the trails should be fine on the hybrids.

 

[Reefcat]

Is it just me, or do cycle tracks in the Algarve do mad stuff like dump you onto the wrong side of roundabout accesses?

Haven't had that problem.....yet. Been using ridewithgps to plan routes, find their OSM Cycle map to be really good for this area. Still playing with our new Garmin Edge 520 & have created some routes online then downloaded to the gps for navigation. Has worked very well so far.

 

[mjr]

Cool. Glad it's working for you. I was well east of you on the ecovia littoral for a few days and OSM was a bit incomplete, as were the signs, so take care if you go touring

 

[Lusitaniarider]

Looking for fellow cyclists in this forum to join me on Lisbon-Algarve bike trip in summer of 2016. I'm still planning dates but look forward to date suggestions and exchange of information. Cheers:-)))

 

[steveindenmark]

Looking for fellow cyclists in this forum to join me on Lisbon-Algarve bike trip in summer of 2016. I'm still planning dates but look forward to date suggestions and exchange of information. Cheers:-)))

Summer in the Algarve is too hot for cycling IMO.