Duruelo de la Sierra – Aranda de Duero
If it hadn’t been for the wind, this stage might have been one of the most enjoyable of the whole trip. There was a decent amount of climbing early on and a long descent 50-60 km into today’s destination—Aranda de Duero. The roads were in excellent shape, mostly smooth surface, little to no traffic in most parts. On one of the climbs, I thought back to the first mountains I had to go over on my route—the Apennine Mountains—and how hard it was for me to ride anything and how much I pushed my bike. Granted that there are no 16-21% slopes where I’m currently riding, I have greatly increased my climbing tolerance and found better ways to approach a long climb with this much added weight.
![View over vast hills and forests, blue skies with very little clouds. Road guard railing in the foreground](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220519_121509253-scaled-150x199@0.jpg)
![My bike standing next to the road in the pine forest on a mountain](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220519_102158381-scaled-150x199@0.jpg)
Even though, I carried as much liquid as I could in the morning, I ran out of water; there was one option to refill the bottles early on and then nothing for a long time—I might have missed one gas station. I tried multiple fountains in village squares, unfortunately, none of them worked. When I finally got into a slightly bigger village with a supermarket, it was already siesta, and they were closed as well. Luckily, there was a Bar around the corner and I could replenish.
![Strava map for my ride from Duruelo de la Sierra to Aranda de Duero](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-20-at-23.42.45-scaled-150x100@0.jpg)
I got into Aranda de Duero fairly early and was able to take a walk around the town in the evening.
![View down a narrow street in Aranda de Duero, church steeple at the end of the road](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220520_140350407-scaled-150x199@0.jpg)
![Main facade of Iglesia de Santa María la Real](https://www.alexandergoller.com/uploads/r/2022/05/PXL_20220520_140820770-scaled-150x199@0.jpg)