🛖 Alpine Hut ➡️ Aeropuerto ✈️

“Worry less, ride more”

Good quote from our hotel bike storage room

It’s always bittersweet ending a bikepacking trip. My legs are happy to rest but my mind is set into a calmer pace of being, my body is set into a more frequent pace of consuming.

The ride back to Bilbao from the Gorbea hut was stunning – we descended a massive 5,808 feet and then crossed over more montañas on the National Mountain Bike route, gaining back 2,589 feet. Once back in Bilbao, we synced up with more bike paths en route to the Guggenheim Museum, the sculpture-like building designed by Frank Gehry. Back in high school architecture camp, I remember an assignment where we had to reconstruct some semblance of the Guggenheim using 1 sheet of paper.

Nearby, we ran into other tourists for the first time on our trip. This meant that there were hamburgesas for lunch! At this point, the sun was roasting us, so I asked a group of local roadies if bikes were allowed on the metro out of the valley up to the plateau where the airport and our hotel resided. They answered with a resounding yes, noting that we would need to ride in the 2nd car. After a few failed attempts on wrong elevators and wrong train stations, and a few helpful passersby who proactively pointed us in the right direction, we found the metro station, tucked away in the neighborhood quarters, just like any other store, and ascended to our hotel. Not just a normal hotel, but a “bike hotel” I stumbled upon on Google Maps. Turns out it is a bikers paradise equipped with bike tools, bike stand, and even a bike wash station (much needed!).

In our short visit to the Basque Country, here are a few cultural insights we’ve picked up on, as compared to the US culture (other than different mealtimes 😂):

• Many meals are self-service but tables are bussed – it is expected to drop your napkins on the ground indoors
• Urban planning infrastructure for pedestrians / bikes / public transit is well-thought out and efficient, and highly utilized
• In general, most people do not hurry nor look like they’re in a rush
• Smoking cigarettes is very common
• Gardens are meticulously taken care of
• Dogs are well-trained
• Most cars are utilitarian & small
• Energy management in public spaces is well-implemented, e.g. occupancy sensors galore
• Very few homeless people
• Most meals rely heavily on bread

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A few stats from this trip:

• 0 mechanicals ✅
• 0 injuries ✅
• 1 rainy day 🌧️
• 25,143 feet of climbing 📈
• 221 miles biked 🗺️
• 2 happy people 👩‍❤️‍👨

👋 Thanks for following along. ¡Until next time, hasta luego! 👋

Woke up “early” for 7:45am sunrise, because how could we not?

More “free art”

Finally found actual gravel roads!

A Guggenheim glimpse 👀

¡El fin! 🎆

Muddy bikes on clean train 😬

Then found pristine bike cleaning station at our “bike hotel”

Where we stored our bags for the week

Bye bye Bilbao

Spotted: bike bags boarding 🙏

Route recap 🧭