Getting Lost, Again, on an Orbea Gain

#bikepacking #cyclingvlog #orbea #wildcamping #Alturacycling

A hugely enjoyable but exhausting gravel bikepacking trip out into the wilds of Aragon here in Spain, encountering interesting wildlife, gorgeous rivers, castles, abandoned villages and Civil War stuff. Something for everyone, with Part 2 following on the 20th June.

Massive thanks as always to Altura; today not just for the Progel Plus bib shorts, baselayer and mitts but also a large part of their Vortex 2 bike-packing luggage collection. Find them all here: https://www.altura.co.uk/

And to Fat Lad at the Back for the Continental short-sleeved jersey and the thermal long-sleeved jersey. 10% discount with the code yakoridesagain at
https://fatladattheback.com/

This stuff fits big people. Ask away if you have any questions about kit.

More thanks go to Night Cat, for providing the ultralight Lanshan 1 tent:
https://nightcat.com/products/night-cat-lanshan-1-pro-ultralight-tent

And finally, thanks too to Coospo, for keeping me safe with their heart rate monitor: https://www.coospo.com/products/h9z-chest-heart-rate-monitor

If you want to do more to support the channel, you can Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fnx8xq6fjh9

For business enquiries, product trials or just a chat please email me at yakorides.gmail.com

good afternoon we’re on a bit of an an epic or it’s a little epic an EP we’re on an EP it’s a bike packing trip along two of the Region’s most famous rivers the mataran and the algar and it’s a gravel Adventure [Music] so it’s an overnighter and we’re starting way up high which makes sense to me we’re in the terala region which is a wine growing region here are the vines but it’s also high up so there’s a heck of a lot of wind turbines too it’s quite a long way so I’m going to try and do as much of it as possible with without the motor at all uh just saving it for when when I get tired which uh shouldn’t be for a little while cuz we’re starting off with a a rolling 20 km of up and downs I think this is my turning right underneath one of these monsters but it’s uh it’s almost all gravel so we’re starting on the gravel now been looking forward to this one for a really really really long time and uh I meant to go weeks and weeks ago but uh one thing and another that’s meant that I’ve not even been on the bike and there’s new things that I’m trying out with my bike packing rig so hopefully that won’t go wrong but it all seems to make sense at the moment I’ve uh for the first time I’ve actually got my my tent St to the front as well as all my rest of my sleeping kit which uh comes to about 4 kilos so it definitely feels very sluggish the handle bars are steering but that’s something I’ll have to get used to other things to note sandals we’ve got a really really weird bit of weather going on yesterday it rained all day it wasn’t absolutely it wasn’t the needed tons and tons of rain but it consistently fell which actually means that a lot of today could be somewhat awkward because we’re following these two rivers there are quite a lot of river Crossings well the matania there are three Fords and on the algar there are 11 Crossings five Bridges six Fords and I’ve no idea if they’re actually going to be passible the Fords with an ebike so one of the reasons why I’ve got the sandals on is if necessary I pick up this massively heavy bike with all the kit on it and uh carry it across the river most of today is completely new to me so we might get lost a bit walking already [Music] this is not only excuse me a memorial it’s also a cemetery but I believe this bit is an Iberian Village if it is it’s one narrow and two slightly underwhelming yes I should be riding it and the steps down I know I know yeah I don’t think we’re going to dally it always surprises me that they always use the same sites this is an Iberian Village Circa 600 BC and it’s still being used the site as the cemetery for the local Village below with those ARS don’t if you can see that there we go you get a niche there not really uh burials so much here and there’s also a Hermitage here which is the other reason why we are coming to take a look it’s all very nice lots of crosses often the hermitages are well they are used for religious purposes but they’re often used just um for like a festival most used for a festival so you’d have a like a Saints Day get on my bike the uh seat pack is rather higher than usual I’m struggling to get to get my leg over should be a lovely view of the village not seen this before this it says take your selfie so you can put your mobile phone in that sideways press time run and get in that shot which I don’t know if you can see but is a series of endless uh hair pins don’t really need them all I think it’s mostly for dramatic effect uh it should be good fun steering is very heavy I did think long and hard about putting the tent out the front there but it’s uh it’s quite bulky and there’s not really that many other places for it it’s too wide to go on in the frame what a lovely little road down I bet someone’s got this as a straa segment absolutely beautiful uh what is it what would you call this an arcade look at these Italian Cyprus aren’t they lovely wow so despite my last video telling you about all the easy ways to get a free charge when you’re touring on an ebike I haven’t brought my charger quite deliberately so it’s more of a test to see how far I can go with a very little amount of assist this is lap hbla de masaa it’s had new tarmac we have been here once before so I remember pulling in and showing you this View I’m finding the uh bike picks up even more quickly than usual cuz of the extra weight it seems very strange to be taking these descents easy but what I did remember about these tires I don’t know whether it’s because they got novels on the side or whether they’re running at such a low pressure compared to what I’m used to they feel very unsure in Corners just coming down to an area where there was a huge forest fire uh about 2 years ago and we’ve already had several forest fires this year already this is the reason why they don’t like wild camping here in Spain they basically just don’t trust people with fire I’m not saying this was caused by campers it was probably caused by a farmer while I’ve not got no I’ve got no cooking kit with me and this is the the mat this be the biggest we cross in and out of aragan I don’t know how many times that is the last bit of tarmac you’ll be seeing for some considerable time something like 85 5 km an hour of [Music] [Applause] [Music] gravel oh but this road is very bumpy I’ve only done about 2 km the my uh undercarriage is going to be in tus this is absolutely spectacular country and uh at the moment the trail is is playing along and it’s quite level bumpy but not up like I expected it to be and I think we’re coming up to our first Ford so I’ve got my fingers crossed that it’s bone dry you’ve probably got your fingers crossed that it’s anything but let’s have a look wow that was a surprise that is a surprise this is the one where I use this on my on my intro for a few months not a lot that way and not a lot that way what’s that doing here who’s it [Music] for he Cliff that like fantastic [Music] now at least some of these I’m imagining are sand Martin nests there’s absolutely hundreds of them along this stretch here [Music] something so sing through quick sand rear wheel slipping with the enormous power I’m putting [Music] down it that [Music] right let’s move on to the buling Metropolis of non aspe population [Music] bit of wash board on there which is always un very very very new stuff I hate it don’t mind when it’s like in the channel here really loose Stu I really don’t like echoed as well swarming with Sorrows so we’re just a few kilometers outside of non aspe now and this river that we’re looking at isn’t the matter Anya but that bit of river is this is where the the algar comes in here just on the other side on a very gentle Fork is the mataran because the matania was longer to this point it continues its name and the algar loses it I’m just going to pop into non space if I’m fill up my water bottles so we should be going down there but we’re not we’re going to go up to the town guys everywhere else with an AR here they’ve dropped the AR and it’s the all gas got some water and if it’s the right place for you water I have completely lost track of how many Crossings we’ve done there’s another get water is it running no I say not just stopping for a little quick bite to eat just realized I need to take my medication too oh that’s lovely what a lovely spot a Dusty bottom afterwards couple of cereal bars that set me for next couple of hours yet another crossing looks like we’re actually going to go along the river bed for a bit this is ABS spectacular out here Sun’s going down as well now which makes it even nicer so many Crossings more brid River’s very high [Music] there are no alternatives to this bit this is looking very familiar to that one where pothole there it’s got ruts on it it’ll do us yeah we got stuck in a re bed at least that was only 5 yards the other one was many more this is s of a track isn’t it I suppose right now TR AR in set straight on there is no straight on these are just build tracks aren’t they mo the turn left what’s left a hay field is left well I’ve got no option but to try and follow it it there’s winds get back on the saddle that’s the primary thing you see there is a sort of a track isn’t there Ste got any more gears this is a track I never oh yeah this is us that is it tricky come off there’s a ditch on the right there those plants growing in a ditch right ah no way I can’t go down [Music] there if you’re wondering that’s about 60% steep now down to [Music] 45 this smells lovely penel I think we’ve lost whatever track we might have been following originally there’s nothing here now oh sound looks not good got thistles all in my toes ow ow ow ow ow ow I know what’s going to go on the opening credits of this one I can’t see any way out right and then go into a big deep like this just come off this is beginning to look like it’s got two tracks like a car once came up it let’s hope so I want to get out of this [Music] ASAP no no my personal notes say cross there don’t want to thank you going to try something else bit steep that was hard not think it’s over but I think it’s over I got to say I’m thoroughly thoroughly pissed off yeah I’m on my phone which means the SIM card is full I’m supposed to have about 90 minutes of footage I haven’t shot 90 minutes I’ve shot 40 minutes maybe and it’s full and we’re not even at the end of day one yet we haven’t seen any castles we haven’t seen any The Groovy things but we have got a road that’s going in vaguely the right direction I don’t know how I’m going to complete this video no idea at all right well I found a track only it’s telling me to go that way great doesn’t it only I want to go that way I’m losing the light I’ve got about inch and a half gra an inch and a half for the sun disappears behind the hills cuz we’re in a valley so it’s going to disappear in ear I think I’m going to press on for about half an hour more see where I end up and just Camp wherever I can there’s a ghost Village I don’t want to camp in the ghost Village but the ghost Village is about right that’s a big fox um sorry fox running across the field in front of us going to sit in a minute well be gone um I’m wittering yeah there’s a ghost Village completely abandoned Village called pineres and I was going to show you I am going to show you it but I didn’t necessarily want to show you it at night it’s one of the interesting spots of the uh of the trip we’re definitely going there um like I say it’s according to that sign that way it’s only 7 and 1 12 km but it should be that way let’s go and find it we’ll find it anyway I just wanted to show you this it’s our track well I think it’s our track it could that could be our track down there but I like this one better that’s the one we’re going on it’s going in the right direction and everything this track has been really fantastic it’s been up and down and up and down and then seconds later the road just ends that’s a field plowed field that’s a cliff that’s a house and the only option is out this way I’m actually having some luck it’s a track it’s running parallel to the algar or be it some way away it’s not on a map that I can see is that what you think it is but that was walking along quite happily when it first came out you can just see he’s just he’s got his head out there hello mate I always feel like helping him across the road but he doesn’t want to be across the road surely he want to be next to the river right well that was eventful I’m just about to lose the Sun there it is there it is it’s absolutely beautiful and I’m in an almond Orchard it’s the best I could do uh so I’m right next to the river as well it’s just down below me absolutely as dry as a bone here I’ve got around 100 km to do tomorrow and most of it is scravel I cannot believe how things just went today it was just so slow L the road was so bad well you saw how bad it got absy nightmare anyway uh I’m going to pitch now uh I’ll probably have a little chat with you again before I go to bed which should be a little while yet uh but that’ll do for now all set up ready to uh well eat sleep and do a lot of editing it’s actually a lot darker than it looks it’s um well got a lovely sunset going on through the trees just there that’s the River we’re in a a very remote spot it’s about half a mile from the abandoned ghost Village it’s not really the ghost somewhere at bugs as well covered in bug stuff but um not doing much good I’m a bit concerned because uh there are animal Trails all over the place I’ve tried to avoid them but there’s a tree right there and that damage around the base is uh caused by bore it doesn’t look like it was in the last couple of nights but even so it’s uh that’ll be interesting if we get some sniffly snuffly going on in the night anyway like I said I’m going to eat and I’m going to edit and I’m going to sleep so unless something else is going to exciting happens I shall see you in the morning I’m just lying here listening to the frogs and the night jar and it’s just so peaceful and lovely and I don’t know why I don’t do this more often I really should so I will so expect to see me in a small tent a bit more often on the Channel with that good night and we’ll see you in the morning I just got woken up by something there’s something moving outside the tent