Ride 330 Cycling in Malta is spectacular and fun

welcome to Malta hi my name is Steve I’m a 58-year-old guy 6’5 around 250 lb who loves getting out on the bike and going cycling well that and eating lots of baked goods if you’re interested in seeing what Malta looks like from the back of a road bike ridden by some spandex wearing old dude sit back and relax this is ride 3:30 today is Wednesday May 22nd 2024 and I’m off for my third ride in Malta I do have another hot sunny day for this ride the temperature is around 23 C and I only have a 15 km wind to deal with today that’s a nicer improvement over yesterday on my first ride a couple of days ago I ventured out to mdina and Rabat today I plan to return to the city and explore it further of course I intend to take a different route there than I did on that last ride after Medina I want to continue South to the dingly cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean Sea on the the south side of the island here is my straa route map for this ride [Music] true to form it didn’t take me long before I realized I’d missed my first turn and I was already off course I decided to continue riding West in the hope that I’d find a secondary road that would head south to the city [Music] for I saw the sign indicating that this road was heading to Golden Bay I was there yesterday and and I didn’t feel like returning there today so when I saw this turn off I took it hoping I could find some road heading South I did pull over and check the map and according to that map there were some roads ahead that looked like I might be able to ride South to the west side of mdina [Music] I don’t have a ride computer I have thought about getting one but if I did have one then I would have programmed a route for this ride consequently I’d probably not have missed my turn and I would not have stumbled onto this road I love this road it’s quiet and narrow and I can hear the birds chirping away this is exactly the type of road I always want to ride but we really don’t have anything like this in Vancouver well other than perhaps a Seymour demonstration for for us but that’s off in the mountains [Music] [Music] [Music] I found a road heading south and decided to give it a go I could see a ridge line ahead and and I kind of figured I was in for a bit of a climb oh [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] that was a tough climb If This Were in Italy I would have a nice switchb climb at five or 6% but I’m not so I got bits of 20% instead and those really hurt especially in this heat [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I again quickly stopped and checked the map this road should take me straight to mdina [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] before I came to Malta I knew very little about the country over the last few days I’ve been trying to learn as much about the country as I can and I’ve watched a few tourists videos on YouTube you know the things to do and see in Malta type of vids a trip to mdina is obviously included in those videos mdina is an Arabic word meaning Fortress from what I’ve subsequently learned some scenes from Game of Thrones were filmed there the city surrounding mdina is called Rabat an Arabic word meaning suburb I want to ride through Rabat and check out the city the tourist info talks about like colorful building balconies [Music] all [Music] f [Music] [Music] [Music] I love these narrow streets I saw streets like this in Florence a couple of years ago but I think these are even nicer [Music] [Music] [Music] not [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it’s really hot out here and I want to find a store where I can get some water and then go sit down and take a break [Music] come [Music] I found this small store and bought a large 1 and 1/2 lit bottle of water since I didn’t have many options I stuck it down the front of my jersey while I rode back to the park in search of a shaded bench that bottle was really cold against my body but also quite refreshing [Music] [Music] [Music] I found a nice bench and enjoyed a nice break I filled my two bottles and finished the rest of the water and then set out for dingly Cliffs I don’t think it’s very far I just need to find the turn off to it all [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] the [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] another town and another huge Church according to all the tourist info I’ve watched they say that Malta is the land of churches well that definitely seems to be true [Music] [Music] [Music] dingly Cliffs is on the list of places tourists are told to visit though it is best experienced from the water the island of Malta is made from Limestone and the sea has bored caves into the Cliffside and places from the pictures I’ve seen it’s quite impressive given where I am I won’t be able to see any of those caves but this is a great View South towards North Africa Libya is directly south from here [Music] what h I pulled over and checked the map and saw that this road only continues West for a few hundred more meters so I decided to turn around and ride it east [Music] [Music] h [Music] come [Music] [Music] [Music] I feel kind of bad for those tourists that bus out here to see the cliffs there are some kind of hiking trails down the hillside but it’s really hot and dry and there isn’t any shade I don’t think hiking here in the afternoon would be particularly enjoyable but what do I know I did see some people waiting at the bus stop and they look like they couldn’t wait to get somewhere cooler probably with beer [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this is a great road to ride but you have to put up with the odd dump truck apparently there’s a quarry up ahead on the left [Music] [Music] [Music] according to the map I should be able to find a road crossing the countryside North to the town of sigy way so I turn East to find it [Music] I think I was expecting a much larger road than this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] away [Music] [Music] [Music] I found my way into Siggy way and pulled over to check the map again it was starting to get later into the afternoon and because I wanted to get back to mosta earlier than later so I could get cleaned up and off to the hospital I decided to turn back and search out the road West to Medina Instead at least from there I could easily find my way back to mosta had I done this ride a couple of days later I think I would have been confident enough to should just continue North and approach mosta from the East [Music] [Music] [Music] before I came to Malta I check online to see how people felt about cycling on the island from the opinions I read it seemed that Malta was a terrible place to go cycling yet in the few days I’ve been riding here I’ve had good experiences so when I pulled up to this intersection I was again surprised when a driver with the RightWay signaled me to proceed [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] I can see Med you off in the distance it’s always reassuring to know where I am [Music] [Music] w [Music] w [Music] [Music] all I need to do now is just ride down this highway and get into the right lane and prepare for the roundabout of course my camera battery died so we don’t get to see how well I manag that maneuver and of course a few minutes later I was sitting at a table at Alan lebanes restaurant enjoying a nice post ride beer I absolutely love this ride while this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten lost on a ride and it probably won’t be the last but sometimes getting lost is awesome today was one of those days I got in 41 km and 574 M of climbing and got to experience some areas of this country that I bet many people on this island have no idea about for me that was a smashing success