Thanks PVH, this was helpful. I absolutely enjoy and prefer walking and socializing and taking things slower and as they come and only want to bike one or two days max, if at all. Just might be nice to know if that is an option if i needed or wanted to make up a day or two on bike. Without unlimited time and days it becomes a reality to explore options...
Brian,
I just came back having completed the Meseta segment of the Camino, beginning in Burgos and ending in Leon. In between, my friend and I did two days of biking from Castrojeriz to Sahagun. Should I be I covering the Meseta once again in the future, I would not be biking again. Although I've been biking for many years, mostly for pleasure, I found biking on the Meseta to be nerve wracking in spite of all the voices on this forum claiming that this is flat terrain and that it's a breeze.
While much of the Meseta is flat, there are portions with significant elevations. For example, we had to literally walk our bikes for about half a mile during the ascent to Cerro de Mostelares (3000 feet) out of Castrojeriz. Ordinary walking pilgrims were out of breath by the time they reached the top. You can imagine what kind of a condition we were in by the time we reached the top.
But it's not just the elevation. Huge portions of the path are full of pebbles/gravels. Many a time we felt that we didn't have any control over the bikes and literally fell off them on a number of occasions. Actually right close to Sahagun, the pebble laden path descended sharply and I lost total control of the bike, fell on my right side and ended up with an inch and half of cut right below my eye-brow.
In addition we found that you have to concentrate on your biking so much that you almost lose sight of the surroundings. It deprives you from enjoying much of the haunting beauty of the landscape that Meseta is so famous for. Also we had to constantly compete for space with the walking pilgrims, especially when the path got narrowed.
Finally our hands and joints remained sore for the rest of the trip from holding on to the handle bar that sent a convulsion throughout our bodies as soon as the bike hit the rough patches.
All said and done, it would probably a very different story for very experienced or serious bikers who generally take the highways to bike the Meseta. We saw many of them all along the route. But for casual bikers the risks of riding on the highway should not be taken lightly.