Hi Crankin- We aren't retiring yet, probably in about 3 years, but I am starting to prepare. My husband is originally from the Algarve, and his parents are there, which is where we plan to live. They live in a little town just outside of Faro, but we like the area on the western coast around Aljezur a lot, so hope to purchase something there. I too have an 11/34 on my touring bike, but might put it on my racing bike if we decide to do serious climbing.

I was surprised on this vacation to see that road riding in Portugal has improved a lot. We thought we would need MTBs to ride at all, but its clear we will be able to do both. But there are many nice trails that go from Spain all the way to the western tip (cape sagres), such as the transalgarve, transportugal, and transalgarviana. On this vacation we spent a lot of time on the transalgarviana. I still like road riding more, but think it may be a skill thing since there were some very beautiful things that one could only experience on a MTB. I also liked that for roads with narrow shoulders, the MTB let you ride on the dirt path next to the road that would not be rideable with a road bike. My reluctance to get a full suspension bike is the weight factor. Maybe someday I will try renting one to see how I like it (if they will allow me to put my custom crank on it).

I'd love to have the info. on your trip. Have fun! Maybe we'll do something like that some day.