BikingMan Portugal race report (English version)
Less than a month after finishing the
IncaDivide and only three days after coming back from our holidays in Peru with
Elo, I’m already in Portugal for my next BikingMan race. It’s a sprint of 950
km starting and finishing in Faro with an elevation gain of 11.000m. For this
event, I decided to pick my Merckx EM525 as it’s a race bike and it suits more
the road conditions and profile of the Algarve and Alentejo regions. On paper,
it seems that the itinerary is way easier than the IncaDivide, but this
promises a very fast race and I should not have a lot of relief moments. My
strategy for this race is thus to sleep as little as possible and certainly not
in hotels in order to cover the 950 km in less than 48 hours. This is very
ambitious, knowing that I never rode by night nor for more than 24h. But with
my good results in Peru, I’m confident and highly motivated !
The rockets are launched after the start in Faro
After a very early breakfast, we all meet
under the Arco da Vila in front of
the Jardim Manuel Bivar. The race
starts at 5AM and the 78 entrants leave the city under a police escort for the
first 25 km. I’m relaxed but ready to battle and keep a good position in the
pack till the start. Once we arrive in Santa Catarina, the road turns on the
left and marks the offical start of the race. And immediately, the strongest
riders show their speed in the first climb, such as Clément or Marcel. I’m
around the tenth position after 70 km but I quickly get tired after the steep
climbs we encounter during the first hours. On my Merckx bike, I have a 52-36 crankset
and a 11-30 cassette, which is ok for short distances but that’s a bit too hard
for an ultradistance race. Although I try to hold a fast and steady pace, I
keep getting overtaken by other riders and can’t do anything about it. However, we go through a superb sunrise and cross
beautiful landscapes, one of which is the stunning Alqueva lake.
When arriving at CP1 after 332 km and 15 hours,
I’m only in 18th postion, which is way too slow with respect to the ambitions I
have on this race. However, some of the riders in front of me are staying at
the hotel that hosts the checkpoint and I’m close to the top 10 when I get back
on my bike. In the meantime, Leo, a brazilian rider who caused a sensation in
Peru thanks to his old bike, told me that he has no GPS and would like to ride
with me during the night. Of course, I accepted as night riding was also new
for me and spending time with Leo is always fun. When we leave CP1, we meet
Rodney and Jean-Paul and we ride the four of us till 2AM. At that moment,
Rodney, Leo and I decide to sleep for one hour on the side of the road in order
to reload the batteries. I’m happy I could ride and stop with Rodney as he has
a lot of experience and it’s the perfect moment to ask him lots of questions
about race strategy and discuss technical topics.
Struggling with the night conditions
Getting back on my bike is really hard as I’m
suffering from low temperatures and humidity. I really struggle with those
conditions till the return of the sun which allows me to warm up a little bit.
But I did it, I went through my first night and we are now riding for more than
24 hours. When the sun comes back, I let him know that I will take a hotel for
the second night as I’m not ready to suffer a second night. He sees that I’m
demotivated and does what I had to do alone in Peru, he reminds me why I’m here
and what my ambitions are. And somehow, he manages to put me back on track, I’m
now fully motivated to keep pushing till the end. After reaching the Atlantic
coast, we covered more than 500 km and the rest of the day goes without any
issue. We are still riding together with Leo as we have a similar pace and have
lots of fun chatting and laughing on our bikes. We try to stop as little as
possible, only for natural needs or to reload our water and food supplies. We
even stop on the side of the road to pick some apples on a tree. Definitely, we
never do anaything normally with Leo !
Shortly before arriving at the CP2, we have
the pleasure to discover the Axel’s surprise which is a 7 km gravel segment.
Nothing to worry about, except that we are riding for 36 hours now, I’m tired
and I do not want to have a puncture right now. But the landscape and the view
on the coast when arriving to Sagres is just amazing and reminds me why I got
into this adventure. We arrive at 5PM at the CP2 and we take this opportunity
to rest for an hour, drinking and eating what is offered to us by the
organization. It’s also the opportunity to share with them all the fun we had
untill then with Leo. After filling our water bottle and packing some Red Bull,
we head to the north for our last stretch till the finish line. The first hours
are made on beautiful roads where we ride alone and we slowly enter the night.
Sleep deprivation leads to crazy hallucinations
After a last short break in a restaurant to
eat a bifana and pasteis de nata, we try to chase our closest opponent, Jean-Paul,
who is two hours in front of us. He decided to sleep and we are quickly approchaing
him. But around midnight, we get very tired and decide to stop for a quick nap
of 30 minutes on the side of the road. I put my emergency blanket into my
jacket to get warmer and do not even bother to remove my helmet, I litteraly
fall asleep in the grass! Again, when waking up, I really struggle with
the cold conditions and it takes me 15 minutes before I can get on my bike. The
road conditions are pretty bad, which does not help to go through this night. I
fall asleep twice on my bike and decide to stop to drink a RedBull, which is a
good decision as I do not feel the effect of exhaustion anymore. But this is
another sleep deprivation symptom that is now showing up, hallucinations. At
the beginning, I think that my presbyopia makes me see things badly. But after
a few minutes, I notice that everything is moving in front of me, trees seem to
be people and bushes appear as animals. The funniest was when I saw a dinosaur
hiding between two trees ! I did not even have time to realise that he had
already left my mind. Damn what I’m going through is just crazy and it’s the
first time ever I’m experiencing hallucinations. It’s also amazing to see how
the body and mind react to such extreme sleep deprivation.
We are now less than 100 km from the finish
line in Faro and we are spectators of another stunning sunrise. It’s the right
moment for another photoshoot in a very relaxed and warm atmosphere. We are now
far enough from the rider behind us and we would finish 8th and 9th if we do
not have any mechanical issue on the last stretch.
Approching Faro, we find a way to decide who
is going to be 8th and who will finish 9th. It will consist in a sprint duel
between us on the last 20 km. Luckily for me, it starts by a descent which is
ideal for me. Although I am really fast downhill and not a lot of people manage
to follow me, Leo has no difficulties to catch me and even overtakes me. Due to
the traffic density close to Faro, we decide to stop our duel and continue to
ride quietly. A last short climb where I can do nothing against the power of
Leo and I congratulate him, I’ll let him finish in front of me as he completely
deserves it !
The relief of crossing the finish line in Faro
At 11.30AM, we finally cross the finish line on
the Jardim Manuel Bivar after 54h30
of a very long effort. I just made it to 9th position (8th ex æquo with Leo)
and manage to ride 950km almost without sleeping. Even though this race looked
easy on paper, it wasn’t the case at all. Spending two nights riding and
sleeping only 1h30 during a 54h ride is a real challenge, not counting the high
speed of the race. Nevertheless, it was magical and I really enjoyed this race
and the sprint format. My transmission choice with a 52-36 crankset cost me a
lot of energy at the beginning of the race and suffering from the cold during
the nights cerainly did not help. The aim of 48h was not reached but I spent
unbelievable moments with Leo and found in him a friend during this adventure.
Never did I think of riding without him after CP1 as it seemed normal to help
him with his navigation issues, knowing that he also helped me when I was in
doubt after the first night. And that’s what BikingMan is all about !
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