TransPortugal 2010 - Post Race Analysis - On your bucket list?

So here we are several weeks after the race and I am still trying to comprehend this event. I must say that in retrospect, this race was a really good time, and will result in some memories that will last a lifetime.



The race is very hard! The hours that you spend on the bike are probably unmatched in any of the amateur multi day races out there. After the first two days, I must admit that I was not sure that I would make it to the finish. I think that the Cape Epic that I attended was harder. The total time was about the same, but the riding was downright boring and the temperature was ridiculously hot. At least in this race, each day brought several different types of riding that made the hours go by faster.

The support by the organizing committee is fantastic. They treat you like family, and care for you likewise. Accommodations and food are unparalleled. Our accommodations were 3, 4 and 5 star hotels and the food in most of the locations was of similar quality.

The after races “snacks” prepared for us were instrumental in allowing us to recover for the next days ride.

Similarly, the fact that you can sleep in a real bed with a solid roof over your head, although not essential, allows for the recover needed to complete as race of this magnitude. In comparison to other races out there the value for money is exceptional. Expect that once you land in Portugal, that almost all your basic needs are covered by the organizers fee.

The scenery is in one word “spectacular”. There is no way that a regular tourist would ever see Portugal the way the participants in this race have seen it. The flowers, the history, the culture; it is really impossible to describe. Please take the time and scan Carlos Dias’s pictures to really see how impossibly beautiful Portugal is at this time of year.

Would I do it again? Not sure yet. 9 days is an awful long time to race a bike, and 174 km in one day on a mountain bike is really a bit ridiculous. That being said, if you have to do the above two, I cannot think of a better location to do it. The same organization Ciclonatur puts on a similar adventure in early June. The major difference between the two is that instead of traversing the distance in 9 days they do it in 14 days. This clearly cuts the daily bike time down although potentially the total time could be the same or longer. It is advertised as a tour, not a race, and in fact this is the original TransPortugal. The version (i.e. race) we participated in was created to fill a need for those participants who wanted to traverse the country faster.

Whatever your choice, I would certainly put down the traversing of Portugal in the spring as a must do. For those of you with bike “bucket” lists, out this one on it.

TransPortugal 2010 - Days 9 - Its all over!

Day 9, Monchique to Sagres – 99 km, 2028m elevation gain - Profile here

Last day!!! It literally poured rain last night. I was so tired, that after dinner I just went straight to bed and never heard a thing. The morning revealed that the hotel resides deep in a very wet valley and it will require some steep slick climbing to escape.

Mark, Josh, Paul and I all started together this morning and had a fun ride until it started to pour rain again. They stopped to put on jackets, and I decided to keep pedaling. I was cruising along talking to one of the other riders when out of the blue I hear “Rip Ram, get on this train!” A quick look over my shoulder and my conversation with Greg ended mid word as I accelerated onto a pace line including all of the boys. Turns out Mark et al decided to hide under a tree when the downpour came through, and as they started out again, Graham and Trevor came blasting through. They hopped on the train, and the next group up was Greg and I. The rest of this day was about as good a ride as you can have.

Graham, Trevor and I with the assistance of a few other riders eventually cracked most of the other riders on the train. The pace remained very high and I suppose predictably, Graham with the assistance the remaining riders then cracked Trevor and I, leaving the two of us on our own. We eventually reached the Atlantic coast and once again the scenery was spectacular.

As you are not allowed to ride your bike on the beach in Portugal, we had to walk our bikes, and this gave Trevor and I a chance to refuel for the last blast into Sagres. The headwinds off the Atlantic were pretty strong, but with the two of us alternating leads we made excellent time. The sun came out for good and both of us started feeling better and better.

Our pace steadily increased for the last 30 km; initially at about 70% effort and finally for the last 15 km or so riding totally flat out. We came upon a few unfortunate souls that were soloing against the head winds but on this day we were taking no prisoners. We would ride onto their wheels, rest shortly in their draft, then pick our spot and blast through leaving them gasping in our wake. Not very sociable, but we were on a mission to finish this race on the right note.

The last few km weaved through several towns along the coast and we certainly had to pay attention to out GPS’s not to make a wrong turn. Eventually we could see the finish on the beach ahead and sprinted through.

The organizers had a few tubs of cold beers on ice waiting, and Graham had two in his hand waiting for our parched lips. Beer has never tasted so good. Calindy was also waiting, having elected not to ride today after her skin issues of yesterday. The rest of the racers made their way in over the ensuing several hours.

The finish was right on the beach and more that a few cooled off in the Atlantic as a reward for a hard day’s effort.

Many pictures were taken; hugs and handshakes given and received. 9 days of intense riding were finished, but no one seemed to want to leave the finish area.

Eventually we had to depart the beach as our bikes needed to be packed for transport back to Lisbon in the am, and there was still a party to be attended later in the evening. Our finish hotel was amazing, located on a cliff above the local town protected harbor. What a view!

Awards were presented after dinner, and in this race everyone receives recognition. Our group of 7 did reasonably well with 3 finishes in the top 25 overall despite our various problems over the week. After awards, a large group of us retired to the bar to continue our reminiscing and to discuss our various plans for the next few days. For Calindy and I, we intend to relax on the Algarve coast for a few days and then to make a jump to Italy to watch the Giro d’Italia.

Once again thank you to Carlos Dias for some of the amazing pictures.

Final Results can be found here.

An amazing experience: TransPortugal 2010

TransPortugal 2010 - Days 7 and 8 - Heading for the beach!

Day 7, Evora to Albernoa – 107 km, 1269m elevation gain - Profile here

Once I finished last night, I went into survival mode trying to find some way to continue my race. Thankfully, the organizers were right with me. Turns out that earlier in the week, one of the other riders had toasted his front wheel. The organizers had purchased a wheel set to get him back in the race, and now the rear wheel was available. Even better, they were happy to rent it to me for the rest of the week.


Today we decided to rein it in a bit because after yesterdays long hours. We hear that tomorrow’s course is also very difficult with some significant elevation gain. The weather is also supposed to change for the worst with rain in the forecast.

Mark and I headed off, and after about 15 minutes, I asked about his family. For the next 3 hours we bantered back and forth about our respective families and their plans for the future. The day cruised by.

Our only mishap of the day was a pretty scary crash at about the midpoint of the day. I was out front punching into the wind with Mark on my wheel. I felt a bit of resistance to my forward momentum and actually had the time to think I had potentially ridden into some loose sand. I pushed even harder on my pedals, and that was when the piece of wire fencing that I had picked up on my pedal came up tight. Instantaneously, I was on the deck and with Mark right on my wheel, he didn’t stand a chance. His bike went right into mine, and his momentum carried him right over my head. He was immediately screaming and I was sure that he had broken something or dislocated a shoulder. I kept asking if he was OK, and in between the screams he would say yes. So, if you are OK, stop screaming. After a little bit of rearrangement we checked the bikes and they were OK too. Unbelievable luck with a crash like that.

Josh rode with the leaders today and paced them pretty well all the way to the finish. Great riding.

Calindy came in but was starting to have issues with her asthma. All those flowers equal large amounts of pollen. High pollen counts do not bode well for environmental asthma. Grahams butt end was slowly starting to heal but he said that it seemed like he spent most of the day standing up.

Our residence for the evening was a hotel associated with a winery. The accommodation and food associated with this event is in general fantastic. This particular hotel was literally in the middle of the fields and had a great pool and surrounding fountains. One almost thought they might be in Vegas.

Our 1900 evening retreat to the bar continues to be a big hit. Everyone gets caught up on the days happenings and really gets to know the other competitors. I think that one of my best memories of this trip will be of the stories told during this time.

Wine is always served with dinner, although perhaps not surprisingly very little is actually consumed. If you haven't already tried Portuguese wine, I can recommend it highly.

Day 8, Albernoa to Monchique – 137 km, 3162m elevation gain - Profile here

Today was another killer day. Our start took us through the vineyards of the winery that we stayed at last night. From there on, the day deterioriated.

The weather changed for the worst and by the time I finished I was pretty hypothermic. The last hour or so was spent at elevation in pouring rain riding against a fairly stiff headwind. It finished with a substantial fast paved downhill. Most of us were under dressed further compounding heat loss. It didn’t help that circumstance kept me out on the course as one of the last finishers, despite the fact that for the majority of the day I was near the front of the field.

The initial part of the day was spent riding with Mark. After our “rest” day yesterday we decided to ride hard. It took about 3 hours before the leaders made up their half hour deficit on us. Josh was right with the leaders and as he rode through, there was no conversation. It was obvious he had his race face on and we expected we would not see him again.

Unfortunately, shortly thereafter the rain started falling. While we were coming down a rough jeep road descent we came upon the worst crash of the race. Our female leader Lindsay Haak was on the ground after what was clearly a very nasty fall at speed. Surrounding her were the rest of the field that had passed us including Josh, about 10 in all. Lindsay was having a great race to that point. Although she only started 10 to 15 minutes ahead of me each day, I had not yet caught her on any of the 6 preceding days. Pretty inspiring riding!

When I arrived on scene, I did a quick assessment of her and the situation. Through the translation of her boyfriend (also racing), it was clear that she had had at least some loss of consciousness with the crash, and was amnestic about her fall. She was moving all of her limbs, and from a quick survey did not seem to have any major fractures or dislocations. She had significant facial abrasions from the fall but had no other major cuts. She was a little disoriented but knew her boyfriend was there. There is not a lot you can do in this type of situation. About the only thing to do is keep the patient warm and leave any mobilization to the professionals.

Although the crash location was potentially at the worst place possible from the point of view of access for vehicles, one of the Portuguese racers had managed to establish cell contact with the organizers and help was on the way. I always carry a reflective space blanket with me and we covered her as best as we could with everyone’s extra clothes and the blanket. There wasn’t much point in everyone milling around so I suggested that if you were not intimately involved with the situation that the rest of the group move on. We headed on, although we all agreed that since the race leader (our Portuguese translator) remained on the scene we would not race.

The rain had started to fall with some force and our group slowly became smaller as individuals stopped for food, or to put on extra clothes. Eventually Mark, Josh and I as well as two other riders ended up on the pointy end of the field. I lost Mark and Josh on a particularly steep uphill, and this produced enough of a gap to save the two of them a significant amount of nasty riding. The two remaining riders and I went through CP 3 heading for most of the elevation gain on the day. In the time it took for Mark and Josh to reach CP 3, the organizers had decided to neutralize the day and get all the riders to the finish as fast as possible. They were stretched pretty thin trying to extricate Lindsay from her crash site. With the temperature plummeting and rain falling they felt that it was better to pack it in now, then end up with potentially 20 more rescues.

At CP 3 the organizers started directing all the riders onto a paved route to the finish town of Monchique. Mark and Josh were the first to head for home. I on the other hand was still on the original course with two other racers heading up a major climb. Bad luck does come in three’s, and shortly after CP 3 I had the third crash in three days. This time I was riding along, crossing and re-crossing a creek bed. The surface was that hard loamy dirt that when wet becomes super slick and as I attempted to ride the hump between two large potholes filled with water, my front wheel slipped into the left one, as my body crashed into the right. Covered in mud and water, when I got up I found that I had bent my chain, bent the drop out and snapped the right shift lever right off the shift pod. Shivering, I fixed the chain, but it was clear that I would have only three gears for the rest of the day; three chain rings and the middle cog. The other two riders passed me during these repairs and shortly after I resumed riding I reached a paved road. The organization was there and told me that the race had been neutralized and directed me down the road toward Monchique.

I was by myself, and really had no idea where I was going. My GPS was of limited use as I was now off course. I plugged along in the pouring rain with my limited gearing; slowly making my way up a paved climb toward what I hoped was the finish town. The organizer who had directed me down the road said it was about 20 km to the finish. Those next 20 km were some of the nastiest km I have ever ridden. When I reached the top of the climb the road followed along the ridge line directly into a blistering head wind. I just couldn’t find a gear that seemed right, and I am sure I was becoming increasingly hypothermic. I was literally counting down the km to 20.

When I finally did reach the 20 km mark, the organizers were there and told me I had a further 12 km more to the finish. I must admit, I had a meltdown! How I found my way to the finish hotel is beyond me. I couldn’t think straight and I am sure that I freaked out a few drivers in Monchique as I made my way through the town. Thankfully as I neared the finish hotel, a few other riders appeared and it became clearer where I was going. As it turned out, because I was the farthest person out on the course, and therefore I had the farthest to ride back to town. The rest of the boys were showered, warmed up, and dressed by the time I made it in.

The bike was a mess, and it again spent the night being repaired. I spent about 45 minutes in a steaming shower before I could again feel my toes. I then retired to the local grotto bar, and had a few beers to massage my beat up ego and hear all the other stories of the day.

Lindsay was transported to a local hospital and then to Lisbon where a CT revealed no major injuries other than a severe concussion. Calindy pulled out at CP 1 after finding that she was breaking out in a rash whenever a plant touched her exposed skin. She took a few pictures and she was literally covered in a raised rash on her exposed skin.

Mark and Josh cruised in to the finish and were one of the earliest to hit the showers. The rest of the boys were not to far behind. Quite an eventful day all in all.

Once again thank you to Carlos Dias for some of the great pictures!

TransPortugal 2010 - Days 5 and 6 - Its just wrong to be on a Mountain bike for 174 km!

Day 5, Ladoeiro to Castelo de Vide – 103 km, 2211m elevation gain - Profile here

Hump day. Halfway through the week. It is interesting how by this time in these races your body adjusts. You stop looking at your odometer, you stop looking at your watch and you just ride. The days seem to go much quicker and you just keep to the routine.


Josh, Mark’s son started with us today. He took a multiple hour penalty to do it but part of the purpose of this stuff is to enjoy it. We had a great start with the terrain very rolling with a number of creek crossings and several rivers to follow.





Two rivers cross Portugal from east to west and split the country into North, Central and South. The northernmost is the Douro which we saw during Days 1 and 2. Today it was the Tagus River which eventually ends up reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon.




Off the start we booked it pretty good and covered the first 60 km fairly quickly. We reached the town of V Velah de Rodao where we saw the Tagus River for the first time. Mark had issues with this water bottle cage coming loose and he stopped to fix it. I continued on, and once again never saw them again. The trails along the side of the Tagus created some awesome viewscapes as we dropped down near the waters edge and then climbed back up the sides of the valley. The flowers on the side of the trail were truly amazing.

I had noticed a few days earlier this really neat bush with white flowers occasionally on the side of the trail but today there were fields of them. I was told the name of them but it escapes me now.

The last 35 km were a steady uphill climb to the finish at Castelo de Vide, another walled city from ancient times. I was feeling pretty bonked as we came toward Castelo and had not heard about the last climb, so was a little shocked when I was passed by another rider and he pointed out where we were heading.

The castle sits on the top of a hill and we had to negotiate a very twisty route to the top following narrow cobbled alleys and streets. Once at the top we finished, and then cruised to the finish hotel where we enjoyed our post race feast.

The rest of the boys eventually cruised in and since we had finished fairly early we had time to explore the town and fill up on pizza and beer before our regular dinner. One thing is for sure; in these races you do not have to worry about your caloric input. The more you pack away, the better.

The post race massage is also a necessity to survive the week. Tomorrow is the super long day of this race. The start is very early and time limit is almost 12 hours. I think that we are all going to ride together tomorrow to try to enjoy the day.

Day 6, Castelo de Vide to Evora – 172 km, 2975m elevation gain - Profile here

A very early start for the entire field today. Calindy decided that today sounded like a good day for some sight seeing, and elected to travel with the organization. Mark elected to start with the main group so I went out by myself at the appropriate time. Trevor and I attended the race briefing last night, and there is apparently two early climbs, one of which is on a medieval road and the next on a Roman road.

I decided to go out and check out the history, and then wait for the rest of the boys after the two climbs. The following picture is a medieval cobbled road, fairly small stones and haphazardly placed; quite rough.

In contrast this is a Roman cobbled road, much bigger stones, and obviously placed very carefully with the flat surface up to form a smooth surface. How much work was this?

I waited near the top of the second climb and eventually the “Red Truck Team” arrived. It was clear there had already been a fair bit of “disorganization” as they were already near the back of the field. Trevor soon flatted, and this effectively put the group of us in last place. Our motivation to ride was severely lacking. None of us were particularly enthused about spending 174 km on a mountain bike in one day. That kind of distance is just wrong.

As we hit the 2 hour mark of racing and noted that we had only covered 20 km, a discussion ensued, and a few of us decided that we had better “get going” or we might be out on the course until after dark. Trevor, Graham, Josh, and I split from Mark and Paul and turned it up a notch. As it turned out Mark and Paul pulled out at CP 1 as a display of displeasure at the length of the day. They snoozed in the car as they were delivered to the finish hotel, and then spent the afternoon sunning by the pool. Theirs was probably the right decision!

The briefing the night before had also warned us that we would have to transit 44 wire fence gates during the day as we crossed over farmer’s fields. Each one had to be opened and then closed behind us, or there would be livestock all over the country. Eventually we caught a fairly large group of riders ahead of us, and this allowed us to traverse through the gates en masse. The day proceeded on with the group of us pushing the pace. A stop for a Coke at km 45 redoubled our efforts.

We intended to stop for water at km 96 but unfortunately the “taps” were turned off. This caused considerable consternation as we were all pretty much dry and the next water was at km 126. The day was pretty hot and there was not a great deal of protection from the sun. We soldiered on sharing what little water we had left. Somewhere during this time, Josh took off ahead with one of the faster South Africans. We expected that we would eventually catch them up, but as before, we never saw him again until the finish.

Our water stop at Evoramonte eventually rolled into sight. The organizers at the briefing had told us that the town would be very obvious. The entire day was pretty flat, and Evoramonte is a town on the top of the only major hill anywhere in view. Going to Evoramonte extended the day by probably 30 km; but it was there and therefore, according to the organizers we should go to it. Not the best excuse to give to a group already questioning a 174 km day.

have to say Evoramonte was pretty cool. As we climbed up the hill, we got a great view of the fort at the top. Calindy was there with the organizers cheering us on. We were super low on water and started immediately looking for a Café. Graham found one down a side street but it seemed no one was home. We were pretty desperate so we all headed into the bar and started filling our bottles and camelbacks at the bar tap. After about 10 minutes the owner stuck his head out after hearing the commotion and thankfully one of the riders with us knew Portugese and calmed him down. I asked him if he had any Cokes and eventually we cleaned him out of all the soft drinks in the place. In the end he made a pretty penny as we were in a rush, and we weren’t too concerned about the cost.

Once out of Evoramonte we had only 50 km to got to the finish, and we had been told that a good portion of it was road or bike trail. Easy, right? Not in this race. Shortly after we left the town, I was following one of the other riders through another field. Ahead he saw three possible trails to choose from. He picked the left and quickly realized that he went off course. With a shout he alerted the group behind, and hit the brakes. I dove to the inside starting to make a right turn over to the correct trail. Unfortunately, after his braking efforts, our leader was riding in his big ring and as he tried to turn beside me lost all of his momentum. He then found that he could not unclip his pedals, and gracefully fell over on top of me and my bike. No big deal right. When we untangled the bikes and dusted off our bodies, it was clear that my rear wheel was 100% tacoed. It would not rotate through the chain stays or seat stays at all. It was toast. I thought my race was over.

Quickly riding to my rescue was Graham Tutti who quietly says, “I think I can fix that.” And sure enough, he can. With about 10 absolutely full on whacks of the rim on a tree branch, the wheel starts to approach a circular shape again. Well, at least it rotates! The most amazing thing is that despite all this trauma to the wheel, it doesn’t lose one pound of air pressure. Stan’s Rims are unbelievable!!!!!

Back on the trail, I start to enjoy my new shimmy shake ride. After about 10 km I start to build a bit of confidence in the wheel, and off we went. With the course starting to consist of a fair amount of road riding, we start rotating off the front of a pace line. I did my fair share at the front; although I was told afterwards that it was pretty disconcerting following my wheel. Eventually we reach the finish after 8 hr and 55 minutes of riding.

In general, I have to admit that despite the length, the stage today was pretty cool. The scenery was absolutely spectacular with field after field of solid purple, yellow, or white. Thanks again to Carlos Dias for some of the amazing pictures.

Giro d'Italia 2010

Hello from the Giro d’Italia 2010 where we are watching the “fight for pink”. Seeing as the race was in such close proximity in time to the finish of the TransPortugal I thought I should take this one off my “bucket list”.

Through a friend of a friend we were of the understanding that once we got to the race we should be able to pick up VIP passes for Stages 6, 7, and 8 of the tour. Once in Rome we rented a car and headed for the finish town of Stage 6. Stage 6 ended in Marina De Carrrara about 250 km north of Rome on the west coast of Italy. Our drive there deposited us in the town about 3 hours before the finish was expected. The stage was expected to produce a sprint finish with about a .5 km long finish straight after a fairly flat 200km stage.



We were told to seek out the organizing committee RCS “permanance” and ask for a specific individual but with our poor understanding of Italian and the usual Italian casual way, we wandered around for quite a while. Eventually we found the VIP suites and managed to find a young lady who spoke some English. She had the phone number of the individual that we were to talk to, but he would not pick up. Eventually she gave up trying his number, and just moved us into the stands near the finish. She said she would keep trying. Near the finish does not do it justice. We were parked at the 10m point of the finish and despite my fear that as the race neared we would get the boot, we were allowed to remain until the end.






The day ended with Australian Matty Lloyd winning on a solo break. A few stragglers from the break group were next and then came the sprint from the group. Too cool watching these guys charge the line. Liquigas’s Francesco Nibali held on to the pink jersey as leader of the race.








After the race we managed to find the RCS accreditation facility and not surprisingly, if we had walked about 50 m in the opposite direction from where we parked the car we would have been at the front door. Our contact sort of remembered our names and we were issued our pink passes for the start and finish of the race. We thought that we were “on the program” but events would prove otherwise.

We headed out to find our hotel which was near the finish of the next day’s stage and after another 3 hours of driving we eventually found our digs in the middle of Tuscany. I had not really done any research as to which stages we were about to see but as luck would have it Stages 7 and 8 may have a significant bearing on the final results of this years Giro. Stage 7 finished in the walled town of Montalcino and prior to arriving the riders had to navigate 20 km of "strade bianche" the white clay like dirt roads of the region. Further, when they enter Montalcino they also had to navigate several km of cobbled road before a slight uphill sprint to the finish.

The day dawned rather wet and cold, and the rain continued to fall all day long. This made the dirt and cobbles especially treacheraous to ride and for this reason the pace was pushed from the very beginning as several of the GC contenders saw an opportunity to put time into their opponents.

We headed to the finish, expecting to be treated in similar fashion to the day before with covered grandstands and a live TV feed. After waiting for several hours to be let into the “seats” we figured out that “space” was severely limited at the finish line at the top of Montalcino and we were never going to be let into “prime” territory. Boy, I can tell you when Italians think they have the stuff, and then do not get it, do tempers ever fly. We headed back down the finish straight to where we could see the Jumbotron, and waited with the rest of the plebes for the riders to arrive.

What a crazy race. More mountain bike than road bike, sort of like Paris Roubaix in the middle of a three week tour.

The racing was unbelievably intense with GC contenders Cadel Evans and Vinikourov going ding dong for the last 30 km. The pink jersey crashed about 50 km out and never did make it back to the front. Evans won in a sprint and Vini was in pink.

Once out of Montalcino we headed toward the finish of the next day's stage and our hotel for the night. We accidently ended up in the middle of all the team buses as our route took us through the start town of the next day. Garmin Transitions was behind us and for much of the drive all I could see in my rear view mirror was a bound up Giro mascot sitting in the front seat of their bus.

We eventually ended up in Rieti the closest town to the first mountain top finish of the race Monte Terminillo. Stage 8 finishes with a climb up Monte Terminillo; 16km long with gradients between 6 and 10 %. (16 km at 7.3%, 1168m of gain)

Once again, Stage 8 dawned very wet and cold. We drove up the mountain and headed for the finish thinking that we might get covered seating and the live feed, but again were foiled by the small size of the finish area. So much for our VIP passes.

It was very cold at the top, about 2 to 3 C, with recent snow and very foggy, actually in the clouds.

The rain intermittently fell and eventually we were so cold that we made our way back to the car and turned on the heater to warm up. We had no way of knowing how the race was going so atabout 1630 hr we headed back up toward the finish to watch the riders come by. The fog rolled in even thicker as the riders ascended the mountain. It was very, very miserable to say the least. From the look of the riders, it was clear to us that the the pace of the day before in association with the difficulty of this stage, had cracked a large portion of the field. There were quite a few hurtin individuals at the end of this day.

Sorenson from Saxo Bank won on a solo break. The GC contenders came in together about 1 minute back. The L'Autobus farther back then that.

Pretty cool experience but I sure wish the weather had been a bit better. I am not sure I have yet thawed out from our walks up and down Monte Terminillo.