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!
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