BRM 300 - Percorrendo a Raia#
Second 300 of the year, in less than 7 days from the first one.
Organized by CC Riazor, but this time not leaving from Coruña. We were going to leave from the city of Tui (southwest galicia, in the province of Pontevedra) and going along the border with Portugal. Our fellow randonneur Javier Costas designed it, and my friend Dani knew beforehand almost all the roads we were going to ride.
As we were leaving from Tui, at home we decided to go all the family together to Vilagacía de Arousa (the town were my wife was born). I left my wife and daughters there, in my mother-in-law’s place, and then drove for one extra hour to Tui. This was quite convenient, as this way my wife was going to have some help with the girls, but also has the drawback of having to pack the bike, my things and their things in the car (a bit more complicated than simply put my things in the car and leave).
There was a big group dinner scheduled for 21:00 on Friday. Almost everybody was there and we had a very good time over a nice meal.
At dinner they introduced me to Graeme, from Scotland, who does not speak Spanish at all. I gave him some company, we chatted over dinner and tried to translate what the others were saying as much as I could. We had a good time at the restaurant, telling stories, catching up and discussing plans for the Brevet. We were having so much fun that we left the restaurant a bit late.
The Mesoiros and me still had a 30-minute drive to Dani’s family house, where we were staying for the night. When we arrived, I went through my checklist, preparing everything for the Brevet, when I realized I had forgotten my water bottles back home :-(
“Fuuuuuck, Fuck, Fuck!” - I said loudly. I felt like being slapped hard. The guys asked me what have happened and I told them, “Well, at least it wasn’t the helmet or the shoes!” - Edgar said, and he was right I guess.
Dani gave Javier a call and asked him if he may have some spare bottles around, luckily he said he had some and that he would bring two 500ml bottles for me the next morning. Lucky strike.
We went to bed a bit late, so I barely slept 4 hours. It did rain too much during the night, and it was so windy that waves of rain were hitting the windows hard, making lots of noise and waking me up several times.
I woke up before the others and went through my usual breakfast-and-get-ready procedures while they started to wake up and get downstairs for breakfast.
When it was time to leave for Tui, it was raining a lot. We drove in 2 cars to the start point under waves and more waves of strong rain. Edgar was in my car, and we both agreed… “WTF are we doing out here right now?!?”
But then, we arrived in Tui and it stopped raining. Unbelievable.
We met the other randonneurs at the start point, a bar called Pura Vida, which was opened this early only for us. There were some people having hot drinks like coffee and tea, but I was still full from my breakfast.
I looked for Javier - and my water bottles - man, what a relieve when I found him and he gave me those two bottles.
We took the usual group picture at the start and hopped on our bikes. When I clipped in and started pedaling… it started raining again, growing in intensity as we leave Tui, towards Baiona and we tackle the first climb of the day (yeah, we start going up right away from the start!)
We started as a big group, but with the first climb starting right there in Tui, we got scattered early. I rode with several friends from previous Brevets, chatting and catching up (when the rain let us, of course) and moving forward.
After 10 km and almost 40 minutes, we reached the top of the first climb and started the descent to the other side, 10 more km under ocassional showers, some of them quite strong.
Less than 1 hour into the Brevet and I was already all wet, specially my feet as I gambled it a bit and decided to not put the shoe covers on (hint: this time I was right and I would not need them at all).
The first checkpoint was Baiona, km 26. We were so wet and cold at this point that we did a quick stop in a gas station to get our cards stamped (and pee).
My plan was to ride as much as possible with Dani and the others from the Mesoiro cycling club. I’ve mention it in previous reports, these guys organize things so one of them is responsible for carrying all the Brevet cards together, getting all the stamps on them at once. I usually keep my card with me, but this time I was so cold and soaked that instead of fighting with my wet gloves, I gave my card to Edgar (thanks, my friend!).
We left Baiona with the sun rising from behind some hills to the west and took the road by the coast, on its huge yellow-colored bike lane. The rain came and went and the wind started to push us back. This road was fantastic, flat and fast. We rode by the atlantic ocean, and today there were big waves crashing against the rocks on the shore. We passed a lighthouse and we kept pushing the pedals. We were quite the group here, a mix of people from different clubs and parts of the country.
A few minutes before 9:30 we arrived at the village of A Guarda, and at the second climb of the day, Santa Trega, short and steep climb with gorgeous views of the mouth of the Miño River, where it joins the Atlantic ocean.
I did this climb with Alfonso, Ángel and Jose, while the others followed closely behind. The climb goes from sea level to ~300m in 3.65 km, with lots of turns. On each turn, the four of us agreed that the view was even nicer than in the previous turn.
During the climb we noticed someone handling a drone and somebody else taking pictures of us with one of those pro cameras. What a luxury for a Brevet!
At the top, another surprise. Javier was there, with the trunk of his car full of food and drinks. This was the second checkpoint (km 61) and we took a moment to enjoy the views and take some photos. We also formed the little group that would stay together for the rest of the day.
Then we went down the hill. It was steep, so we had to pull the breaks a lot, some times maybe a bit too much, personally I wanted to enjoy the views as much time as possible.
We crossed the other randonneurs that were arriving there later than us, like Carlos and Oscar from Naron and several guys from CC Riazor.
The next 30 km were almost flat and took us back to the start point in Tui. The sun started to shine and it stopped raining, we were getting dry and warm.
The Mesoiros, Graeme and me decided to do a quick coffee stop in Tui, in the café that was our starting point earlier - Pura Vida - before starting the next - and toughest - part of the brevet. We split, as some other randonneurs decided to keep on without stopping.
A quick coffee stop and soon we were on our bikes and back on the road, just in time to get cought by another rain shower. At that moment we thought we weren’t lucky, but it turned out we did the right thing doing such stop. The guys that didn’t stop got caught by a strong storm later in the day, while we avoided such storm because of this stop.
A few km after resuming our ride, we had to stop due to a flat tire (the first of the day, sadly not the only one). We did stop and Oscar replaced the inner tube in his rear wheel quite fast. Off we went again, under some light rain.
This Brevet didn’t have long climbs. Instead, we were going up for a while, then a bit down, then up for a longer while, then down a bit… and so on. What we call around here “terreno rompepiernas” (leg-breaker terrain, literally translated).
We rode for a while more on roads of the province of Pontevedra, then we crossed to the province of Ourense.
We were having light rain here and there, followed by the ocassional open sky with the sun warming us and then back to dark clouds. The roads were almost empty (we crossed just a few cars) and as soon as we started to go up, we also had nice views around us.
The next checkpoint, Paraños (km 137), was in the middle of one of the shorter/smaller climbs, just before the larger climb of the day. It was around 14:00, so we decided to do a longer stop there and ate something. We had some awesome bocadillos de tortilla, which tasted soooo good. The owners of the restaurant were very nice, and they brought us a lot of pinchos with our drinks, to have while we waited for the bocadillos.
When we arrived in Paraños, Alfonso and Felipe were already there and while we were eating our bocadillos, several randonneurs arrived too.
Bottles refilled, I made some food arrangements (picked up some food from the saddle bag and refilled the top tube bag and the back pockets) and finally off we went, right into more climbing.
For the next few hours, the roads looked familiar to me. Secondary small roads with only the ocassional car passing us, everything so green around us, with certain parts where there are so many tall trees that we are completely covered from the sun and at the next turn, open views to our left or right of valleys below us. It all reminded me clearly of those roads I use to ride near Vilagarcía de Arousa, Caldas de Reis, Moraña, Campo Lameiro or Cotobade. These roads today looked sooo very similar to those a hundred km away.
We went up to Porto de Moncelo, the longest climb of the day, going from 309m to 800m in 17km. The group split after a while, with Graeme, Jose and me leading, followed at some distance by the others.
At this point it had not rain in quite some time, the sun was shining and there was a fresh breeze that felt awesome.
I enjoyed the climb a lot, riding at my own pace, enjoying the views to our left on every turn. There was a point where we did a hard turn to our left and we had a good view of the road behind us, so I was able to see Dani and the others coming up, behind us.
At the top we took a few group photos at the Porto de Moncelo sign, as this was the next checkpoint (km 155) but there was no way to get a stamp in our cards there.
If the climb was nice, the next 23 km going all the way down to Ribadavia were awesome. We started the descent and after a few km we had another shorter climb, near A Cañiza. Then, all the way down and fast.
Ribadavia was our next checkpoint (km 178) and we decided to drink some coca colas in a café and get our cards stamped. Sadly, that café didn’t have anything to stamps our cards with, so Edgar went to look for some other place (and came back a few minutes later, with our cards stamped).
We took a moment to enjoy the short rest and then refilled bottles, did quick visits to the bathroom, etc. The next checkpoint (Celanova) wasn’t that far from us (just 40 km) but the road to get there was going to be tough, with lots of climbing and lots of short, steep repechos (which meant it would take quite some time to ride those 40 km).
Off we went, leaving Ribadavia and into yet another climb, passing small villages like Barral, Foxo or Noallo de Arriba. Going up for while, then a bit down, up again… and so on. Rompepiernas again, making having a conversation quite difficult.
At least the roads were very nice and the scenery around us, magical. The only thing disturbing such a good moment was the noise all our chains were making. All the rain we had so far, plus all the water and spray coming from the road, made our drivetrains quite noisy. At one point we started to talk about looking for some options to oil our groups during the next stop.
Our little group stick together, taking turns pulling or staying behind with whomever was having a tough moment.
And then, it was my moment. That dreaded moment when you feel you are loosing the group, running out of energy and not being able to keep up with their rythm. It didn’t happen suddendly (I didn’t bonk completely), it was just that I was slowly being dropped. They kept on and I was slower and slower until there was quite the distance.
It wasn’t a matter of eating enough, as I had been eaten well and regularly on the bike (+ eating even more during stops). I was simply running out of steam and couldn’t keep up.
So, I switched into maintenance mode. “Keep pushing the pedals, just keep pushing the fscking pedals” - I told myself. I’ve lots of confidence on myself and I’m sooo used to ride alone, that I’m perfectly fine with these situations. No anxiety about being dropped, no need to push my limits.
Just.Keep.Pushing.The.Fscking.Pedals and I’d be fine.
But they noticed I was having this tough moment. And these guys… they are too nice to let me there, miserable and alone and dragging myself like a snail.
So, they took turns to stay with me and ride slowly. First it was Ángel (you probably remember him from the 200 - polas terras altas) and then Dani. They slowed down and rode side by side with me, talking to me, trying to keep my brain busy.
And, in the meantime, we almost arrived in Celanova.
One last push, one last repecho. I looked at the screen of my Garmin and noticed the 8% value of the gradient. “Oh yeah, I noticed it” - I told myself out loud. 9% - “Ok, stop looking at that fscking screen” - I said out loud again.
Luckily we were there already and we found a super nice café/bakery with a terrace where we could seat for a while and eat something.
As Celanova was another checkpoint (actually, last one until the arrival back in Tui for the finish line) we also got a stamp in our cards. This time, I helped Edgar with the whole stamping thing (I was glad to have something to do and keep my mind busy).
I was starving. I didn’t realize about it while riding those 40 km since Ribadavia, but as soon as I stopped, unclipped and left the bike leaning on the wall, an overall sensation of need.food.NOW washed over me.
I ordered a big café con leche and a big cream-and-strawberries cake and I wolfed it down fast. Clearly it wasn’t enough.
While I was making up my mind about ordering something else, and why exactly, the waitress came out of the café carrying 2 huuuuuuge bocadillos. I followed her with my eyes opened like saucers. The bocadillos where going towards Alfonso and Felipe, our fellow randonneurs from Coruña.
I was totally into ordering something like that, but I knew it would take too long to prepare. And just at that moment, Dani came up with two of his famous bocadillos de jamón y tomate and offered me one. He is a life saver, always.
Meanwhile, Edgar had gone to a shop nearby and bought something to oil our chains a bit. All he could find was some sewing machine oil, but it worked just fine on our poor chains.
When we finished, refilled our bottles and packed everything up again, we left Celanova, with 82 km still to ride.
The way out was, of course, more climbing. Again, not a steady climb, but a series of more steep repechos (what else?). It took some time to digest all that food, but I slowly I recovered myself and soon I was out of the hole.
We passed the village of Carracedo and we started a long descent towards the Miño river. The sun was shining, the wind was gentle and the descent felt soooo good. We were riding fast, taking advantage of the descent, when I heard someone shouting.
Another flat tire. This time it was Ángel’s rear tire. We stop and gather around Ángel, trying to help. It took us more than half an hour to fix it, as the first attempt ended with a pinched inner tube (bad luck when putting the tire back on) and then the second attempt proved to be quite challenging, it was really tough to get that tire back on.
Several other randonneurs passed us while we were there, all of them asking if we needed anything or if they could help us somehow. Finally, we were ready and we resumed our ride.
Next we had to cross the Miño river. In order to do so, we pass by the dam of Frieira, crossing a huge/tall bridge to the other river bank. The views were gorgeous all the way down and across the bridge.
Last 50 km. Later than expected, but still doing a good overall time. The toughest parts were history now, only a few more repechos and we would be in Tui.
I was fully recovered already, and it felt wonderful to be able not only to keep up with the group, but to lead the group a few times. We had some head wind ocasionally, but nothing too strong.
One repecho, another one, one more… we were counting them like a countdown. Dani knew this road quite well and it was nice of him to tell us in advance which ones were harder, which ones a bit easier.
During our repechos party the night fell on us. The sun went down and soon it was pitch black around us. The roads had no lighting at all and we crossed just a few villages here and there. There was no full moon today neither, and the sky was covered with thick clouds anyway. I tried not to think too much about the chances of another strong shower while riding in the dark.
Only 20 km to arrive, when I heard someone shouting again. Uh, oh. Right, Ángel’s rear tire again. We stopped and in the dark he pumped some air into it. It was loosing air and pressure slowly, so maybe we would be lucky and we could get to Tui without having to replace the tube again.
While they were pumping some air into that tube, I talked a bit with Graeme in the dark. He was doing fine, actually enjoying the whole thing, but he was hungry and he had no food left with him. I gave him one of my Clif bars and he was so grateful. “That’s what friends are for” after all ;-)
We resumed riding, but after a few km, that rear tube was empty again. It was clear that it needed another inner tube replacement. Thing is, Ángel hadn’t sign-up for the Brevet, he was riding it with us for the joy of doing it, without doing it officially. So, after talking it through, we all agreed he would stay there and someone was coming to pick him up with a car, while the rest of us would keep on to the finish. A quick phone call and Javier was on his way with a car to pick him up.
Once more we resumed riding, last 12/14 km. We were closer to Tui and there was more traffic. We crossed Javier on his way to pick up Ángel, then we passed the place where Óscar had the first flat tire of the day earlier.
We arrived in Tui with some light rain at 23:20 and we went straight to the café, Pura Vida, which was the start point earlier in the morning. Lots of known faces there, plus some people we don’t know (customers of the café) who welcomed us with shouts of “congratulations”, “great job”, “you are too crazy”… Someone even said “Ok, quick coffee and time to do it again!”. We laughed at that, would that be really that crazy?
Brevet cards stamped one last time, then delivered, we ordered some beers. While the beers were coming, I quickly gathered my things and bike and went straight to the car, picked up my bag of clothes and put bike, shoes, helmet, etc into the trunk. I ran back to the cafe to enjoy the beer and chat a bit with everybody.
After a while, I went to the bathroom to change clothes and get ready to drive back to Vilagarcía, where dolo and the girls were waiting for me.
It still took a while to leave, time to say goodbye to everybody. See you in the 400!
As usual, here is some data taken from my activity in Strava:
