BRM 300 - Del Urogallo#
First 300 Brevet of the year. Like it happened last year, I went to Astorga to do it. Organized by my friends at Astorga Randonneurs I was sure this was going to be another epic ride.
This time I arranged things to go there with my friend Dani “El Gordo” from the Mesoiro cycling club (you already know him from my previous Brevet reports). I booked a room for both of us in a Hotel near Astorga for Friday and Saturday, and he picked me up on his way from Coruña to Astorga on Friday evening. Split expenses and a nicer 2-hour trip to Astorga instead of driving there alone. Some other friends (Manolo, Roberto and Juankar) booked a room in the same hotel too.
Looking at the route profile, we were going to have several long climbs in this Brevet, followed by equally long descents. Niiiice!. I really like long, steady and gentle climbs. You can adjust power/intensity much easier and enjoy the climb a lot more than in those shorter, steeper, climbs with percentages over 12%.
They made a last-minute change to the route. We were supposed to start from San Justo de la Vega (a little quiet village near Astorga) but precisely this weekend they celebrate a big party there, with lots of people, events, music and party all night long. Too many people, too much noise, things could become a bit more complicated, so they decided to move the start point to Astorga, to the square between the Cathedral and the Palacio de Gaudi.
We met some people from Astorga Randonneurs there on Friday evening (Salva, Sergio) as well as some other randonneurs, we got our brevet cards and had dinner together.
After that, it was time to double check everything for the brevet (bike, gear, clothes) and go to sleep.
We woke up around 5:30, gather our things and picked the car to go from the hotel to the start point in Astorga (shame on Dani and me! Manolo, Roberto and Juankar did it properly and rode those 10km already on their bikes!).
10-15 minutes before the start time (7:00) we were in front of the palace, ready and saying hello and good morning to everybody.
We left Astorga and took a road that would join, after 4km, the original route coming from San Justo.
As a pack we rode in the dark, on a small road that was a bit broken here and there. Nothing serious but the kind of road that makes me a bit nervous, specially in the middle of a big group at night, specially when going fast. And man, in Astorga all the Brevets start fast.
In Pradorrey we joined the big N-VI road, just a few km before our Hotel, and the big group started to push it a bit. We were expecting some head wind during this initial part of the Brevet and indeed there it was, blowing on our faces.
We noticed Manolo was missing and we did slow down for a moment and check if everybody else in our group was there. That was enough to loose the big group and we went all the way up the first climb of the day on our own.
Cesar and Anselmo joined our little group during this climb. We already knew Cesar from previous Brevets, but it was the first time we met Anselmo, a 76 year old man that proved to be younger than all of us later in the day.
There was no trace of Manolo, but he is a seasoned randonneur with lots of experience, so we didn’t worry about it. We simply kept on (later in the day he told us that he had to stop at the hotel, as he had forgotten his brevet card there).
The road up to this first climb was probably the ugliest part of the route. Not really ugly (I’ve ridden on worse roads) but it has nothing special. Big road, not really nice views, plus the wind blowing on our faces all the time.
The descent on the other side was a different story. We started going down still on the main N-VI road, enjoying some awesome views and crossing high bridges on direction to the North. Around km 32 we left that one to take a smaller road towards Torre del Bierzo. As soon as we left the main road, we were protected from the wind by the mountain on our right.
It was also a beautiful descent, with some nice views to our left, time to grab the gopro and start recording.
As usual, this first part of the Brevet has a lot of small talk. We were going fast and passed several villages, Bembibre and Alto de Santa Marina del Sil. We also catched another galician randonneur, a guy from Ourense who was having a bad time because of the cold. He joined our little group.
The first checkpoint/control was going to be in km 116. We decided that was too far for the first stop, so when we arrived in the village of Toreno (km 62), we looked for a place to do a quick coffee stop. We found a small bar open and we had some coffee there. Sadly, it was a bit too early and the guy there did not have any food to give us with the coffee.
This stop felt wonderful, warmed me up a bit. During the stop we tried to re-sync Juankar’s Garmin device, which was not able to load the route/course for navigation and climbs info. We failed miserably ;-D
As soon as we left Toreno, another randonneur catched up with us. Estefanía started like half an hour later than the rest of us, because she had some trouble with her Di2 shifters and it took her some time to sort things out. She had to ride by herself all the way here. We welcomed her into our little group (the more the merrier they say). She told us that she had passed our friend Manolo, which was good news for us, at least we knew then that he was ok and riding.
After Toreno the road had several short climbs, a nice “warm up” for the second big climb of the day, Alto de Valdeprado. Before the descent that led us to Fabero I stopped for a moment to remove some layers and the gloves, it was starting to get a bit hot and I knew that more climbing was waiting for us ahead. These short stops for adding/removing layers would become a habit during the whole ride.
I catched the group at the end of the descent, at the entrance of Fabero, where we took a small road to our right, climbing all the way up to the open sky mine. This climb was soooo beautiful, IMHO the most beautiful one of this Brevet.
We started the climb and I took the lead, getting them on the camera. Estefanía soon started to push it a bit. She is a climber, small and fast, and I kept up by her side during all the climb. I was feeling fine and my HR was showing 145-150 bpm, which is low for climbing (by my standards/numbers).
A few times I looked back and noticed the guys were a bit behind, and at the end of the climb I noticed the group was way behind us. We were about to start the descent on the other side and she was pushing, I guess she wanted to recover some of her lost time. I decided to let her go and turned back, riding back to meet the guys and resume riding with them.
We went together all the way down to Páramo del Sil, from where we start the climb to Alto de Valdeprado
The road was a bit broken and Juankar and me were a bit faster than the others. We did chat for a while, enjoying the views, but at one point he started to fall back. I kept on with my steady pace. The HR shows 140-145, easy for a climb like this, so I decided to not slow down any more and wait for them at the top.
I did enjoy the solitude, looking back from time to time to check they were still there. I was so focused on pushed the pedals that I didn’t use the gopro in this climb. Not even a short recording.
When the garmin beeped, showing “the end of the climb” I did stop and waited for them, camera ready, recording them on video when they finally passed. Then we stop at the Mirador de la Corza to take a couple of pics of its impressive view.
Time to put some layers (and gloves) back on, long descent ahead. 47 km going all the way down to Cangas del Narcea (with a small bump in the middle). We also crossed the border between Castilla y León and Asturias.
At km 116 we stop at Cerredo, first checkpoint/control. There was an open café, where we met Estefanía again and our friends from Astorga Randonneurs (Sergio(s) - two of them - Valentín and Saul).
We went as quick as possible through the usual checkpoint workflow (grab water bottles, order drinks and food, get our cards stamped) and we took a moment to say hello and ask everybody how was the Brevet for them so far.
We drank our coca colas and ate our pinchos as fast as we could. We were getting too cold and we didn’t want to do a long stop here. We still had a 40-km descent ahead of us, with little chances to warm up again.
Xacobe, Estefanía and the others left a few minutes before us. We refilled our bottles and off we went, cold and shivering, Dani, Ferreiro, Juankar and me.
Down and down we went, with some ocasional flat parts where we were able to pedal and warm up a bit.
We passed villages like Degaña, Fonduveigas or Larón and then we crossed a long tunnel through the mountains, the Túnel de Rañadoiro.
It was past noon already and the temperature was raising, it felt good to have such temperature on the last part of the long descent.
We arrived in Cangas de Narcea (second checkpoint, km 156) at 14:20, so we decided to stop in a cafe and eat something (bocadillo de jamón for everybody). We followed the usual checkpoint workflow (pick up bottles, order drinks and food, get the stamp on our brevet cards) but this time we sat for a while to eat the bocadillos and chat a bit.
Our friend Anselmo was quite the showman and kept us entertained and laughing the whole time.
Once we finished the food, some order some coffee and meanwhile I picked up some more food from my big saddle bag and refilled the top-tube bag with several cereal bars and stuff (at this point, I had eaten everything I had in that bag already + whatever I had in my back pockets).
I refilled my water bottles and packed the light rain jacket and the gillet into the saddle bag. With a 33 km climb ahead of us, starting precisely in this town… no need to get those layers on anytime soon. I even considered changing clothes, replace my rapha winter jacket and the warm base layer with the short sleeve base layer and the rapha long sleeve jersey, but in the end I decided against it (spoiler alert: I did regret it later).
Anselmo started a bit before us, “you are younger and stronger than me, so you will catch me on the climb!” - he said.
When we were ready to leave, Manolo appeared and then Cesar too. Cesar decided to stay for a while, while Manolo decided to keep on riding with us.
33km up to “El puertu” (Leitariegos) the longest climb I’ve ever made. Luckily this is one of those gentle and steady climbs, without big percentages.
We left Cangas de Narcea in good spirit, again like a pack, chatting. Half of the Brevet was done at this point and everybody seemed to be doing just fine. Also, the first few km are easy, not really climbing, so we were a bit faster.
This time I did slow down and I kept myself with the group. We enjoyed the views, which became more and more impressive as we slowly climb up the mountain.
At this point the temperature was higher than 20º, and I realized I was overdressed. I started to sweat but unzipping the jacket seemed to improve things.
Note
Later, after the brevet, I realized that all that sweating made my shorts and bottom all wet, too wet, so I had some trouble/pain/reddening at my bottom. Nothing too serious, but if I’d have to ride a 400 or 600, maybe it would grow into some serious trouble.
After a while Dani, Juankar and me were a bit faster, so we left the others behind and went all the way up together.
On our way up we catched Xacobe again (the guy from Ourense that had problems with the cold earlier) and we passed him. During the last few km we were running out of water, so we started talking about how cool it would be to find a nice fountain at the top (we already knew there was one there).
The last part felt a bit steeper for a while, ending with an easier part after the last couple of turns. The temperatures dropped to 10º again, which felt really cold, considering the > 20º we had one hour earlier + the fact that we were all sweaty.
We did a quick stop to take some pictures at the “El Puertu” sign and then at the fountain to refill the bottles and put some layers back on (light rain jacket, gillet and gloves for me). Ferreiro arrived already while we were taking the pictures and the others arrived just when we were about to resume riding.
The descent from Leitariegos was shorter than the climb, but still long. It took near 15 km to get to Villablino, the next bigger village. The road was full of 180º turns and the asphalt wasn’t in the best condition in some places.
I was expecting it to be colder, but the lower we were, the higher the temperature was. Also, the sun was shining, which added a bit to the warming sensation.
We weren’t a pack or a group anymore at this point. Ferreiro and Juankar were quite ahead, with Dani following them and me chasing Dani from a distance. The others were behind me, but nowhere to be seen.
I’m still not sure why, but from this point on, I didn’t record anything else with the gopro. On one hand, I spent most of the time chasing someone else, which meant having to be focused on what I was doing and pushing the pedals a bit harder. On the other hand, I was starting to feel tired and the last thing I wanted was to drop the camera (again, as you may remember from the report on the *BNO* to Vegadeo…).
In Villablino I did stop for a moment to remove layers again, remove gloves, and eat something. Some decide to do a quick stop in a bar and have some drinks, some kept on pedaling.
I pushed it once more and caught Dani and Juankar again, time to go up Puerto de la Magdalena. Another long climb (15.6km) but a bit different this time. It has steeper parts/gradients, followed by some rest/easier parts. We started to “suffer” the amount of km and climbing on our legs, but we pushed the pedals all the way up anyway.
During the climb, Juankar asked if we could share something to eat with him. One of the things that amazed me at the start of this Brevet was the fact that he wasn’t carry anything with him on the bike. No big saddle bag, no frame or top-tube bag and what looked like empty pockets on his Castelli winter jacket. Nothing. All he had with him was one bottle for water and one small storage bottle (for tools and spares, I guess).
He managed ok so far, but I think this was the “lowest point” of the day for him. We shared something with him and that seemed to help.
At the top of the climb we stopped for a moment to take some pictures and put some layers back on (yeah, the game of the day!). Another long descent was waiting for us, near 36 km going down with a short bump in the middle again, just before the next (and last) checkpoint in Riello.
In that stop I also had to pee, which means they left without me (again) and I had to push it a bit (again) to catch them.
The wind was pushing us a bit harder (from behind) now and I couldn’t see them in front of me. WTF, it did not take that long to resume riding, I should have them just in front of me by then. I grabbed the drops, head down, and pushed. Going mostly down, with such a wind on my back… it felt good, it felt like being flying.
I arrived at a hairpin, a small repecho, and I kept pushing the pedals, standing on the bike, to not loose momentum. And when I got to the top, I could see the road going down on the other side and I saw them, maybe a couple of km ahead of me.
I smiled and pushed it a bit more.
I finally catched them and we were getting closer to the last checkpoint. I started to dream about a big coffee and a sandwich. I’ve been eating a lot today and at this point all that was left in my bags were a couple of cereal bars. It seemed I was burning everything fast.
We arrived in Riello and looked for a café or any place where we could stamp our cards and eat/drink something. We found a nice café, road bikes parked in front of it, and I recognized some of them. When we got inside, Sergio and the others were there, enjoying some drinks and pinchos.
We ordered something too (big café con leche and another bocadillo de jamón for me) and I took a moment to go to the bathroom (later I made some jokes about how fast I’d be in the last part of the brevet, being like half a kilo lighter after this stop ;-D).
While we were waiting for our order to be ready, the rest of our group arrived. First Ferreiro, then Manolo, then Anselmo. We refilled the bottles and packed up quick, time to leave. Just before leaving, our friend Roberto (who already had finished the brevet at that moment) called and told us that, from there on, it is one last climb, 2 repechos and “time to fly”. Liar ;-D
Leaving Riello there was a mistake in the gps track and it sent us on some broken path (path, not road). When we realized about the mistake, we noticed the path should join the main road at some point, so we kept on. In the end we had to jump over some road barriers (with our bikes on our shoulders, CX style) to get to the road again.
Next climb, Alto de Escuredo. Shorter, not a big thing if it wasn’t for the 260km and lots of climbing on our legs already.
The sunset was almost there, but we still would have some more day light time. This time, Dani and me were the ones going a bit faster, so we put some distance between us and the others. We finished the climb and then we pushed it through the following repechos (not 2, obviously, but “a few” more).
When we reached the point that it was getting darker, we did a short stop to put some layers back on, ensure lights were ready, etc. And when we were about to resume riding, our friends appeared on the turn behind us.
“There they are! they were not that fast in the end!” - someone shouted as they passed us. We laughed, we didn’t expect them to be this close.
We resume riding together, fast, downhill and into the night.
Ah, the time in a Brevet when all you want is to arrive, to finish. It was getting late and we had a reservation for dinner with friends at 22:30. No more stops until the end and time to take advantage of the flat/down road and the pushing winds.
What worried me then was… wild life.
This is the same road I rode on last year to finish the 300 in Astorga, and that time a huge deer crossed in front of us (a couple of meters, maybe?) and a bit later, a family of wild boars almost wiped us out of the road.
Going fast means danger in this road.
But we still pushed, with Dani and me taking turns on the lead, no time to look back. Front lights at full power and spending more time looking at both sides of the road ahead of us, than on the road itself.
At least the road condition was perfect (no holes, no broken parts), one less thing to worry about.
We crossed the turn to San Justo de la Vega and we kept straight to Astorga, passing village after village. Honestly, enjoying this fast end a lot.
We shouted and hooted loudly when we finally saw Astorga’s Cathedral from afar. We were almost there!
We looked back, no one there. wtf, Ferreiro was there a moment ago, “where is he?” we asked ourselves.
We waited for a moment in a roundabout and Ferreiro catched us, just in time to get into Astorga, the finish line.
We got to the square by the Cathedral and the Palacio de Gaudi just in time to hear the bells from the Cathedral ringing, it was 22:00. We made it.
My garmin shown 299km, Dani has 1km less than me, so we decided to ride back to the car with a few extra roundabouts to get to 300km and then we went back to the parking lot to pack our things and bikes into Dani’s car and head back to the hotel, where we had our reservation for dinner with friends.
And, as usual, here is some data taken from my activity in Strava:
