BRM 600 - Santiago#
My first 600 Brevet ever. As it happened before with the previous distances (200, 300, 400) I won’t forget this one anytime soon. I still have vivid memories of my first brevet on each distance, as each one was special in some unique way. And this wasn’t any different.
An epic 2-day ride along the Camino de Santiago, on nice roads and with good company, awesome climbs and fast rolling parts, as well as the usual galician rollercoasters… we had it all, and everything went by the book, just perfect.
Another brevet organized by my friends at Astorga Randonneurs, my idea was to ride as much as possible with the same group of friends I rode the BRM 400 - Braganza with (both Sergios, Saúl, Valentín and Estefanía). They already did a 600 together last year, and they had a few ideas about how to do in this one, including the answer to the big question:
Stop for a few hours of sleep… or not??
This was going to be a tough 600, with around +9400m of climbing, almost an SR 600 (which amount of minimum elevation gain is +10000m). But where the time limit for an SR is 60 hours, for a normal 600 Brevet the limit is 40 hours.
I’ve heard a lot of times, while doing other brevets, comments from veteran randonneurs about the 600s being easier than the 400s because “you can do a short stop for sleep a few hours”. But the last couple of weeks, those same randonneurs were giving me advice against a stop for sleeping in this precise 600. “It is too much climbing”, “You won’t make it in time”, “It is a tough and slow one”, and so on.
But this group of friends thought otherwise. They wanted to do a sleep stop no matter what and, honestly, I thought it was a good idea. So a couple of weeks before the brevet, we booked a place to sleep around km 340, just on the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela. This area had plenty of options that fit well our needs, as El Camino passes by there, so they are used to have lots of pilgrims all year long.
The next big question to solve was, what should I carry with me?.
So far the longest distance I’ve done was 400 km, without any proper sleep stop. This was going to be different, not only the extra 200 km and the stop to get some sleep, the weather was going to be a big factor there too.
The forecast was getting worse day by day, and a couple of days before the Brevet it was clear that we were going to have some interesting spring rain showers and, quite probably, thunderstorms too.
So, apart from what I’d bring to a 400, I’d also need:
More food than usual (more time on the bike)
More clothes (something to wear when sleeping, something to wear on the second day, stuff to protect myself under strong rain)
Bags to carry things comfortably
Regarding food, I packed the usual mix of Clif bars, oats+honey bars, nuts bars and powerbar protein bars. I just threw in a few more than usual. These bars were split between my top-tube bag, my jersey back pockets and a ziploc bag inside my saddle bag (from where I’d refill the top tube bag and my pockets during the Brevet).
Then I prepared a big bocadillo de jamón con tomate using rich multicereal bread with nuts. I sliced the bocadillo in three pieces and then packed them carefully into ziploc bags.
I also packed a bag of 226ers isotonic drink powder and a few isostar powertabs (enough to prepare 3 bottles of salts mix). I usually bring the powertabs with me in 300 and 400 brevets too, but only to prepare 2 bottles.
About clothes, I decided to bring enough for 2 “summer” days (2 short sleeve jerseys, 2 base layers - one a bit warmer than the other -, 2 bib shorts and 2 pairs of socks) plus arm and leg warmers, toe and waterproof shoe covers, my Rapha Brevet gillet with pockets and a light wind/rain jacket.
The idea was to wear one of the kits on saturday, and the other kit on sunday, adding arm/leg warmers, etc as needed during the ride. The waterproof shoe covers where a bit of a gamble… but it turned out it was worth bringing them with me.
With everything I wanted to pack spread over my bed (yeah, shame on me, I did not take the usual “before packing” picture!), it was time to pack everything up. And then I did regret not having bought a frame bag in time for this Brevet.
I thought I could manage with just my small Restrap top-tube bag and my Apidura 9L saddle bag… but soon the saddle bag looked really bulky. And then I remembered that I had a small frame bag from decathlon. Not ideal, but good enough.
In the top tube bag I packed some bars, the isostar powertabs and the gopro camera.
In the small frame bag I packed one piece of the bocadillo, some more bars, the wind/rain jacket and a small ziploc bag with the key of my car.
In the saddle bag… everything else. Tools, spares, all the clothes, the other two pieces of the bocadillo, the bag with more bars, another ziploc bag with a powerbank and 2 additional batteries for the gopro, etc…
I did a couple of tests at home, to check things were ok once on the bike (with lights and everything), and then I removed the bags from the bike and packed everything in the car.
Time to drive a couple of hours to San Justo de la Vega.
I arrived in San Justo just in time to meet a few of the others in the Oasis, the bar which is also the start point of the Brevets there.
I got my Brevet card, we had a couple of beers and dinner (burger!) while chatting about what was waiting for us during the weekend.
As usual, it took some time to finish up dinner, grab my things and go to bed.
I woke up at 04:50, had full breakfast in my room and grabbed my things. I spent the night at the Hostal Juli, which is just the next building to the Oasis (the brevet starting point). This meant being able to sleep a bit more and also meant sleeping in the same place as most of the other randonneurs, so when I left my room, the corridors were full of other people with bags, bikes, etc.
I got to my car (as I left the bike there for the night) and started to get ready. Sadly, I had some issues when attaching the apidura saddle bag (I guess it was so loaded, that it made things harder to set up). I was almost ready when Salva came by to tell me they were leaving now (I missed the start group picture :-( ).
I hurried up and left, at the tail of the 17-randonneurs group, into the night.
We rode for a bit less than an hour in the dark, as a pack, before the sun came up. We were about to start the first climb of the day, Foncebadón, passing by Cruz de Ferro. 14 km of continuous climbing, easier at the start and getting tougher by the end, after we passed the Cruz de Ferro.
The group did stay together for most of the climb, with a few exceptions (a couple of fast riders putting some distance on the group soon, a few stopping to pee…). Overall, time to chat and catch up with friends, as usual.
This road is part of the Camino Francés, so we found several pilgrims on our way. Most of them were walking, but we also passed several people riding their bicycles.
Note
I’ve to make a special mention about a man that was riding his bike up to Foncebadón, wearing sandals, regular shorts and a shirt. His bike was a normal city bike and he had only a bag attached to its handlebar.
It was cold and damp so early in the morning and there he was, riding that city bike with a big smile on his face.
And this wasn’t going our only encounter with this man during the weekend, as on sunday, on our way back, we crossed him again on our way to Alto do Poio, from where he was coming down!
Before arriving at the top of Puerto de Foncebadón (1504m) thick fog banks surrounded us, making it hard to see a few meters around. Soon it was difficult even to see who was riding in front of you.
Luckily, the fog went away when we arrived at the top of the climb, where we did a short stop to wait for several members of our group.
It was really nice that the fog went away, as that way we were able to enjoy the gorgeous views before the long descent into Ponferrada.
That descent was… fast. At the top we agreed on sticking together and arrive together in Ponferrada, but soon Valentín and I were way ahead of the others.
In the middle of the descent, we crossed the village of El Acebo, with its broken cobblestone main street. Let me tell you it is a beautiful village to visit walking, but not really nice to find yourself there in the middle of a super-fast descent and after a 180º turn.
Our little group reassembled there, but after leaving the village, Valentín and I were faster once more, so we put some distance between us and the group again, just to stop after Molinaseca and wait a bit for them.
We resumed riding together, with the addition of Juankar and two italians, Maximilian and Emmanuelle. We were a big group (10 people) and we had the wind on our backs. The road was smooth, fast and we were going a bit down all the time, so things started to go a bit out of hands.
We rode by the Sil river, crossing the tunnel of Peñarrubia and passing the dam with the same name. I don’t know why, but crossing tunnels on the bike always feels… special.
Note
Maximilian and Emmanuelle weren’t the only foreigners in this Brevet. There were also randonneurs from Russia, Argentina and Portugal.
I didn’t met nor the Russian, who was just a red tail light way ahead of us for the first 60 km or so (and we didn’t hear anything about him for the rest of the brevet), neither the Argentinian.
I met the Portuguese several times during the first day, he was riding solo and he always seemed like having a very good time.
People started pushing the pedals and taking turns on the lead. After a while there was no more chatting, no conversation at all. At least for a while, until the complains started to appear. We were going too fast, too early.
At 10:05 we arrived in Puente de Domingo Flórez (km 95), where some of us decided to do a coffee stop. It just felt like the right moment, after the first 4 hours of riding and it was perfect to break a bit that too-fast rythm we were falling into.
Some of us took a moment to rearrange things a bit (clothes mostly) and then we ordered some coffee. Instead of ordering something to eat, I decided to have one of the three pieces of my bocadillo de jamón (and it was just perfect!)
30 minutes later, we resumed riding. Juankar decided to wait for our friend Manolo, he wasn’t enjoying our pace at all. The italians didn’t stop at all, so our little group of friends was going to be on its own from there on.
We crossed from Castilla y León to Galicia, directly into the province of Ourense, passing the village of O Barco de Valdeorras, which is known because of the wine produced there.
On our way to Monforte de Lemos (the first Brevet checkpoint) we passed by Rúa de Valdeorras, Quiroga and San Clodio, among a few more smaller villages.
We were still going fast, on smooth roads. For some time we took turns on the lead, pulling the group. Each one pulled for 1 km, until the next 1-km-sign by the road, then it was turn for the next in the queue and the first one had to go to the last position on the line.
I’m not particulary fond of this game. I’m always too nervous and I spend more time looking at the wheel in front of me (and any pot hole that could slip by that wheel without warning) and less time enjoying the scenery around (which is, for me, the primary reason to do Brevets).
But I’ve to admit that this way km pass by fast.
We crossed the Sil river like 5 times, as many times as the Lor river. Bridges and bridges and more bridges.
The sun was hitting us hard, with temperatures between 25 and 28ºC, there were no clouds to give us some shelter from it and the roads were quite open, without any trees or woods around them to protect us neither.
I didn’t want to end completely sunburnt, like at the end of the BRM 400 - Braganza, so during a quick group pee stop, I put some sunscreen on arms, neck and legs. I also packed my arm/leg warmers in the saddle bag, I wasn’t going to need them for the time being.
Before arriving in Monforte, we had a short climb (5km, 4% average), nothing too serious, but under that strong sun and with our bottles almost empty, it was interesting. At the top we decided to do a quick stop at a gas station to refill our bottles.
Roberto and Estefanía didn’t stop at the gas station and they kept riding towards Monforte, telling us they would find a nice place for lunch and then they would send us the location to one of our mobile phones.
We left the gas station with bottles refilled and we pushed through the remaining 11 km to arrive in town. during that last stretch, we noticed big clouds were gathering in the area towards where we were going.
According to the weather forecast, we should expect rain and/or thunderstorms, and it seemed we were going to have some of those soon.
We arrived in Monterroso, looked at Roberto’s location and headed there. He was waiting for us in a restaurant in downtown, with Estefanía, Juankar and Manolo. We were on our way there, crossing some pedestrian-only area, when it started raining. We were going very carefully, one foot loose from the pedals and using that to push our bikes, the stone streets were wet and full of people, there were lots of terraces and all of them were full. Suddendly, I heard a big CRASH sound, followed by an even bigger THUMBM!! and then I realized Sergio was on the ground.
His bike slipped and he crashed loudly on his right side, falling on a few plastic chairs from a terrace.
We all went there quickly, to check on him. Luckily, he was ok. He smashed one of the chairs (completely broken), but that chair saved him from having a much worse crash.
After double checking him and his bike, we moved a bit forward, on the next turn, there they were, our friends sitting on a covered terrace.
We looked for a place to park our bikes, under some roof, and we sat for lunch. Just after sitting, lighting and thunders started to crack the sky and a huge rain storm fell.
Unfortunately, lunch took a lot longer than expected. The service wasn’t very good and there were several misunderstandings (one being the waitress forgetting to actually order my food to the cook). There were a couple of anxious moments, but in the end all went ok.
Bill paid, bottles refilled and bellies full, we left Monforte without rain but with clouds everywhere.
We were starting probably one of the most beautiful parts of this Brevet, but also probably the toughest. We were going towards the Ribeira Sacra, one of the most beautiful places in Galicia. Basically we went all the way down from Monforte to one of the biggest dams on the Sil, Os Peares, and then we had to climb our way up along the river banks.
Right after leaving Monforte, we took a nice small road towards Ferreira de Pantón.
This was one of those nice and quiet roads from the rural countryside in Galicia. All the time going a bit up, a bit down, and then a bigger climb passing by the old cistercian monastery and then through the village.
When we were arriving in Ferreira, dark clouds were covering the sky. It seemed quite clear that it was going to start raining any moment now.
We left the village and entered an area completely covered by trees, thick foliage making a natural roof over our heads, making it difficult to know if it was raining outside.
What we were able to notice were the thunders. When we heard the first one, nobody said anything. When we heard the second one, I couldn’t help myself and said loudly - “Man, was that a truck on a big road parallel to this one?”.
Saúl laughed and replied - “Suuuure my friend, there is a huge highway just a few meters to our right” - and another thunder cracked, sounding even louder.
We laughed and we kept pushing the pedals, in hope of avoiding any big thunderstorm coming our way.
As we were leaving the woods, thick rain drops started to fall, just before the long descent along the river banks, towards the dam. Quickly, we decided to push a bit harder, see if we can either leave the storm behind, or cross it quickly.
It worked, we went all the way down to the river fast, and it was worth the effort. We had a bit of rain at the start of the descent, but when we arrived at the Os Peares dam, it had stopped completely.
The dam was the next checkpoint, km 205. We arrived there at 15:54 and we stop to take a proof picture.
On our way down we catched Juankar and Manolo again, and we took a moment to enjoy the gorgeous views of the dam, talk about how lucky we just had been - avoiding the storm - and take a few more pictures.
We crossed the dam and started the climb on the other side of the river, with a hard start, percentages around 14-16% and reaching 21%. At least it wasn’t raining!
The next few km were lovely. Right, it was tough because of those high percentage climbs, but going up there slowly gave us the chance to enjoy the gorgeous views around us. In fact, it was soooo, so, tempting to stop and take pictures… I guess if I wasn’t riding in a group, I’d stop a few more times.
Nobody was talking, you don’t talk a lot when you are panting, you know. And then, Roberto decided to play the DJ role. He attached his phone to an adapter on his handlebar and played some music… Highlights from a different era, from maybe 30 years ago, the spanish classics like Raphael, Nino Bravo, etc (I rolled my eyes and pushed the pedals, I don’t really like that kind of music…).
At one point, in the middle of another tough little climb, he selected a joke of a song from the 70s, La Ramona by comic and singer Fernando Esteso… That made the climb twice as hard, as it caught us by surprise and we started laughing in the middle of it. I was running out of breath and almost had to step down the bike.
The road was ok in those short climbs, but it was quite broken in a few of the descents. Treacherous, dangerous, those descents were full of holes and loose stones. I was being very careful, the last thing I wanted was another pinch flat, like in the previous 2 Brevets (the 400s). Then, in one of the descents, I noticed everybody was stopped a few meters in front of me.
Sergio hit a hole and got a double pinch flat. We quickly put everybody to work and in 15 minutes both tubes had been replaced. While we were replacing them, Manolo and Juankar passed us (we had left them behind a bit earlier) and I shouted - “Manolo! it wasn’t me this time, I promise!” - and he laughed as we remembered the last 2 brevets and my double pinch flat in the last one. “I see, but these things always happens in YOUR group, man!” - he replied.
We resumed riding, more short steep climbs, more broken descents. It seemed like a never-ending road at that point. We were running out of water, Roberto had been without any water for maybe an hour now and we were not able to find any fountains or places to get some.
Finally, we found a fountain and we did a short stop for refilling.
The last stretch, like climbing your way out of hilly hell, gave us probably the best views of the river and the vineyards around its river bank. The Ribeira Sacra is well known by the quality of the wine produced there, and all the way up from Os Peares we passed by so, so many vineyards.
It took us almost 2 hours to ride the 30km from Os Peares to Chantada. When we arrived there, the group split again. Roberto and Estefanía were ahead of everybody, me and Valentín a bit behind them and way behind were both Sergios and Saúl.
Valentín and I decided to wait for the others and then stop for a moment in a terrace to have a quick coca-cola together. I had the sensation that Sergio was having a low moment there. Maybe it was just me, but I tried to cheer him up a bit, and he didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
We gave Roberto a call, to tell him we were going to do a quick stop. He and Estefanía were already out of town, going towards the next climb - Alto do Faro - but he told me they would find a place by the road to stop too and wait for us.
The next checkpoint was 35 km away, in Lalin, and to get there we still had to climb our way out of Chantada, going up for 15Km up to Alto do Faro. We took it easy, finding Roberto and Estefanía a few minutes after leaving town. They already had finished their drinks, so we didn’t even have to stop.
We rode together for a while, then the group turned into a line and eventually we split again. I arrived at the top of Alto do Faro and decided to put some clothes back on (arm warmers, gillet). It was early evening and the temperature had already started to drop. Also, we had a fast descent ahead towards Lalin.
It took me a moment to dress up and by the time I was ready, I was alone. Everybody pushed it on the descent, so I did that part alone and I cought them on the next repecho, after the village of Rodeiro.
We arrived in Lalin, next checkpoint - km 280, at 20:17 and we were completely soaked. On the last descent we found the road completely wet. It seemed as if a big storm just passed by there before us. The roads were so wet and full of water puddles, that the spray our tires were sending up got us all wet in no time.
I tried to keep myself away from the others, to avoid getting even more wet on my upper body, but it was pretty much useless.
As we were entering Lalin, we met Maximilian and Emmanuelle again, they mentioned something about some gears trouble in Emmanuelle’s bike. Sadly we weren’t able to understand what they were saying, and they didn’t stop with us, so we couldn’t offer any help.
I suggested the others to do a stamp-and-coffee stop at the same gas station I did stop in the BRM 400 - Polas catro provincias Brevet a couple of weeks before. I knew the café there was nice and there was plenty of space to park the bikes on plain sight.
While having that wonderful cup of hot coffee, I ate the second piece of my bocadillo de jamón, which was the perfect companion for the coffee.
As I’ve mentioned already, it was early evening and the temperature was dropping. And at that moment, we were all wet, so things were not going to improve regarding the cold. We all decided to put on some more layers before leaving the gas station.
I put on the leg warmers and the waterproof shoe covers. I did hesitate about putting my warmer gloves on or not. I did, but then just after leaving I decided to remove them again and pack them into my gillet back pockets. It wasn’t THAT cold yet. I also kept my rain jacket at hand, in case I may need it in a hurry.
Putting shoe covers on was the right decission, as for the next few hours we would ride on wet roads and more water puddles. It definetely seemed like we avoided the worse of the storm by a short margin. All the way to Santiago my feet were a bit drier (they were wet already) and warm.
We had 40 km to go until Santiago de Compostela and from there, 20-something more km to O Pedrouzo, where we were going to stop and sleep for a few hours.
The road to Santiago was smooth and fast again. Even on the wet roads and with the ocassional repecho, it was so much fun. I spent a lot of time riding side-by-side with Roberto, talking, making jokes. How nice it is to have good company.
We also rode again with Juankar and Manolo. They were at the gas station in Lalin when we arrived and we left it together. While we had plans to sleep 3 hours after Santiago, they were going to do the Brevet without sleeping.
Hours were passing by, and soon we had a nice view of the sunset. We were riding northwest, so we had a good view of the sun setting over the horizon to our left.
We rode together for a while, but then Manolo and Juankar decided to stop in a village near Santiago to have dinner there, instead of trying to find a place in the big city, where things would be busier on a saturday evening.
We said our goodbyes and Roberto and me pushed on to Santiago, with the rest of the group behind us. After a while, we decided to stop at the top of one of the multiple repechos and wait for the others. It would be nicer to get into the big city together.
As we were approaching Santiago, we started to talk about what to do about dinner. Our idea was to arrive in O Pedrouzo before 23:00, but it was clear at that point that we were going to be late. One idea was to look for a place to eat in Santiago (I was dreaming of a dish full of pasta) but Saúl pointed out that a proper dinner stop would mean arriving way too late at the appartment we have booked.
Santiago was also the next checkpoint, km 320, so we had to get our Brevet cards stamped. We arrived there at 22:45 and we did a quick stop at a gas station at the entrance of the city. The gas station had a a small 24-hour supermarket, so we got in, got our cards stamped and bought whatever food we could find that was easy to carry with us.
I bought several empanadillas (traditional galician cake-like food, that can be filled with almost anything), meat, chicken, tuna fish… and a couple of Snickers chocolate bars. I put everything in my back pockets.
We left the gas station as quickly as possible, with Roberto still trying to finish the food he just bought at the supermarket. That’s why I decided to put everything in my pockets and eat everything later. Eating so fast usually causes me stomach problems later.
As I’ve mentioned already in the report for the BRM 400 - Polas catro provincias Brevet, I’ve lived in Santiago some years ago, and I know the city quite well, so I took the lead and brought them right into the old part of the city, to Plaza del Obradoiro and the well-known Catedral de Santiago de Compostela, where we took a few pictures.
We crossed the square and left the old part of town on a street that I’ve walked thousands of times long ago, when I was a student at the Faculty of Physics. So many memories from old times came at once.
Maximilian and Emmanuelle rode with us for a while, but on one of the traffic lights, or a roundabout, we lost them.
We took the old road that goes from Santiago to Lugo, my home town. Surprisingly there was almost no motor traffic, even for that time on a Saturday night. We passed by the Hotel Santiago Apostol on another little climb out of Santiago, then we took the Avenida de San Marcos avenue.
Suddendly, Roberto’s front light started to behave strangely. It switched to something like a flashing mode, but flashing too fast. Like one of those lights in a rave or some disco-bars. It was really annoying, and for him it was completely useless.
He tried to switch mode without much luck, then he tried to turn it off, but it won’t turn off. In the end, he asked us to stop for a moment so he could check the light more carefully. It seemed that some water got inside the light, probably causing some damage. He had some duct tape, so he covered the light with it, at least protecting us from the constant rapid flashing.
He didn’t have a spare front light, but we were a big group (7 people) so the lights of the rest of us should be enough if he stay in the group.
When he finished and we were about to resume riding, I noticed the rest of the group wasn’t there - “They probably went on slowly, they will be waiting for us a bit ahead” - I said. There were lots of street lamps anyway, so we managed… Until they were no more street lamps.
The rows of street lamps ended abruptly just before the entrance of the airport of Lavacolla. After that, complete darkness.
I was surprised the rest of the group wasn’t there, but all we could do was to keep on riding. I switched my front light into a higher mode, so we could have light enough for both of us. Luckily, my bontrager light has a beam that is quite wide.
I had a spare light with me, but it was packed into my saddle bag, so we decided to keep on like that, sharing my front light.
The night was specially dark, with the sky covered with clouds, the moon nowhere to be seen. It was quite the relief when we finally got near O Pedrouzo, and we found some street lamps again. Finally, we managed to arrive at our destination, the street where our appartment for the night was.
Valentín was waiting for us at the crossing of roads and streets and showed us the way to the entrance of the appartment.
We took the bikes into the appartment, taking turns to take the elevator (only person + 1 bike fit inside). When everybody was there, we choose rooms - I shared one room with Sergio - and then Valentín, Saúl and Sergio Pulido decided to visit a bar around the corner that seemed open, while the rest of us decided to stay.
I ate a couple empanadillas and some fruit and I drank a couple of big glasses of orange juice. The owners of the appartment left lots of fruit for us there (oranges, bananas, apples) as well as muffins, croissants and stuff to prepare breakfast (coffee, milk, juice…). Total luxury.
Then we took turns to have a quick shower, before going to bed. I was the last one having a shower, and while I was waiting for my turn, I re-packed things in my saddle bag. I removed the bags with fresh clothes for the next day, packed the dirty clothes of the day in those same bags, and I picked up a t-shirt and some boxers I brought with me for sleeping.
After the shower (which felt awesomely good) I went to bed and put the alarm for 5:00. I fell asleep instantly.
I woke up a while before the alarm (maybe 20 minutes or so?) feeling completely refreshed and fully awake. I picked up my things and went to the bathroom to get dressed. Then I went downstairs to eat something. I had a banana, an apple and an orange, as well as another big glass of orange juice.
Then I finished packing up my things and I took a moment to clean a bit the chain on the synapse, using some kitchen paper first to remove whatever could be removed, then putting some wax lube on it.
When everybody finished a quick breakfast and got everything ready, we left the appartment. It was around 06:20 and it was still dark outside, but a bit of sun light was visible on the horizon.
I did remember the problems Roberto had with his front light a few hours ago, so I gave him my spare one, which was good enough at that time of day.
Everybody was in good spirits and we were going fast on this rollercoaster of a road. Temperature was around 12ºC the sky was clear and there was no wind. Everything was just perfect!
When we were getting closer to Arzúa, thick fog covered everything around us. It was a bit annoying, but not as thick as the banks we had the day before, going up Foncebadón.
We crossed Arzúa fast, at 07:15, the streets were almost empty, with the ocassional pilgrim passing by. We pushed on, with the idea of getting to Melide, the next big town on our way, and stop there to have a proper breakfast.
Not that I was really hungry, but the idea of having a hot coffee was… attracting.
The mist we encountered in Arzúa went away after a couple of short climbs on our way to Melide. The sun came out, which was a plus to our overall good mood. Roberto started to play the DJ role again… more laughing.
We started to pass by (or cross) more and more pilgrims. Some were walking, some were stopped somewhere, like waiting for someone. Some were entering or leaving some of the sleeping places along the road. Every time we pass or cross one, or a group of them, we shouted “Buen camino!!” - the usual salutation to pilgrims doing El Camino de Santiago - and we always got something in response. Some times a nod with the head, some times a big smile, some others “Buen camino!” back or a simple “Gracias”.
We arrived in Melide at 08:00. I knew a couple of places there where we could have breakfast, but I was not sure if they would be open, so I warn the rest of the pack to look for any place that looked nice. I was sure that at least a couple of options near the big roundabout in the middle of town should be ok. As we were crossing the roundabout, I noticed a Churrería was opened to our left, so I called them to stop.
It even had a nice alley on its side where we could park our bikes and see them from inside.
We got inside and sat in two big tables. The place was full of people already and the waitresses were completely busy. For a moment, I thought stopping there was going to be a very bad idea, that it would take a long time to get breakfast and then another long time to pay for it.
Luckily, soon one of the waitress, an old lady that looked like one of the owners, took notes of what we wanted and delivered everything quite fast.
Big breakfast we had there (we spent a total of 45 minutes on it). We had coffee, churros, croissants, toasted bread… some people even had coffee and a hot chocolate! Everything was delicious and, as someone pointed out, it would be wonderful to stay there and have another round of breakfast, but we had a long distance to go for the day.
And so we left Melide…
I’m not sure if it was the 3 hour sleep, the super breakfast, the fact that we were riding roads I know by heart or all the excitement of being riding my first 600 Brevet… but I was feeling great, strong. A few times I had to pull the breaks not to get too far from the others.
At one point the fog was back, this time thicker, more dense, making it more difficult to see not only the scenery around us, but whatever was ahead of us on the road
By the time we arrived in Palas de Rei the fog was starting to go away. To cross the village we had to climb a bit and soon Roberto, Valentín, Estefanía and me were ahead of the others (up to not being able to spot them when we looked back). So at the cross roads between the main road to Lugo and the smaller road towards Ligonde (following el camino) we decided to stop for a moment and wait for them.
Once the group was reassembled, we resumed our journey following el camino backwards.
The next stretch would take us on another small, secondary road, still on the French way (Camino Francés). Another rollercoaster of a road, with a few double-digit percentage ramps on it.
We crossed a lot more pilgrims then. This road has a dirt-path-sidewalk for the pilgrims to walk on, so we passed by people doing el camino alone, couples, small and bigger groups; young people, old people… and people from a lot different countries (judging by the look of them). We were quite impressed with the number of Asian people we crossed.
And every single time, “Buen camino!!”, while waving at them.
We crossed the main national road that goes from Lugo to Santiago and we took the one that was going to get us to Portomarín, another of the well known stop places for pilgrims on their way to Santiago.
These were my roads, my terrain, the roads I ride more often during shorter week rides as well as connections to other roads when doing longer rides during the weekends. I felt myself home.
From the roundabout at Alto del Hospital we went down to Portomarin fast. We passed the village without stopping, without even going through its center, which has a nice main square and old church (it wasn’t a checkpoint and we didn’t need to stop for food or water).
We crossed the bridge over the Miño river and kept on riding to tackle the first real climb of the day, Alto de Paradela.
As I told Estefanía and Valentín, this is one of my usual training climbs. A gentle 6-7 km climb with a moderate average gradient, good tarmac and nice views.
After Portomarin, we went up and down for a few km, crossing another bridge, this time over the Loyo river, well known for the eel that live there, and the couple of restaurants that prepare delicious dishes with them.
Just after crossing the Loyo, we started the climb. We were all together, but the steepest part of this climb is precisely at the start, and soon our group was split again, with Roberto, Estefanía, Valentín and me ahead of Saúl and both Sergios.
On and on we went, all the way up until we arrived in the village of Paradela at 11:00.
I think I made my slowest time ever on that climb, riding the bike with all the extra bags and weight made a big difference (+ all the km and climbing already on our legs).
We did a short stop at the fountain in the middle of the village, where we waited for the others while refilling our bottles and eating something.
Once everybody was ready, we resumed riding, this time towards Sarria. A long and fast descent, with a couple of short climbs in the middle. This should be perfect for a quick recovery.
On the descents, I took advantage of the extra weight on the bike. I knew this road by heart, so I was confident when cornering. I guess that gave me a bit of an advantage, and soon Roberto and I were way ahead of the others.
At one point, a small white car (toyota yaris, maybe?) passed me too close, way too close and then raised its speed dangerously to approach Roberto. The driver pulled the breaks hard being too close to him and then did something very, very, stupid, trying to pass Roberto on a turn, just to pull the breaks in the middle of the maneuver and keep driving on the other lane.
The driver was completely reckless and almost caused a crash when another car was coming in the opposite direction. We were lucky that he/she finally passed Roberto without any other crazy maneuver (and no accident).
When the rest of the group catched us, they told me that the car almost crashed into me, just before doing all those crazy things behind Roberto. We were very lucky there.
Apart from that short moment of danger and tension, I enjoyed that part of the ride a lot. When we reassembled, on the first short climb after the longer part of the descent, we passed by green fields, pastures where cows were having their morning snack
We passed by Sarria - 11:40 - without stopping. As it happened in the previous villages and towns, I didn’t have to look at the gps or map, so we crossed town quickly.
There was no time to waste, but we did a short stop on our way out to change clothes a bit. I finally removed my gillet and replaced the long sleeve jersey with a summer short-sleeved one.
I knew the hardest part of the day was just around the corner. Short climbs again after Sarria, on our way to Samos, and then one of the two biggest climbs we still had to do.
The temperature already started to get higher, slowly raising, and before we arrived in Samos it passed the 20ºC mark. After another couple of short climbs the group split in two again, just like it happened at the start of Paradela.
We waited a bit, to check if everything was ok with everybody, and Sergio mentioned he would appreciate a coffee stop, as he was feeling a bit sleepy. I told him Samos would be perfect for a coffee stop, we could stop there by the old monastery, take some pictures and have a coffee.
One more short climb and then we had a long descent into Samos. Before starting that descent, I told Roberto about having a quick coffee stop in Samos, to which he agreed. On the descent, the group split in two again, and Roberto, Valentín, Estefanía and I arrived in Samos first, at 12:27.
We went all the way to the monastery, where there were several cafés with some nice terraces, and we stop there to wait for the others.
On our way there we passed César, another asturian randonneur doing the Brevet. He was sitting on a terrace, eating something.
We waited for some time but the guys didn’t appear. Estefanía went into one of the cafés, to use the bathroom and we waited a bit more outside, just in case they would pass without noticing us.
After a while, Valentín got a call from Saúl. They were already having coffee somewhere. We told them we were by the monastery, asking them where exactly were they, but they couldn’t say. “Weird” - we thought - “Maybe they did stop at the first bar they saw, at the entrance of the village?” - I pointed out.
We waited for Estefanía to come out of the café and we rode back to the entrance of the village. There they were, in the bar of a hotel. There was some misunderstanding about where/when to have the coffee stop, but things were cleared up over some hot coffee and something to eat.
During the stop, we attempted to talk about when/where/what we should do a proper lunch stop, but it was clear that everybody had a different oppinion about it, so we left Samos without deciding anything.
Before leaving, I took a moment to put some sunscreen on. The sun was shining strongly then, and I didn’t want to get sunburnt. I also repacked things a bit in my bags + refilled the top tube bag and back pockets with more food.
My idea, before arriving in Samos, was to take a group picture with the old monastery from the XI century on our backs. Due to that little misunderstanding, it wasn’t possible, but I managed to get them all on camera while we were riding passing it.
The next village was Triacastela and we had to climb our way there again. We tried to keep the group together, talking about options for that lunch stop we would have to do, eventually. Roberto proposed to stop at a place he knows in Vega de Valcarce, which was very close to the next checkpoint (Villafranca del Bierzo), while Saúl proposed eating something at the top of the next big climb, Alto do Poio.
Personally, I didn’t have an oppinion. I was feeling fine and I’d been eating regularly all day long, going through the stash of food in my bags and pockets, so I was ok with whatever the guys decided.
After passing Triacastela, we were already in the first serious long climb of the day. Alto do Poio, 15 km climb with an average gradient of almost 5%, all the way up to 1335m. Just long and steady, without double digit ramps, the way I like climbs to be!.
I was feeling strong, so I looked for a pace that was comfortable for me and started to spin the pedals. In a few minutes, I had left the group behind and I could not see them anymore.
The views were awesome and I was having so much fun, and then, dark clouds quickly covered the sky and a light breeze started to blow. Even the temperature seemed to lower a bit. All of a sudden, I saw a lighting, then another, and then I heard the crack of the thunders.
A broad smile on my face, I couldn’t help it and suddendly I was humming Thunderstruck by AC/DC - I love that song - while thunder started to sound more and more closer to me. Unforgettable Brevet moment right then and there.
After the thunder it came the rain. Thick big drops at first, then transformed into a torrential shower. When it started to rain harder I did a quick stop to put my rain jacket on.
It took me one hour to get from Triacastela to the top. I had to push the pedals under the rain for maybe 20 minutes or so. I can’t complain, I don’t mind riding under the rain - some times I even like it - and the temperature was still “ok” (around 15ºC).
A bit before the end of the climb, it stopped raining and the sun came out briefly, as it fo warm things up a bit. There was also a bit more wind, so both helped getting me dry.
Pilgrims were walking on the other direction (towards Santiago) and most of them were wearing huge rain coats, suits and big plastic hats.
I did another short stop to remove the rain jacket, it was warm and sunny and I wanted to get as much dry as possible.
When I got to the top I saw the bar Saúl mentioned for lunch. I decided to stop there by the sign of Alto do Poio and wait for the others. I had more wonderful views from there, and I could sit on one of those metal barriers by the road. It was warm, as the sun had been warming the metal up for a while.
I put my rain jacket back on to avoid getting cold, and then I decided to treat myself with the last piece of my bocadillo de jamón.
I finished the bocadillo and waited a bit more. Dark clouds started to cover the sky again and it seemed like it would start raining again any moment.
Finally the group appeared and it started to rain. They didn’t stop and I got on the bike and resumed riding with them. We went down Alto do Poio for a moment, just to climb again, this time to Alto de San Roque to pass by the Monumento al peregrino, a black statue of a Pilgrim, made in honor of all the pilgrims that pass by there on their way to Santiago.
After we passed the statue, there was another descent, towards O Cebreiro. We didn’t pass by that village though, a few km in the descent we left the main road and took a short and very steep climb to our right. Another smaller road that would take us to A Faba and then Vega de Valcarce.
As minutes passed by, the rain was getting stronger. It was a pity that it started raining harder. The next descent ahead of us was really beautiful, but that small road with very sharp turns, and raining hard… it was a bit too dangerous to enjoy it fully.
Roberto and I did the descent passing by A Faba alone, ahead of the others. He was a bit nervous descending on those narrow wet roads, so we took it really easy. He also had a couple of dangerous encounters with cars that were passing too close to us, on the other direction.
It was raining harder and by the look of the darker clouds approaching us, it was going to get worse. So, when we saw a bar open by the road, in the village of Las herrerías de Valcarce, we did stop right away. They even had a small stone porch on the other side of the road, where we could park our bikes and keep them dry.
Roberto went in right away to ask the waitress if we could have something for lunch there, while I waited at the door so the others could see me. A few minutes later I saw them coming and I waved at them. They stopped and parked their bikes too under that porch and we all came inside for lunch.
While we had lunch, the worse of the rain storm passed over us. There was a moment when water was hitting hard the windows of the bar and we were so glad of being inside.
We even had desert and/or coffee, waiting a bit longer before leaving, giving the storm time to pass. In the end, we spent 1 hour and 15 minutes in this stop.
When we went outside, it almost had stopped raining. Luckily, it wasn’t cold, because we still had to go down to Villafranca del Bierzo. We rode for bit more on that small road and then we took the bigger main road towards Villafranca. Time to play a bit more the game of taking turns to pull - “el juego de la plaqueta” as they called it.
It stopped raining, but we found lots of water on the road, even a few big water puddles that looked like small lakes. Gladly we didn’t find too much traffic at that time.
We crossed the tunnel that led us into Villafranca, the next control point at km 516. It was 17:15 and we decided not to stop there. We had our Brevet card stamped in the place where we had lunch anyway, so here we did a short stop by the road to rearrange clothes/layers and we resumed riding.
Time to ride on another roller-coaster road. 90 km to go. I thought I’d be more tired by then, that the amount of hours and climbing - with barely 3 hours of sleep - would take its toll on me. But I was feeling good and not tired at all.
After a couple of short climbs, the group was split again in two, as it had been happening all day long. We got back together again at another gas station stop, to do a quick refill of our bottles, a bit before arriving in Ponferrada and with “only” 72 km to go.
We crossed Ponferrada for the second time this weekend (we already crossed it after descending from Foncebadón on saturday morning) but this time instead of taking the road south-east to Molinaseca we took the road north-east towards San Miguel de las Dueñas and Bembibre.
That road out of the city was steep and with lots of traffic, but luckily we had a couple of vías de servicio (those service roads that go parallel to main roads that you usually find on the outskirts of big cities and in industrial areas).
I noticed I was putting some distance with the group again, so I tried to slow down a bit, forcing myself to keep riding in the group.
At the end of that short climb out of Ponferrada, we had a fast descent on the other side. We were on the bigger national N-VI road, which there is a big and wide main road, so we were going down quite fast. Roberto was leading and I simply followed him, blindly, trusting he knew where he was going. Turned out he missed a right turn and we had to improvise a bit to get back on track and join the others a few km later.
Time to play a bit more “el juego de la plaqueta” and take turns pulling. One km, another km, another one… We passed Bembibre and Las Ventas de Albares and the game stopped there, as we left the faster main road to get into another smaller secondary road.
We were approaching the final climb of the Brevet, Puerto del Manzanal from Torre del Bierzo. I already knew this climb, as we did it on the other direction (descending it) in the BRM 300 - Del Urogallo a few weeks ago. Now it was time to climb it.
Somehow I already had put some distance with the group at Torre del Bierzo and, honestly, I didn’t feel like slowing down and making the climb longer than needed. So I did what I had been doing all day long, spin the pedals, find my rythm, and enjoy the climbing.
Another long (14 km) and steady climb, without high gradients but with gorgeous views to my right, which got better and better on every turn as I was getting higher. The first part of the climb goes on a snake of a road that twists itself all the way up until it joins the bigger N-VI. On its right, a cliff that goes down a long distance, offering a superb view of the valley below and the old mines and quarries in it.
I have to admit that I feel a bit of regret now, for not taking the camera out on my way up. The sky was blue, no trace of those dark clouds anymore, and the views were sooo nice. I guess I was having so much fun simply cycling, that I totally forgot about the camera.
When I got to the join with the N-VI I stopped for a moment, to look back (there is a good view of the smaller road from there) trying to see the guys, but I couldn’t see them at all. After a couple of minutes, I decided to keep on going and finish the climb.
The second part of the climb was on the N-VI, bigger road but still nice, as the road there goes on some very high bridges with some incredible views. Soon I passed the village of Manzanal del Puerto and finally I arrived at the sign that marks the end of the climb.
I did stop there to wait for the others. I took some pictures, ate something and then I put some more clothes on. From this point on, it was all the way down to Astorga and then to San Justo and it was getting late and a bit more fresh.
After 10 minutes, anxiety started to grow on me. Up to this very moment, I had been ok, but it was 21:00 already and we still had to get to San Justo before 22:00 (the time limit).
The group hadn’t arrived and I started to worry. “Maybe something happened?”, “Another flat tire?”. And then, something came to mind, a memory from the BRM 400 - Braganza, when Saúl took us on a shortcut road to avoid an extra 4 km in the track we had… What if… what if they took a shortcut and they weren’t going to pass by this sign?
I gave Roberto a phone call, no answer. Couple of minutes later, second call, no answer. “Ok” - I thought - “five more minutes, if they are not here by then, I’ll resume riding alone”.
Just when I made my mind to get on the bike again, I saw Roberto appearing on the last turn before where I was waiting. I was SO relieved. I got on the bike and resumed riding with him. Then he told me they others were coming a bit behind him, but they had stop to put some clothes on before the descent into Astorga.
We catched up a bit, I told him I was sorry I dropped them on the climb, but I wasn’t feeling like slowing down on that last climb. I also told him about my worries, about arriving over the time limit. He talked me out of the anxiety, being kind and understanding my worries.
Just before entering Astorga, the others joined us. First Valentin and Sergio Pulido, then the others. We crossed Astorga and took a small road towards San Justo, passing by the cemetery.
The sun was setting and the thick clouds were on us again, so we turned on our front and rear lights once more this weekend. Everybody was happy, we shouted and congratulated each other. We did it, we did this beast of a 600 Brevet and we had a great time.
We arrived together in San Justo at 21:45, only 15 minutes before the time limit.
We congratulate each other, we hug, everybody was happy after such a good weekend of cycling, after having finished such a tough challenge.
For me, it was an awesome experience. During the previous days I had been nervous, excited, maybe even a bit worried. The kind of feelings you have when you are about to get yourself into something new, uncharted territory, something you had never done before. But everything went by the book and I had so much fun. I think this has been the best Brevet so far this year.
Sergio left us quick, as he wanted to go back home for dinner with his wife. Me and the others went inside the Oasis to have dinner together.
We had a wonderful Tortilla, with some good bread and some beers. We talked and talked and laughed. I savored the moment, every bit of it. After dinner everybody took their own way, and I went to the Hostal El Juli - next door - and into my booked room, to have a shower and a well-deserved all-night sleep.
As usual, here is some data taken from my activity in Strava:
