Super Randonneur… twice!#
One of the targets for this year was to complete the Super Randonneur series (do 200, 300, 400 and 600 Brevets in the same year) as that was one of the requirements to be able to participate in PBP.
It did sound like something I could do, but I had never done a 600 Brevet before, so it was a bit of a challenge.
Last weekend I finished the second 600 Brevet of this year, which means I’ve not only done the complete series… I’ve done it twice, riding 2 Brevets of each of the required distances.
The 200s
We started the season with low temperatures and lots of rain. I did both 200 Brevets in Galicia, missing one in Astorga because of some family trouble.
The first one, Polas Terras Altas went much better than expected. It was the first Brevet of the season, time to meet old friends again and make new ones. This year it was also the time to talk about our common dream, the goal of the year, participating in PBP. And all that with temperatures near 0ºC.
The second one, Vacas e Peixes, was probably one of the toughest 200s I’ve ever done. We had very bad weather, with lots of rain and humidity, which broke me after a while (preventing me from eating and drinking properly while on the bike). It was one of the few Brevets in my life where I ran out of steam at one point, having to readjust my pace and adapt in order to be able to finish.
The 300s
For the 300s, I finally managed to go to Astorga again to do a Brevet, after having so much fun last year on both a 200 and a 300 there. The first 300, del Urogallo was perfect. We had a few long and steady climbs mixed with roads where we were able to roll fast. Nice scenery and views from quiet secondary roads and good company.
The second one, Percorrendo a Raia was a bit special. Organized by the guys from the Riazor Cycling Club and Galicia Randonneurs, this one didn’t start in Bastiagueiro. Instead we started from Tui, a small village in the province of Pontevedra, in the south of Galicia. The weather wasn’t perfect and we had again lots of rain, but that didn’t prevent us from having a great time riding along the invisible border between Spain and Portugal, enjoying our usual Galician roller-coaster roads and a few tougher climbs.
I made both 300 within the same week, followed by the first 400 the next week, another challenge for me, as I had never done so much km in 3 weekends.
The 400s
For the 400s I did also the first one in Astorga and the second one in Galicia.
During the BRM 400 - Braganza we left Spain and went into Portugal for a while, including the longest lunch stop in a Brevet ever, to enjoy some Portuguese specialities. I rode this one with a group that somehow is now my group for Brevets in Astorga, friends from a variety of places (Astorga, Leon, Asturias, Madrid). This was also the first time in a Brevet when I had physical problems that almost made me scratch. In the end everything went well and I did finish it in time.
Back in Galicia, in Bastiagueiro, it was time for the BRM 400 - Polas Catro Provincias. I started that one with lots of doubts after my left knee problems, but everything went perfectly fine. For this Brevet I was back into my galician group, the Mesoiros, plus the addition of our new friend Álex. We rode on roads from the four different Galician provinces (A Coruña, Pontevedra, Ourense and Lugo - in that order). Once again, roller-coaster roads and a few longer climbs, without much time for resting or rolling on flat roads.
The 600s
The 600s. The distance I had never done before… and yet I did it twice this year. Two brevets, so different to each other like day and night.
The first one, the BRM 600 - Santiago, started in Astorga and went all the way to Santiago de Compostela, following the French Way (El Camino Francés). Riding with my astorgan-brevets group, plus our friend Roberto, we did a short stop for sleeping in the middle of the Brevet. We booked in advance an apartment in a village near km 340, and we had a 3-hour sleep there before resuming our ride. This was my first 600 ever, an experience I’ll never forget.
The other one, the BRM 600 - Galaico Asturiano started again in Bastiagueiro and went through the northern part of Galicia and into Asturias. Marked by an early crash that sent our friend Alex to the hospital, things were a bit shaken for a while. This time we decided to do the whole Brevet without a sleep stop, and it worked out quite well. I didn’t miss the sleep stop at all. I learned a few valuable things, like the fact that - if needed - I’m able to ride my bike without the prescription glasses, and how important it is to bring some meds to fix gastric problems during long distance riding.
Looking back, riding all these brevets have been an awesome experience. Lots of good moments, a few not-so-good moments, and a lots of things I’ve learnt one way or the other.
Definetely the year I’ve ridden the most (time, km, elevation gain) in my life. It feels like a mark in my randonneour life, a point of no return.
And now, what? PBP will take place in a bit less than two months from now, so I should keep on riding my bike, training, keeping myself fit for it. There are still two more Brevets in my calendar before PBP, a BRM 1000 in Galicia and another BRM 600 in Astorga. Thing is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do those, somehow it feels like adding too much stress to my family life.
But, one way or the other, I’ll have to keep on riding my bike, combining short training sessions with long days on the saddle. I don’t want to throw off the window all the effort done up to today.