MAD OLD MAN: 2024

Final day of this cycling adventure crossing the Pyrenees was an easy one. Not in terms of distance and time but in terms of the intensity of the Mountain climbs. It was strange knowing that it was the last day and that 2 weeks of daily cycling passed already. It was great to know I would manage to complete the whole journey with no incident and I was feeling good enough despite a bad night sleep.

The day started with an overcast weather, cold and cloudy and I only understood why after we completed the first climb of 6 kilometers straight out of the hotel door. The Elgoibar village sits on a very narrow valley and the clouds were just hanging on top of the city the top of the hill was as sunny and warm. Nice view. We also started not as a group but staggered small groups of 2 and 3, as some were eager to finish the ride sooner than others. I was in the last group with Dale and Paul.

From there we had a long rolling hill road and some cities to negotiate traffic before the first long climb of the day, 8,5 kms of average 6% gradient. I started as last of the group and decided to keep a steady cadence of 60 rpm and HR of 150 and change gears to keep it steady. It worked great and I could catch up with almost everyone. Only Dale was ahead and I was just 10 meters behind Cliff at the top.

At the descent I let the bike roll and barely touched the breaks for a long time with some top speeds between 60 and 68 km/h. Really fun and safe. In one of the cities on the way Cliff and I regrouped and we continued until the first eating break with 55 kms on the teller. We would have a quick bite but that turned into a long break again. I decided to stay with the group in the last day and enjoyed taking it easy. I guess we were all tired. We rolled all together to the second mountain of the day, the famous Jaizkibel, part of the Classica San Sebastián race.

This climb is a little harder at the beginning with ramps of 11% and then it gets easier after the first 2 kms, rolling around 6 or 8%. And from there one can see the sea already. First the bay in San Sebastian and then the open sea. And even getting a little sea breeze to cool down. I climbed in the same way and finished feeling really good and in a fantastic view of the ocean.

After that we celebrated completing all big climbs and headed down to the city for our last challenge, the Igueldo climb. Before that we had to cross the city center and the famous coast, which was super annoying with so many people, cars and traffic. San Sebastián isn’t made for cyclists in lycra.

The Igueldo climb is a brutal 2,5 kms ascent that stays constant above 24% and has ramps of 16 and 19%. Brutal after 1.400 kms on the legs! It pushed me to the limit but I managed well enough, just behind Dale. After that we just rolled down to the hotel and the final celebration and photos with the whole group before getting to our rooms and a well deserved shower.

And of course to wait for my girlfriend arrival after 3 weeks without seen each other, to enjoy a good long weekend in here with nice views and good food.

To say that I enjoyed this event would be a huge understatement. It was a dream come true. I enjoyed everything. The planning and training was long but well done, including the rides in the heat and hills of Alicante; the travel thru France and Spain incredible scenery; meeting fantastic new people that I enjoyed been around non stop; the different style of hotels and food we encountered every day; the ritual of each end of day before dinner to write the daily recap for the blog (and on time so Dale’s mother could follow the day’s events) and finally the accomplishment of riding thru so many mountains passes, cities, roads, wild forests and farms all powered by my own legs, heart and lungs. I am proud and grateful for the privilege of being able to do such thing!

Now, time to enjoy the weekend and go back to normal life. And start to think what’s next… 🤔

From left to right: Dale, Paul, me, Cliff, Dave, Gert-jan, Maarten, Aaron and Kevin. Amazing guys.

Under the clouds there is a town.

Next valley also under the clouds. Great views.

Jan cooking for us! I haven’t eat this much ever

It is funny that it says max of 10% and immediately it goes to 12%. But qnot funny hahaha

Views while going up the Jaizkibel

Hang in there bro. Almost done.

And done.

Happy on top of Monte Oiz.

A day with a plan. 122 kms, two major climbs of 11 and 16 kms and 2.436 vertical meters of elevation required something new. That was ride 11 of this trip. Second last one as well.

So far, I have been more or less sticking to the group dynamics. Stopping at every feeding “station” and spending more or less the amount of time the team takes to get rolling again. Sometimes that takes quite a long time compared with I’m used to: seconds to refill a water bottle and get going. The effect of those long stops is not exactly nice on my body. I have to warm up all the way again and my legs are stiff and painful. It really lowers my performance.

So, I decided to make today a Wagner day. Aka, stop as little as possible and keep moving. At least until the top of the last big mountain of the day where I could wait and regroup. I even announced that this was my plan in the dinner table and that I wanted to reach the bottom of the first climb, 33 kms away from the within 1 hour. They thought I was joking.

From the get go in the city, after fumbling with traffic lights and directions, I went in front and injected some pace to see if anyone was willing to cone with me. Luckily Dale was, which was great. He has been a great companion during these days when we get it going hard on the rolling hills. In the climbs he is much stronger than me. Working together we pushed quite hard to a point that I started doubting if this was the right move.

At some point I was in front on a downhill and the tarmac was so bad that my water bottle flew from the bike. Luckily Dale was behind and saw where it landed. I would lose a lot of time trying to find it! We stopped, clected the bottle and went down that road like a bag angry cats. Really fun. And just like that we reached the city of Eratxabaleta, at the foor of the first big climb, in 1 hour and 1 minute. First part of the plan succeeded!

SECOND PART - the climb from Aretxabaleta to Oxandio, was a 10 kms climb with average 6% but with a lot of small flat and descending ramps. Which meant we had to deal with parts of 16%, 14%, 12% and 10% was almost the normal incline. Really a hard climb with bad tarmac to make things more difficult. But between pine trees and no cars. Right at the beginning, while Dale hadn’t drop me yet, I finally told him my plan of not stopping and he was cool with it. At the top, I filled my bottle, ate a small piece of bread and a glass of coca-cola and off I went. Dale decided to wait a little longer.

The descend from there was not really a fast one. But more a flatish gentle slope against the wind. But I was set on the plan. Went is low as possible on the bike and kept eating and drinking all the way to the third climb: Monte Oiz.

THIRD PHASE - with 71 kms on the legs and pushing the whole time, I got to the foot of Monte Oiz. A 16 kms climb that would have a first 1/3 of the route with very steep ramps. Very similar to the first climb. I just kept the legs turning and was trying to stick to a cadence of 55 or 58 rpm with a heart rate of 155 bpm. In that way I spent the first 8 kms. Just churning the legs and controlling my breathing.

With 8 kms to the top, the navigation on my Garmin went crazy. It was an intersection of 3 roads and 2 gravel paths and the Garmin kept sending me in different direction. Our Van showed up but Jan, our driver, wasn’t the wiser and couldn’t help me. Luckily a local riser approached and I could ask directions. In this process, I lost a good 10 minutes. Ouch!

And then something strange happened. While I was talking to the other rider, I heard Jan talking to someone. I assumed it was Dale, who should have been close to me by this time. So, I was convinced that in this he passed me on the climb and I started chasing him. Really trying to “limit my losses” and not be too much behind him. This part of the climb was easier, with ramps around 4 to 6% and I could keep a good speed.

When I got with 2 kilometers to the top, the road turns right and gets really steep. Something like 16 or 18%. Really hard after 14 kms of hard riding. When I’m 1/3 of the climb, I hear the Van coming down. He tells me that the climb is too steep and I shouldn’t try. Especially because we would need to come down that way anyway. I then asked him if Dale had gone to the top. And he said: No, Dale is behind you! I was flabbergasted. I have been chasing a ghost for a long time.

I decided to go down and that I wouldn’t go all the way to the top. Around 7 minutes after that, Dale showed up and decided to give a try. It was fascinating to see him battling the steep part of the mountain. 20 minutes after him, Aaron showed up and I told me it was too steep. He just looked at me without stopping and signal me to follow him.

At that moment I had more or less half an hour of rest and ate and drank enough. So, I decided to give a second shot. And I am very happy that I did. The climb was hard as hell, I was as sweating rivers and putting my lungs out bit managed to complete it non stop. Paul showed up and we finished very close to each other. Great feeling and amazing views! Really happy that I did and even manages to do a facetime call with my girlfriend and took a ton of pictures.

From there Dale and I just went to the finish line, our hotel 25 kms away. It went very quick with fast descents, one gentle hill of 5 kms to climb and a fast downhill to the city of Elgoibar. Great day and a plan executed almost to perfection if I had listened to my guts all the way. Happy man today 😀