Trans Portugal, DAY8, ALBERNOA - MONCHIQUE

8th STAGE / 17 MAY
ALBERNOA > MONCHIQUE
138 Kms
Climbing - 3086 m

Weather - 33c and hot
Stage Place - 3rd
Overall Place - 3rd

Wow what a day.  We started again at 9am and within the first few km there was just four of us.  Jose lead the way with me next, Aaron and Luis hanging on at the back.  A few gates later and Jose was following a rider in the distance.  I looked down to see we were completly off track.  We had to back track a good kilometre till we came back to the track.  Easy to see why we missed it as it was a ploughed feild with the track 30 metres away.

We finally caught Danny's group after a good hour or so and went straight past.  Luis had allready dropped and not long after Aaron was gone as well.  Just me and Jose.  We had a discussion about how much time I needed to keep my third place.  Jose said something to me which helped me the rest of the day.  "Never give up".  I repeated it often.

Jose left me behind at roughly 45km on a rough uphill and I was 50-100 metres behind him on top of a dam wall on Tarmac.  I came across him a few minutes later on track as his GPS was switched off.  Offered to help but nothing that could really be done except swap batteries.  I continued and he come straight past me a few minutes later saying it had just switched off.  At 50km I came across him again at the first water point of the day.  We left together and I spent another 10 km in his company before the first climb of the day.

The first climb was good and not to bad. Just long but not to steep.  Down then through a checkpoint before going back up the other side.  Again not as bad as I remember from last year.  The next big hills were due at approx 110km.  I took some water and a coke at a shop somewhere at 90km.  Poor shop keeper and lady he was serving must have though I was mad.  Drunk half the coke in the shop and threw two litres of water into the camelbak and into bottle and back on the bike quite quickly.

I tried to rest till the next big climb but never really works.  Knew I has to push on and get Peter.  Finally saw three riders in the distance and knew I finally had them.  Right at the bottem of the big climb.  Used to be an awful climb.  It gets steeper and used to get rockier towards the top.  In the three times I've done it this year was the easiest.  Road in much better condition.  I must have distanced them 2-3 mins on this climb.

Post this there was only two Tarmac climbs to go.  I pushed hard to get us much time as possible.  I was told I was 7 minutes behind Kate but was only really interested to get time on Peter.  Turns out I was only 2 minutes ( I'd miss heard) and everyone thought I would catch her.  I put as much effort as I could into these two climbs.  I'm sure it will not be that past put hey I've ridden hard the last eight days.

I finished third for the stage and approx 90 seconds behind Kate.  I also finished nearly 10 mins in front of Peter which makes tomorrow much easier to keep 3rd in GC.  He's 18.5 mins down but gets a 20 minute head start.

Fingers crossed all will go well tomorrow

Trans Portugal, DAY7, ÉVORA - ALBERNOA

7th STAGE / 16 MAY
ÉVORA > ALBERNOA
102 Kms
Climbing - 812 m

Weather - max 32c but actually not to hot and even a mild spot of rain
Stage Place - 6th equal
Overall Place - 3rd I think (just)

Horrible day...set off with the pack at 11am for a fast and furious ride into the wind...

Jose set the pace on the front and I helped where I could.  Luis was really struggling today.  We caught Danny's group after less than 15km.  That's how fast we were going.  Luis asked me if I was staying with Danny.  My aim was to get to Peter and the best way was to push on regardless of who was in the group.

The pace was high and it was obvious that Luis was having an off day.  Jose went back to get him once or twice and he was dropping on the rough fire roads with any slight incline.  It's always tough on this type of road and so easy to drop the wheel in front and you are gone.  Myself and Jose had the discussion that we couldn't wait all day.  Jose wanted to win the stage and I needed to get Peter to keep my GC place.

Jose attacked us with a helper at approx 40km.  The helper went, Jose overtook him and then the helper left the gap.  I was to slow to jump onto Jose and the 10 metre gap became 20.  We pegged it at about 50-100 metes for the next 2-3 km.  By 50km he was out of sight.

There was now four of us (Danny, Aarron, Eduardo and me) and we basically worked hard all day together.  I think we averaged close on 28 or 29km/h for the whole stage.  We made no stops what so ever except for 3km from the end when Danny lost his rear wheel and had another crash.  30 seconds to a minute to check he was all right before we continued.  Huge chunk out of his knee and lots of blood.  We should get the time credited back to us anyway ( except Danny) and if not It's no big deal.  I'd rather make sure someone is OK than leaving them in a ditch.

We crossed in 6th place which is the lowest place so far this year.  Jose mucking around at the start probably cost him the stage win.  I dropped another 15 mins on Peter and he has closed rapidly on me in the last two days.  Hopefully the mountains tomorrow will help me but I will still have to chase like hell.

Think I will still be in third on GC but only just.

Trans Portugal, DAY6, CASTELO DE VIDE - ÉVORA

6th STAGE / 15 MAY
CASTELO DE VIDE > ÉVORA
167 Kms
Climbing - 1554 m

Weather - bloody hot !!! 38c
Stage Place - 4th equal
Overall Place - 3rd but maybe slipped to 4th

Well... Not sure what to say...it's been a long hot day that's for sure.

First 20km were the steep up and down bit.  The rest was Portugese flat on never ending dead straight roads that never seemed to finish.  Portugese flat means it's actually never flat and at 38c they are a killer.

We lost Jose on the first climb.  Not by a lot but enough for us not to see him again.  From here it was myself , Luis and Aaron that hung together.  We passed Danny on the trail.  Asked what was wrong and all I got told was we've been here for 10 mins already.  We creasted the hill and sat up with should we wait or should we go.  We hung around for 20 mins or probably longer on these massive rolling roads.  You could see riders 2km behind you.

Edgar bridged the gap to us and said Danny had lost his chain.  What this normally means is it's just off the chain ring.  In Danny's case he had literally lost it.  Off the bike completely and no idea where it is.  Turns out when we saw him it was being fixed and then on a rough downhill it had flown off the bike.  He had to run back up the trail looking for it otherwise his race was over.  They found it and repaired it for he second time with help from others.

We were 4 riders and pushed on.  I set the pace up the climbs to keep things moving.  It was a big wind again and we all worked fairly well together.  At the stops we went for water and lots of it.  Some went for coke at cafés whilst others lubed chains.  First stop was 69km in and it was already 35c.  It got to 38c later.  2nd stop we were all together still and had picked up a fifth rider.

We picked up Raffalle not long after the last water point and he hung with us for an hour or so.  There was a horrible old train track which we followed.  A bit odd cruising through old closed railway stations with no train tracks.  Horrible but fast track into a wind and it always felt up.  The group was working really well but I was not looking to finish with them.  I was looking for a place to get away from the group.  

Finally happened at the end of the railway.  On a 180 degree turn the wind was now tail and it headed up.  Perfect.  Only 10km to go.  Wasn't the best attack I ever did and Aaron bridged the gap to me.  Few more hills had me thinking WTF and did I make the right choice.  Running close on empty Luis only 50 metres behind me.  It did stick although it was not helped by two bad navigation decisions on my part and having to turn back twice.

Myself and Aaron finished together with the same time in 4th and 5th, and I gained 1-2 mins on Luis.  However Peter in front of us must have had storming day.  He's starts 20 mins in front each day and yet had 25 mins on us today.  Ouch !!!

Not sure which GC place I will be tonight but going to need to pull some finger out to keep third in the next three days.

Tomorrow is going to be just as hot and even faster.  We averaged over 27km/h on MTB trails for 166 km today.  Tomorrow is only 99km and flatter again...

By the way lovely hotel !!!

My room is there somewhere

The ice bath with Jose the leader post massage

View from the pool over the rooms.

Trans Portugal, DAY5, MONFORTINHO - CASTELO DE VIDE

5th STAGE / 14 MAY
MONFORTINHO > CASTELO DE VIDE
144 Kms
Climbing - 2186 m

Weather - 36c bloody hot
Stage Place - 4th
Overall Place - 4th or maybe even 3rd !!!

Wow what a day.  You knew it was going to be hot even before it was.  The view from the hotel window about 7am

The plan today was to take it easy until the last big water point at 105km and then push.  The stage is long and the first part fairly easy,  the last 30km however has a sting in the tail and you are always heading up.

Best made plans don't always work.  We lost Jose of the front somewhere near 10km on a smaller hill.  The Energizer bunny is what I've started calling him.  It was just myself, Aarron the Aussie, and Luis left.  We pused on and a few kilometres later Jose was stopped for a wee on the side of the track.  We linked up and Jose put the hammer down.

Big tail wind, but rolling fire roads,  it was hang on or be gone.  We flew past Danny, Edward and co like they were standing still.  We lost Aaron over the rolling hills here somewhere.  We did a quick splash and dash for water at 35km mark and the hammer went down again.  Jose the machine just sat on the front and eased up just a bit on some of the smaller climbs.  The talk was that we could catch Kate and put some big time on her today.  You also know your going hard when you reach for the first Gel at 20km.

At close on 75km or so Jose left us again.  We had just averaged over 31km/h for 2.5 hours on MTB trails !!!  Myself and Luis sat up for a bit of a breather.  Some where Luis had taken a knock to his calf from his pedal and was staying he could not feel his foot.  We hit a check point and stop sign at approx 85km.  I was just about to go when Luis said "water, water".  Stopping for me was not really in the plan for me and I knew I had enough till 105km.  

Its important to ride your own race and I left him to it.  Put the head down and pushed on not to hard in case he came back to me.  What followed was once again a lonely ride.  Just before the water stop I saw Jose just ahead of me.  I was a bit gob smacked, race leader still in sight !  I stopped at the water point and he did not so, I guess he'd just stopped elsewhere.

I took my time at the water point and filled up, lubed the bike, gels out of the back pack and still no one came.  From this point last year Danny took huge chunks of time out of me.  Wasn't going to let it happen this year.  I pushed on through the rolling terrain.  Planned where to take my gels to space them out and get me home.  I caught two guys on the climb, I mean walk if the day.  One of them was Peter the Belgian who is a danger for me on GC since he is strong and gets a lot of time on me each day.  The climb was 500 metres straight up at 25-30%.  The garmin was measuring 36c !!!

I rode the top of the climb and off into the hot day,  I was guessing I was 4th on the road and still hadn't passed Raffelle.  Caught him 10km later and straight past.  The last 15km felt like an eternity,  not much energy and no more Gels.  The last two km were steep and hot and rough cobbles.  Delight to see the finish line and I think my time was almost under the course record !!!

Turns out I was 4th for the stage, and Jose had only caught Kate in the last 500 metres.  She must have had some stage today.  Another Belgian Eric was third after a strong ride.  He was penalised 30 mins yesterday for missing 700 metres of recording on his Garmin.  Luis did not come in for quite some time and he does not look good.  Hobbling around.

Not sure where I am on GC just yet, but it could be close with myself and Luis.  

Tomorrow is the big day, 167km and it forecast to be even hotter.  Fingers and toes crossed all goes well.

Trans Portugal, DAY4, UNHAIS DA SERRA - MONFORTINHO

4th STAGE / 13 MAY
UNHAIS DA SERRA > MONFORTINHO
107 Kms
Climbing - 1739 m


Weather - max 34c, hot and very windy
Stage Place - officially 3rd, but really 2nd equal
Overall Place - 4th

Wow what a day, I knew what I had to do today,  stay with Luis on the first climb.  Mission acomplished which was helped by him making a small navigation error right at the top.  As usual I was 50 metres behind him.  After this we rode together till we caught Danny, Edgar and Edwardo (no idea how to spell this!!!)

The five of us worked together and fairly evenly shared the pace.  Was a big wind which helped us all to conserve energy.  Luis said he wasn't feeling 100% but hey we all have bad days.  I'm not quite sure where but on a Tarmac climb, Luis and I rode away from them.  We eased up to let them rejoin as it was too far to go on our own with a big wind.  I wasn't sure how much help Luis would be just on our own at it was too early.  The next climb a few kilometres away decided it.

A steep dirt track and at the top the three of them were no where to be seen.  We eased up a bit and got stuck behind a tractor with a load of logs for approx thirty seconds.   We yelled and screamed for ages waiting for a chance to pass.  Danny and co still hadn't arrived so it was time to push on.  

We caught various individuals all on there own in the next hour or so.  I put the hammer down with Luis in tow and pushed the pace on the climbs.  Luis helped in the wind and we made good time.  Luis and I knew we needed to catch Peter who gets a 20 min head start each day.  

In the distance was a very historic town of Monsanto.  Its beautiful.  The coolest thing is there's a steep rough roman track all the way to the top.  Love a challenge and aside from loosing traction at the bottem and having to walk 10 metres it was awesome.  I really pushed the pace up here and just enjoyed it.  We caught Peter walking with his bike and sailed straight past.

The decent was not so cool.  Round a corner and past Agnelo one of the TP photographers and I lost the front wheel.  Not so cool.  No real damage done but important not to crash if you want to finish !!!  This photo is seconds before I crashed.

We stopped for water at the bottem and pushed on.  We spied Kate in the distance on her bike.  Must have taken us a good 10km to get to her though.  We pushed on for the last fifteen kms and a few kms from the end agreed to cross together.  It's always a relief when you spot the village in the distance and know your nearly done.

Tomorrow will be another awesome day !!!

Trans Portugal, DAY3, GUARDA - UNHAIS DA SERRA

3rd STAGE / 12 MAY
GUARDA > UNHAIS DA SERRA
108 Kms
Climbing - 3069 m

Weather - max 32c warm and windy
Stage Place - 4th
Overall Place - I think I moved up to 4th

Not a lot to say about today.  Once again a long lonely ride.

We started at 9am again and the first hill was about 5km from the start.  Jose lead us there all the way.  The climb starts with a 100 metre maybe 22% tester before easing off.  Jose powered ahead and I stayed fairly even with Luis until closer to the top.  Turned around and no one behind me so it was time to push on.

Lovely 4km technical down which consists of big rough roman slabs.  Passed Edgar down here somewhere and found out later he'd had a wee off.  Fortunately nothing damaged on bike or body.

On the first big climb of the day I caught Danny and he was climbing well.  Been telling Danny for a while he can climb but just has to believe it.  Passed them and they came back to me not log after on a big flat.  I wasn't going to stop for water at 35km but did anyway.  Bit of a disaster.  Open the camel bak but manged to let more water out than in.  Trundled off up the road with Danny in pursuit.  Thought they would come back to me so didn't push on too much but didn't see them again.

I came across Peter not long after this.  Tube in hand and his comment was bloody Schwalbe tyres.  I found out later he'd had six punctures to go with the two from yesterday.  I suspect his bike will have two new tyres tomorrow.  A bit unfair to only blame the tyres when the rider has a lot to do with it bit six is a lot!!!  I took over 30 mins out of him and passed him in GC.

On the 2nd big climb of the day I was already in 7th place.  Well that didn't last long...I was 4th by the top.  Even had time for a smile.

Stopped at the bottem of the climb for more water and probably took far to much.  Hate carrying to much extra crap.    That was it really.  On the third climb I was 7mins behind Luis at the bottem and arrived 8mins behind him at the finish.  Tomorrow will be another good day !!!

Trans Portugal, DAY2, FREIXO - GUARDA

2nd STAGE / 11 MAY
FREIXO > GUARDA
110 Kms
Climbing - 2134 m


Weather - 29c and sunny
Stage Place - 3rd
Overall Place - I think still 5th

Wow, what a day.

Started at 10am today with the other 17 riders in my bunch.  We rounded the corner from the start line straight to a small testing hill that's maybe 18% and there was only 4 of us left.  Not long after this Jose ( the leader) was gone with Luis in hot pursuit.  I let an Aussie do the chasing and we caught Luis before the next climb.

Luis pedalled away again in the climb but I stuck with Aaron the Aussie who was setting an ok pace.  We caught Luis at the top after he had turned the wrong way and it was down to the most technical part of the day.  Luis rode away from me on the tarmac road before we even got there.

Took the descent nice and easy and passed a load of riders.  That would include the leader Jose who was walking...that felt good !  Passed a walking Edgar and caught Danny on the short climb on the other side.  Which is more of a walk really except I was running...

We regrouped a bit and Jose steam rolled past.  We jumped onto the back of him and chased down Luis and just before the climb we were back together.

A climb in a valley which they call the oven was about 5km long.  It's typically a lot hotter than the surroundings but this year it wasn't so bad.  Aaron was climbing in front of me so I let him get on.   We rode together from here till the castle ruins.  This basically marks the top of the hardcore climbing.  I'd said I'd wait since he appeared to be strong on the flats and  I thought we could make some good time.

Splash and dash with a quick lube of the bike and me yelling at Aaron to get a move on.  He said he was ready so I left only not to see him.  I pushed on and he came back to me 5 km later.  We hit this simple track which was a bit rough and he was gone.

So I pushed on.  Basically lots of single riders, a few jumped on my tail but unless they are prepared to pace and draft me they are just baggage.  Got rid of most of them within 2-3km of meeting them today.

At about 85km a rider in the distance was spotted.  Turned out to be Luis going quite slowly.  He had crashed at 70km and was not in the best shape.  Blood dripping from his nose and just said he was not feeling the best.  I pushed on but Luis is too good for me to get rid of like the rest.  We came across the 3rd place GC just before the technical climb.  I went straight past and gave it some.  Pretty much lost him straight away.  We knew at this point there was only two riders in front.  It was a going to be a good day.

I managed to cross the line 3rd with Luis in tow.  Turns out the Belgain (3rd on GC) had 2 punctures.  I don't trust Some tyres and below picture will show why...all had the same brand fitted.

The bike was good but has a new headset on it overnight.  The old was shot to pieces.  All that in just 18months of owning the bike.

Seems like my training program and hard work over the last few months is starting to pay off.  Dinner and sleep calls and we are into the Portugese mountains tomorrow.