TransPortugal Day 2

Even being sent out solo into suicide headwinds for a 5+ hour ride, Kate held onto 6th with nary a draft to be had. I'm seriously impressed. Her stitches are looking clean. She met some dogs that scared her but didn't bite her. She's smiley at the end. After yesterday's post, I learned that her fuel for day one was 2.5 bottles and 2 bars. And maybe some uranium in her pocket?

Craig had an awesome day, with lots of racing action that he loves. Climbed the first climb with the yellow jersey, made it in a great group to Castelo Rodrigo, then the lead group got away. 8th on the day, which is great. He's really digging the old world charms; riding through a beautiful fortified town and up to hilltop castles is just plain badass no matter how you slice it.

Jon had a fun descent over the old Roman path as expected, had a solid climb up the other side, then once in the shadows of Castelo Rodrigo decided to hit the grocery store to stave off a food crisis. Among other adventure, had a good day, although doesn't know his time or place.

Today was headwindy from what seemed like all riding directions. Antonio said yesterday was the hardest, today was shorter and would help us recover, and tomorrow is going to be super hard. What I think, and I've heard some consensus around, is that today was more draining than yesterday's 3,840m vertical and 142km even though it was only 110km and just a snick under 2,900m of climbing. Or maybe that's the illusion of second day fatigue for those being walloped. No free pedal strokes today.

Although level of discrepancy between my level of fitness and the parameters of the course is painfully massive, the sights of the walled/fortified town and Castelo Rodrigo were beautiful.

I think I was a touch under 7h. Felt ok this morning. Felt like a bike rider on first few climbs. Had fun on the big descent. The 20k climb into a headwind wasn't easy, did much of the day without drafting, but unlike Kate it crushed me. After Castelo Rodrigo I made an hour of downhill cruising, an hour of riding, then did my best Japanese nuclear reactor imitation by performing a meltdown... but rationalized how to keep my stuff together and was happy when I made it past the point where I abandoned and went to eat snails last time. Abandoning that time was the right thing, now that I know just how much and how hard the remaining part was, it would have been entirely futile. Cruised slowly though the fortified town, then got my act together enough (mmm, love forcing in calories when you've got that don't want to swallow a thing feeling in your gut) to latch onto a bunch of other Canucks which was good motivation. The last 60k were hard, and I emptied myself (even after eating everything) to stay with them for motivation.

I feel 90% f'd and the rest is just painfully sore. It's miraculous actually how many parts of my body are sore and feeling abused.

The hotel is very nice. Dinner buffet, salad buffet and dessert buffet were great. I melted in a bath with my 3rd plate of potatoes, beans and tuna, washed down with lots of coke (the other "black gold"). Washed my clothes from yesterday and today while bathing - it seems Tide Ultra really lifts the dirt from me as well. Suffice to say my hair has never felt so clean. My massage therapist said my legs were really dry and laughed when I told her why.

So back to which of the first 3 days is the hardest... a Portuguese guy I was talking to today said that bar none it's tomorrow. Everyone can have their opinion; but the takeaway for me is this isn't shaping up to be a very easy 3 day boot camp.

We climb the Sierras Estrellas tomorrow, which are the biggest mountains in the country. Same distance as today, but 3,700m of climbing. That might break the long day record for this guy.

As I'm trying to clean up my stuff, I bend over like an octogenarian because my lower back muscles are fried. The hotel we're in is exceptionally nice. It's sweet solace dragging oneself into a place like this. 2h after race finish I feel decent, wouldn't really trade this for anything.

Pat Dodge this race is made for you... hardman 6h days where self sufficiency and not stopping are rewarded, heavy on the engine and less emphasis on technical, organisational precision for the race overall, and beautiful hotels.