TransPortugal Day 4

Today was 110km with about 2,900m of climbing, "easy" says Antonio after the first few days. There were a couple of notable climbs, but the rest was "Portuguese flat" which is like riding rollers at the nordic center for 6h - entirely draining. Few puddles, but other than that, blue skies and warm. The scenic highlight of the day was Monsanto ("the most Portuguese town"), a hilltop town where everything - houses, stores, churches are built into/around/against the massive granite boulders of the mountain. We climbed up to it via the Roman road exit and left through the entrance, and all I can say is if human technology stuck with Roman roads and didn't advance to the more standard European cobbles, suspension bikes would have been invented centuries ago.

Craig had been reviewing the course profile last night, elected to carry enough water for the whole day, and speculated as to where the attacks may happen to split things up. Turns out his analysis was pretty sound. I can't do Craig's racing play by play justice, but to cut the story short, he won. I'd say it's mostly because he's awesome, with some badass thrown in for zest. It's one of those moments where you love your friends for being who they are, with a layer of awesome on top. And his GPS was on! No rumours have surfaced yet on whether he's cancelled his plane ticket home due to the appeal of the Euro stage racing scene... although he's all smiles with the general vibe of it all so far.

Kate did a 7th but I haven't heard the story, other than once the lead group went by that she bridged back up to them after one more time on some technical.

Sounds like Jon had a good day and ended up 21st. Everyone is doing the "right thing" and placing better than their age except me!

I felt sluggish off the start and forgot to load my map, so had to wait till a smooth enough stretch of dirt to do some on-the-go GPS adjustments. After 50k felt ok, lots of longer climbs, one descent where a screw top rattled off my bottle, and some fast granite sand paths. At about 70k our group had coalesced to 8. A ninth rider, a faster Portuguese guy went by after recovering from previous derailleur issues. Went right up to the front and rode everyone off. I did a couple seconds of pondering then decided to go hop on, figuring I could probably do at least a good portion of the 2+ hours left at that pace. One Dutch guy came up too after a few minutes, then a last Portuguese so it was 4.

The 4 didn't last long. Portuguese one fell off on climbs with a skipping derailleur, number two stopped to eat I think, and Dutch guy and I carried on. He stopped on a hill after pulling away from me to oil his chain. I said I'd work with him till the finish for some oil (today's the first day I left mine cause it was all blue skies, but also probably the day I needed it most). He pulled out a snack and said he'd catch up...

So I was on my own till Monsanto. Finished water before getting there, and started riding the Roman road, but after 3 up sections I elected to walk as I was absolutely dripping and figured I didn't need to bonk/dehydrate to prove some technical skill when there's still 30k left. Refilled with water in town - which of course was steep, and entirely unique/beautiful.

Most of the rest was rollers/45 second power climbs, so reeled a bunch of people in who apparently don't have the tendency to coast fast into them, pedal over top, avoid brakes on way down.

Ended up rolling in at about 5:50 time, nice to have an "easy" sub 6h day for once. I'm winning the contest for most sore Canadian investment banker crossing Portugal by bicycle. I also rank high in loving the finish line food. I should probably finish off with a bit more food on the way in, but once I know I'm in range to make it, a gel or other is hard to take. The sea salted and olive oiled potatoes with oregano, proscuitto, chorizo, cheese, beans and tuna, bruschetta like stuff, fresh bread, dark chocolates, coke, peas/corn/peach salad, are my staples, but there's another 10 items out every day. The spread is nothing short of heavenly.

Vanessa the massage therapist, who's appears to be made out of nothing but Portuguese friendliness and a magic set of healing hands did great job of helping me repair. Cassie from Bend is also great, but I have only foggy memories of a day or so back when I piled myself onto the table in a dishevelled heap. She had a classic line that essentially went "I'm not nearly as messed up as after day one two years ago" when she helped me deal with the after effects of riding all day in the heat so I was just a cramping, sore, tired mess. Ahh, the things you can laugh about later.

Our hotel is absolutely dripping in old world charm and elegance vs. yesterday's new one. The building is old, but Craig and my double bed setup is a minimalist decorated room with a full patio, glass headboard with an inch of space so the 6' tall impressionist art can hang nicely. To properly picture the accommodations thus far, discard thoughts of "bike race hotels" and picture more like "freedom 55 upscale retirement celebration trip through Portugal".