TransPortugal Day 9 wrapup

This morning had a few long faces. Jon and Craig aren't eating and are feeling ill. Craig and I reversed roles and for once he slept in till last minute. I did his bottles and bike, and found one of the 4 bottles had a lot of mold going, so mystery solved on his end.

All three of us started, although Jon's front tire appeared to be going soft at the start line.

We did the sharp climb, the rolling roads, the valleys towards to coast. Craig was behind, Jon was too once he stopped to fix the flat. None of us were riding very fast. Eventually got sight of the ocean. Once I saw ocean, my achilles heel for the day became my left achilles - no prior sign of pain but it wasn't happy today. Did the walk across the beach, then the steep climb up to the straight shot descent.

A Spaniard was behind me and insisted on doing the cross-country race "me first" move onto the descent, I just took a line a few feet to the left. It's a steep, behind your seat, only can rub off speed but accelerate the whole way down kind of descent with loose rocks. I got the perfect action camera view of him coming unglued, rolling a few feet on his front wheel, then exploding with bike and body rolling down the hill. I just stuck to my side and rolled on.

Few more ups and downs along the coast... came around one corner and saw a water crossing full of jagged rocks in the descent, and thought it'd be perfect to unweight and skip getting a flat. Thought I did so adequately, didn't feel any real impact, but rear tire didn't like it and was flat. Lots of Stans in the tube, but it was a long rip. As I put in a tube Jon came by. He said Craig's combo of no food and sore left achilles had him abandon at a cafe earlier so Jon rode on.

We did the last two climbs together, then the tailwind flats toward Sagres. Despite the slight downhill and tailwind with some paved sections, we were doing everything we could not to make it. I was standing for the majority of the last 15km with my left heel on my left pedal to avoid employing my achilles, other than a few road downhill coasts where I could clip in and do no pressure spinning. Once we ticked over the only 10km to go mark, about two minutes later Jon went into a bout of dry heaving and other excitement while riding. We were going to finish, but it certainly wasn't coming with elegance today.

We finally made it into Sagres and through the entire town to the beaches on the east side where the finish line was. Felt nice to be done - sat motionless and enjoyed the commotion. As we sat there Craig rolled in as he changed views and softpedalled the remainder of the day.

Photo and dip in the ocean, then up to our minimalist white hotel to pack bikes. My crank arm is stuck on so mechanics working on that, other than that I'm just super mellow.

This last week took more energy out of me than I thought. Just to finish this race you need excellent fitness, an advantageous power to weight ratio, reliable equipment and navigation, and a head stubborn enough to deal with all the rest that appears along the way. The route crosses the country in the longest way possible, to take in the mountains, plains and algarve. For all that, I get to sit on an elegant patio looking at sail boats bob in the marina and the big blue sea.

Kate finished 4th overall which is awesome, the race organizers loved her.

I beat my age with a 29th, and the finishers paper they give you is very nice with a high resolution map of the route in the background.

Craig and Jon didn't officially finish but they had more than enough memories for the highlight reel regardless and thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it was punishing on all of us.