Garmin Supertravessia - TransPortugal

Garmin Supertravessia - TransPortugal

Todo Bien: The TransPortugal Mountain Bike Race

I’m always looking for the next challenge. It started when the Sunday Riders, a small group of friends who ride together, decided one Sunday to enter the TransAlp. It was 2001 we didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for really (and we were told as much by the other English entrants that year), we just thought it would be a great way to go riding every day in the Alps. Anyway the four of us finished it, weren’t last in the mixed category and enjoyed it so much we decided to enter the first ever TransRockies the following year. We finished that then we tackled La Ruta, the Cape Epic and having completed the ‘big four’ as we called them what was left?

I’d met many friends during these events and remembered Jose Maria telling me about this race in Portugal, from north to south, it sounded good. Guided only by a Garmin GPS device the race had been condensed this year from 11 days into 8 days, I decided I would enter. Unfortunately no other Sunday Riders could make it so I talked it up to honorary member, Keith Bontrager (another friend met during these events) and off we went to Lisbon.

Like La Ruta this is a solo person race. In other ways it is like no other. The rider is totally self sufficient during each stage. You’re allowed to stop and buy food or water but not take anything off any support vehicle or race follower.

Riders are awarded time advantages for being women and over 35 (great, I was both) KB was also over 35 and considerably (sorry) more so than me so I figured a Whacky Racers style event was in the making, him chasing me down every day, me trying to stop the catch by any means necessary (evil snigger).

We transferred from Lisbon to the start in Bragança (a 6 hour drive) and were given a lesson in GPS usage. I was concerned about this but it all seemed pretty straightforward, put the arrow on the pre-downloaded red line route and stay on it. What could be simpler, a blue line shows where you’ve been so if you go wrong you retrace the path and get back on it. I tried it out that evening by leaving the group before dinner and riding up into the amazing fortress town that is Bragança, an array of tiny cobbled streets, surrounded by old city walls, oops I was lost within minutes. After a bit of concentration and a long trip around the old and new town I finally located the hotel and managed to get back just in time for dinner!

24 people were entered this year, four South African Cape Epic finishers, the previous years winner Cal Burgart (another friend met during the big four) who at 63 was even older than KB. The rest were Portuguese including one other woman.
Sunday dawned hot and sunny and Cal set off 11/2hours before the main group, I started ½ hour later, KB some 20 mins after that. It was a 141km stage to the town of Freixo with 3750m climbing. It was tough, 38º a big climb at the start and then constantly undulating dirt tracks and climbs for the rest of the day. The scenery was incredible, really remote riding and the GPS seemed totally reliable, pointing out water stops and any major left or right deviations from the track. I was in a quandary – how do you ride when you’re not in a pack? Just put your head down and try and make up time on the guy in front I guess and don’t look back too often!
There were 3-4 checkpoints each stage; nothing provided just great encouragement and times of the riders in front if required. By 50km I was wondering where everyone was, I hadn’t seen Cal and nobody had caught me yet – weird, it didn’t last long. Ricardo Melo (this years race winner) and the fast boys were approaching, very polite as they passed by and of course they give you that 10 second opportunity to try and keep up with them. Anyway the day ended and only 4 people had managed to overtake me, Cal was still ahead so I ended up 6th. A little crowd had gathered in the tiny village to welcome us, wow this was going to be good.
KB suffers terribly in the heat (despite the fact he’s a Californian) but finished along with 18 of the other riders. Only day 1 but with 6 not finishing and a very long hot day in the saddle for all of us the race was already taking it’s toll.


Day 2 dawned way too quickly. After dinner and the race briefing, there wasn’t much time for sleep and recovery. Freixo to Affliates another long day, 113km but slightly less climbing 2152m, and this mainly in one long 20km slog. Highlight though was a long single-track descent on huge black slate boulders into a deep ravine mostly rideable except for some very exposed switchback corners. This however didn’t help those saddle sores, which most people seemed to have after the day before, it was hot again and the long undulating track for the second half of the race was into a head wind. Many didn’t finish this stage (KB being one of them) so I got 4th! Then the rain started, heavy thunderstorms all night, was really it really summer in Portugal?
Day 3 and Cal set off in torrential rain, me in slightly less torrential rain and it had virtually stopped before the others set off. The thunderstorms continued off and on all day, this was to be one of the easier days with a distance of just 107km and altitude gain of 2100m. It went through the wonderful hilltop village of Monsanto and Antonio the race organiser deviated the course around the cobbled streets so we all got a guided tour. An awesome rocky descent and some lovely climbs made this one of my favourite days of riding, that and the fact that I’d overtaken Cal at last and led the race for at least 2 hours! KB and Cal pulled out of this stage in Monsanto – a great place to do this. Both felt unwell and were unable to eat anything, they weren’t the only ones.
Day 4, more rain overnight and mud, deep, wheel sapping mud alongside a river valley that we were to follow for quite some distance. Cal and I got there before it was too badly churned up but the sheer effort of pedalling and the gumming up of every part of the bike made it really hard going especially for the later riders. This was a rocky stage and we had been warned about the 5km of rocky track we had to cycle along. Flat and awful, you can’t sit down, you can’t get any rhythm and every part of your body aches. This was another of the ‘easier’ days 108km, 2445m altitude gain. The finish was another fantastic hilltop village Castelo de Vide, the sting in the tail was the steep cobbled climb up steps to the tiny street where the villagers had allowed us to finish.

I had to attempt at least a bit of the climb and even managed a few of the steps egged on by a group of local children before the sheer effort of it got the better of me and I had to get off and walk the rest. A few more casualties today including the other woman rider Christina who had sustained a fractured rib on a descent the previous day but had nobly started the stage and continued the next few days too. They’re made of tough stuff these Portuguese women.
Days 5 and 6 were two of the longest stages. 161km with 3650m altitude gain followed by 168km with 2394m altitude gain. How were we meant to get through this given what had gone before? Take it easy and pace yourself was Antonio’s advice. We had now entered the Alentajo region of southern Portugal where acres of arable farmland meant gates became the issue . Not easy-opening gates, but gates strung of wire (sometimes barbed) between wooden poles and fastened so tightly they sprung open and projected themselves across the track in a tangled heap when released.
Now remember I mentioned the Whacky Racers earlier, well KB I actually saw on this stage but unfortunately when he dropped behind a little and I couldn’t see him after waiting a while, I was so concerned with escaping cattle I closed a gate. We’d been riding, 3 of us together, and leaving the gates for the next person to close. KB didn’t see the closed gate as he was looking at his GPS at that moment managed to hit it at some considerable speed and projected himself some distance without his bike. Oops, no evil snigger, it wasn’t deliberate honest! He did however have to drop out later that day with a niggling back injury. Me, I continued, managing to write a note and leave it on one gate for the next person to let them know to close it after I’d spent a considerable amount of effort trying to refasten the bloody thing (yes I was carrying paper and a pen). We were to go through some 60 or so of these.

The finish in Monsaraz was shortened Day 5 to avoid yet another mighty climb up to the village, Antonio was becoming concerned with the attrition rate. Christina had crashed into my back wheel coming out of a descent just before the last checkpoint and she’d fallen again, I got off lightly with a broken spoke. My concern was would I make it back in time for England’s world cup match starting at 18.30. KB was sitting in a bar watching the afternoon match that day as I stopped for water – ‘do you think I’ll make it back in time for the start?’ I said. ‘Not unless you ride like the wind’ was his reply or something similar, anyway it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. ‘You’re so bloody lucky not to be finishing this stage’ I said as I stormed out.

Tears rolled down my cheeks today on yet another rocky section, the saddle sores were agonising and when I was out of the saddle my big toe nail which was near to falling off was banging against the top of my shoe, why am I doing this…….? I think this was my bad day!

Anyway I made it back at 19.00, KB had organised a quick lift for me to the hotel to see the match and I lay down in the bar of the beautiful pueblo style hotel and watched the remainder with a beer (England 2 Trinidad & Tobago 0).


The second 100 mile stage and again Antonio had to step in and change the route a little, mud had made one section impassable so we were grateful to be diverted onto the road. Sunflower fields were a feature of the landscape we were now crossing. We seemed a little closer to the end, grape vines, not seen since the Douro region in the north, were replacing crops and cattle. The weather after a brief reprieve yesterday was back to rain and head wind, the mud was sticky, the gears barely shifted but KB caught me, albeit after 130km. It makes such a difference having someone to ride along with for a while. We finished muddy and tired in Castro Verde but with only two more days to go the end was nigh.
Day 7 saw us riding 117km with 2552m altitude gain. Antonio had changed the course again to miss out a big cross country climb which could have been muddy, unfortunately the first 6 riders that day, me included, didn’t see the arrow drawn on the road to deviate us, we ended up following the original course, we were given time back at the end of the day. Many deep, brown water rocky river crossings later we started into the mountains of the Algarve. The Garmin led us through eucalyptus woods to one of the biggest climbs of the race. Up through many false switchback summits to the top of the mountain on difficult slate rock terrain. This sort of climb you’d love if you had the energy. KB climbed it all, while some of us only managed a few sections. Many of the Portuguese really looked forward to this, it was in their back yard, they were nearly home. An equally long descent led us to the finish in a beautiful Algarve hotel in Monchique where we could almost smell the sea.
Day 8 the shortest day of the race, only 95km and 1950m altitude gain. My 5th place overall pretty secure, I decided to take some photos, and actually take it easy. I’d only taken a few photos during the rest of the race and was deeply regretting not stopping when I saw a huge stork nest perched atop a telegraph pole with the stork mother and chick peering over the side, cute eh (well I am a midwife!) The single track in this stage is the most you see. After one awesome steep descent over a mountain and up the other side, with a gentler bail out switchback descent for the tired among us, you hit the coast at 50km and start along the cliffs behind the beach.

Wow it’s spectacular, even more so when you start riding it, watching and envying less insane people as they sunbathe, swim and throw Frisbees. A few hike a bike sections later and singletrack terrain very similar to the that in Fruita, CO (of all places) you see a lighthouse in the distance that is the finish at Sagres.
The ride to the lighthouse is through pot holed sand, not really easy going and like everything in Portugal constantly undulating. The finish is right on the beach, a bevy of the support staff blow whistles and scream as you approach the ramp that takes you right onto the sand, bemused sunbathers applaud. It’s done, it’s awesome, a bottle or two of Sagres beer seems fitting now. Cal won the final stage to redeem some of his lost esteem after his disappointment at having to drop out earlier in the race and KB rode the last 3 days in fine form.

That evening the award ceremony was held in a local restaurant and we all got our finish certificates and the first three riders their prizes. Throughout this race the organisation and support was incredible. Antonio Malvar the race organiser, an accomplished endurance rider himself, knows Portugal like the back of his hand. All of the stages are off-road with only a few connecting road sections.

The stages finish in some of the most beautiful villages where a food tent was set up for the riders, notably potatoes with olive oil and salt and other snacks and drinks. We were taken to the hotel accommodation for the night our bags were already in our rooms, dinner and breakfast were provided. The food in Portugal is really very good and there was always plenty of it, pork, steak and bacalhau (salt cod) being the staples. Antonio was on hand to help with any bike problems overnight and his team of helpers would do anything they could for you. A briefing was held after the dinner outlining the next stage. This, in true Mediterranean style, happened quite late at night. A brief outline, for those of us who preferred sleep, was provided by Louize (designated English translator) at breakfast.

If you’re looking for a challenge and like to race then this is an incredible event. It’s tough, when you race you push yourself to the limit, doing so you’re going to see parts of Portugal it would take you years to see as a tourist. You’re going to meet some great people too – and you just might get hooked! If racing isn’t your thing Antonio also does this route as a tour, over 16 days.

By the way, I got the picture of another stork nest on the way back from Sagres to Lisbon!