TRANSIBERICA Ultracycling Race Film I 3600 km Ultra Endurance I Bikepacking the Iberian Peninsula

when life itself seems lunatic who knows where madness lies [Music] i don't know why i'm doing this [Music] crush with a deer [Music] i feel like don quixote and sancho panza lugar de la mancha we were right in transit america bilbao spain is where transverica starts and finishes it is my longest race so far and the first one self-routed meaning that you have to create your own route you have 10 checkpoints including climbs like the turmalet it is around three and a half thousand kilometers 50 000 meters of elevation and you have to bring your own snacks because it's fully self-supported definitely a new challenge and an adventure ready for sure [Music] roberto why did you decide to sign up for transiverica holidays [Music] pretty exciting it's very exciting to see a lot of people the first time in spain the race starts at the famous guggenheim museum with a five kilometers neutralized zone after which you can follow your own route and this time we race in the first category along team ghost ultra transit verica it starts today at 9 00 pm so i will be riding through the night let's see how it goes 3 300 kilometers or more so it's gonna be a real challenge and sell route it let's see excited let's go [Music] [Music] first climbed on now on the way to burgos [Music] there we go it's 1 30 am keep on going until the next checkpoint [Music] [Applause] [Music] crash with a deer but i'm fine i think i just only breathe my clothes comment on the first night russia dear let's see let's see how it goes [Music] what a night not even the ch point and i already crashed into a deer and we just did some trail and another deer [Music] finally after a little accident with a bambi a deer we managed to make it to the first checkpoint and getting lost on the trail so let's see how the race goes today the two male tourmalet turmeric [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the first 12 hours to cp1 there was a distinct routing split between riders some riders opted to head west into the province of burgos like us and others is into la rioja maybe because of the wine all that stuff that's what i call diy [Music] from freezing to boiling hot bring some sunscreen [Music] super warm but i have an ice bun life saver [Music] the area around zaragoza was so hot that we decided to take our first hotel break during the day also to clean my wounds as i didn't have time after the accident charge devices and catch up on some sleep as we were planning to ride through the night you have to make the most out of every break mamas [Music] do [Music] for the night [Music] [Music] so tired nearly one in the morning on the way to the pyrenees come barely hello [Music] i should be until here see 7.5 [Music] i don't know why i'm doing this i don't know how many hours we'll be hiking but i feel like i'm gonna faint they too i thought day one was really hard but this is really anything i expected a hiker trail but you actually have to carry your bike and it's pretty steep yeah that's the trail i wanted to take a shortcut to call the tomale freaking heart but uh no there's no way back so just keep on going made it to the top now down that's a real adventure hold the tourmalet last push 10k to finish the tourmalet let's do it [Music] [Music] i don't know how we made it tackling the logical puzzle of pyrenean routing towards cp2 while on the way to cp1 the field split into just two strands the mace of the pyrenees where cp2 and cp3 are located made the road choices a lot more diverse the vast majority of the field entered the region around the turmoil cp2 from the northwest we made a surprise move by picking a much more southern and direct route including an over 20 kilometers stretch of extremely challenging very steep and non-rideable gravel and rubble entering france by puerto de bujarello at 2273 metres this route choice was matched only by two other riders [Music] from tourmalet to cp3 most riders headed north towards cp3 to save some climbing in the nest river valley re-entering spain by it on the ray but we were an outlier you guessed it the gravel pair a nickname we earned because of our interesting road choices in this case we decided to avoid the pave called the span and instead book a room in an overjet behind a very steep gravel section north of it saving at least 12 kilometers making some memories and enjoying an amazing french dinner good morning day four today 2 30 am time to reset i was really i had a lot of anxiety from yesterday and also i had a knee and achilles pain so it was good to take a night of a sleep and now two to two or three a.m in the morning pitch black but uh time to hit the road again with a fresh mindset [Music] on the way back from france to spain we took the tunnel of viella which is accessible by bike so you just have to ring the emergency phone before entering into the tunnel then they close a whole lane for you but it is a pretty long tunnel and it's all uphill day three massive breakfast we haven't eaten much since yesterday so time to review head into valposka cable car cp3 another massive climb [Music] [Music] nearly 20 kilometers quite steep [Music] check point three three out of ten let's go rio cuervo is the next one yeah and restocking not comparison at this point ten riders have reached cp3 including our gravel adventures which routine surprises towards it before they have up their sleeves in the route they find some other riders at the gas station [Music] now warm before the rain shower [Music] one of the main challenges during the race was the changing conditions we went from mountains and climbing in the bernies to now on the way to cp4 desert heat and rolling hills so managing hydration and resupplies was really important [Music] dave 5 i think it is already really warm we went from mountains now to nearly desert so we have to be careful we nearly had a heat stroke yesterday we are delirious and um yeah today we have to be even more careful because it gets drier now trying to resupply in every village we have even if we still have water and this is the first village we have done 35k and it is like 40 in the morning [Music] sometimes i wonder why i do that but it's because of this we got lost but after the hiker bike of the other day we'd rather stay on a nice smooth road instead of taking trouble climbs [Music] [Applause] [Music] it is really warm and it's just plain [Music] i didn't expect [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] there's a huge storm over the mountain really scary with lightnings are hell they were saying like there was hell at our checkpoint and uh super dangerous so we managed to to find an accommodation luckily in the refuge in the village before cb4 source of rio cuervo was a very challenging checkpoint located in the spanish la plant a very sparsely populated area you have to cross the desert first during the day which was really hot and then at the checkpoint the temperatures were really low as low as 4 degrees so it was a really high contrast of temperatures and on top our routing choice was not the best frozen to the bone 4 degrees in rio cuervo horrible hail storm yesterday so i had to find refuge before the top but now it's freezing descending [Music] this is my kind of stage [Music] despite the time we lost because of the storm we were still top 10 and actually we increased our lead to the second pair but this is our stage the flatlands time to put some pressure on the solo riders and have some fun racing [Music] i feel like don quixote and sancho panza elon lugar de la mancha i don't even know the date anymore we were right in transiverica what you experience on the road can vary a lot one moment you feel on top of the world and the other one you feel like you're gonna pass out but the sceneries like cp5 that makes it worth it the windmills of don quixote or depends how sleep deprived you are giants animal no there was a guy the guy who we were was chasing us he just passed back charging my di2 because he's dying let's see [Music] day seven i think riding in the night three or four am really dark heading 2 hours the monsters parkour [Music] after a good night of sleep we stopped in a bar early in the morning to resupply we were running out of food so we got some nice magdalenas for breakfast [Music] [Music] we made it now the parkour now in the parkour of the checkpoint six guadalupe but they changed it because the road was close and now we are in a 15 kilometer climb first out of two 3000 meters no three thousand five hundred meters of elevation for this parkour russo after checkpoint six was the start of the mandatory parkour 177 kilometers with not two but three really steep long climbs i'm faster walking than cycling [Music] maybe to the top from there one out of two extremely hot but uh yeah we are being chess chase so time to continue after 10 gas station stops and a lot of ice cream we managed to reach the last climb [Music] good morning it's been seven days since we started the race race so already check off cp6 now cp7 santiago compostela have a really bad car yesterday nearly had a heat stroke so took i couldn't see anymore straight and took a hotel and now 2 30 in the morning restarting again and heading towards santiago compostela this parkour of yesterday was horrible right super tough cp6 to cp7 was the longest stage towards santiago as our route so far was we decided not to follow it anymore and just check what other riders were doing we followed the local rider that was in front of us and he was going through the non-2 portugal route which was a really fast course with much less elevation that the portuguese one and perfect spanish tarmac no more gravel [Music] breathing from his stroke to freezing i can't feel my knees or anything good morning it's like six we're frozen to the bone and uh we managed to find a nice bakery to warm up inside so amazing i definitely need it i'm passing out molina sleep on the bike every day has a extremely challenging but in a different way today like full-on between on deforestation it's like bringing cigarettes [Applause] more than one week of racing today sunday we started saturday last all them eagles are there everything is swollen and uh yeah trying to cope with the niggles now [Music] crazy [Music] another day another climb let's get starting to get hot already the first pair is still on the run making solid progress through our santiago through the no two portugal route we were quite up front sixth and seventh overall maybe because of our matching kit in this case our right up to my setup pedo like peregrines but cycling [Music] made it to checkpoint 7 santiago it felt like a foreigner yeah yeah oh very tough one but we made it for the next one today we were having so much fun with fans and those watchers along the way made it to santiago viva colombia [Applause] refueling for checkpoint 8. [Music] yeah that's really cute [Music] day nine [Music] oh my god on the way to tashida they clip by the sea it's like a horror movie it's just misty and dark every checkpoint is difficult to reach the checkpoint you have to go down a really steep descent and then back again it doesn't get easier it gets more difficult and dramatic the checkpoints i can't barely breathe because of the humidity so much to us for a normal weather again change of conditions we had a really tough time in galicia the north of spain because of the humidity and the heat [Music] i can't breathe so humid finally we reached the coast we were we thought it would be an easy day but uh the air is so humid that you can barely breathe and we were just climbing and running out of food and finally found a supermarket and just trying to get somewhere [Music] win from the back with shorter stages after cp7 the route choices between riders were now pretty similar having a night of rest in around salas is a trio bubble that has been sticking together for a while julian marcus and us is quite fun to have some riders to chase keeps you motivated everything hurts i'm disintegrating so the sourness are pretty painful [Music] trying to resupply water [Music] [Applause] day nine [Music] i feel like in all of the rings approaching mordor the final battle against kain let's hit it [Applause] super scared this is brutal [Applause] [Music] flying [Applause] checkpoint nine the village of caine de valeron it lies within a valley that is accessible only through a stunning canyon from the south you have to go down a really steep descent and then back up why to get to the entrance of the valley however there were two main options we chose option one the steep climb branching off only 80 kilometers before the cp and then doing a main a thousand meter climb through the puerto de canton now this is everything huh [Music] i deserve you with the sheep the chip again i cannot believe this is i don't know this is not hard this is just like torture yeah let's keep on going good morning last day we overslept but yeah 2 30 in the morning let's do it start with the last checkpoint and roll back managing your emotions pains and sometimes just to keep on going can be difficult but it's landscapes and moments like this that motivates you every day last day [Music] [Applause] [Music] last checkpoint yes let's do it [Music] [Music] you wanna see a mountain again i wanna go back to the nether house [Music] this has drama all the way my god no easy checkpoint now time to roll back to bilbao it's kind of a strange feeling on one hand you just want to finish because everything hurts you are super tired and on the other hand you are super sad because you don't want this amazing experience to finish you just crave freedom and challenge every day [Music] we managed to finish he made it to bilbao right before the storm and on time for la welter so time for recovery and watch some cycling instead of cycling yeah i can't see it anymore until the next one what an epic end you finished transyvarica in time for lauelta hey [Music] salud cerveza post race beer horse race food high evil of course [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] do i take [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: BuzzAlong

Views: 429,753

Keywords: cycling, bikepacking, bikepacking race, bikepacking gear, backpacking gear, transiberica ultracycling, transiberica 2022, transiberica route, ultracycling training, ultracycling races, buzzalong cycling, buzzalong youtube, road cycling, endurance cycling

Id: NsCWszGAaRA

Length: 33min 37sec (2017 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 02 2022