This blog post focuses on the biggest challenge during our trip. This Friday, 17 June 2016, the boys take on Pico de Veleta: Europe's highest paved climb. It is 43km of riding from base to summit, with an elevation of almost 12,000ft above sea level at the top. Attention has very much turned to that challenge, and the days of riding before that have been phased into almost insignificance, their importance now only considered as to how it will impact Friday and give them the best start on Day 12: Pico Day.
Pico isn't really a "thing". It's not just a big hill to cycle up, it's so much more than that and isn't really a well travelled route. We managed to find only a handful of rider accounts of the journey up there, and what we are likely to expect. From what we can gather, the the last 10km is impassable by car, and is marked by a barrier of some sorts and perhaps an unused military site. There may even be a research station. The last 10km, by accounts, is apparently only achievable on a mountain bike and not a road bike. A little way on from that, and it will become so steep, and so gravelly, they will have to get off and push their bikes. The last 10m of ascent they won't even be able to do that, they will have to carry their bikes.
The summit is 12,000 ft above sea level. Not only will the car not make it because of the lack of road, the barrier being a clear end point for the car's journey, but personally I am not able to get to that height. Due to my medical history of suffering with pulmonary embolism a number of years ago, my lungs suffered infarction and as a result it is not recommended that I go to that height without proper high altitude training and a medical examination.
8,000 ft is considered the start point at which you can define something as high altitude. The air will start to become thin and our boys will become short of breath, just standing. Some rider accounts talk about high altitude hallucinations. Obviously our boys have not done any altitude training.
This is not just a Big Hill. It is a 43km climb of tremendous steepness, the AVERAGE gradient being 6.5%. This will be the hardest thing, physically, that each of them will have faced in their lives. They will reach the base of the mountain after having riden 40 miles already.
So what's our strategy?
The plan is to set off very early on Friday morning and arrive at the bottom by around 8am. I will wait with the car at the base, and set the boys off on delayed starts, so that hopefully they will arrive at the top at similar times to each other. Jake will start first, then Steve after about 30 minutes, then James another 30 minutes after that. Once all three have set off, I will drive to catch up with the front rider, which will likely be about 15 or so km up. I will then wait there, giving water to the other two as they pass, and so on, until I reach the barrier and can go no further. I will wait until I see all three riders pass the barrier, then I will drive back down and drive around to the other side. And wait.
While it is great if I can give updates to the boys as to how the others are doing, and time checks, we are fully expecting the phone signal to run out at some point. Also, it may take me a long time even driving up, I may not catch the front rider at all, given their head start. So they may be completely unsupported, and without any means of communication.
The ascent will take around 5 hours, we think. It is unclear as to what the state of the descent on the other side is like, as there aren't really any accounts. If it's gravel surface with 10% incline, they ain't cycling that. There will be times when they will have to get off the bike and walk. It may even start to get dark before they've finished cycling for the day. I will wait at a designated meet point at the bottom of Pico around the other side.
In order to prepare for it as best we can, the day before we plan on cycling early too. In the afternoon James and I will do a scout drive, in the car together as high as we can, hopefully to the barrier, to make an assessment and a judgement call. We will also drop bottles of water and food at check points where we can. We are expecting little in the way of traffic or other cyclists. Like I say, this isn't really a "thing" that's on a road biker's bucket list, it is a ridiculous challenge of ginormous proportions. And let's not over exaggerate here - the boys have also drafted alternative routes in case it is not possible.
We are currently in the middle of a genuine Spanish heat wave, with an air temperature of 37C. To give some perspective of how high they are going, one of my weather forecaster colleagues said that the temperature at the top is around 1C. It will also be incredible windy up there. There may even be snow still. Looking at webcams a couple of weeks ago there was still snow. There is a ski resort is about 3/4 of the way up.
The next two days of riding are simply just obstacles, scheduled in as best as possible to prepare for Friday.
If you haven't donated yet, hopefully reading this will encourage you to do so. The boys are riding to raise awareness of an awful, incurable disease, multiple sclerosis which my mum has had for around 25 years. Please donate if you are able to spare anything. Thank you. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cyclismoespana
OK this sounds terrifying! Will sponsor again on Saturday as long as Steve is still in one piece (regardless of which route you end up taking). You've all done brilliantly to do as much as you have! Stay safe xx
ReplyDeleteThank you Phillipa. James and I will do a stake out this afternoon once they've done riding. This isn't just to decide which way up, drop off some water etc... We will be making a go / don't go decision based on the drive. If it's too dodgy, we will go around it tomorrow instead xx
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