CYCLING 330KM TO PORTUGAL’S HIGHEST PEAK!

EPISODE #152
I take on a ridiculous 315km epic journey as the way to the highest peak in Portugal… for the second time! After the week before doing this challenging ride, to then lose my camera with the footage on, I take it upon myself to tackle the route again… this time solo! having clearly not learning my lesson from the painful experience the week before, I enter into a whole world of pain and this turns out to be a complete suffer fest…
5-UP! – https://www.strava.com/activities/11606888000
SOLO! – https://www.strava.com/activities/11667668251

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Film & Editing: Thomas Martinez.
Intro Music: Press 1, Lukas Got Lucky.
Intro Film & Editing: Joe Simkins, Karl Kolecava.
Featured Music:
Smart as You – Dylan Sitts
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00:00 INTRO
00:28 EPISODE 152

oh man I’m in a bad way oh I feel ill make sure I charge my garment make sure I’ve charge my lights make sure we get those bars in 10 miles and I’ll be more than starving nothing compared to the thrill under prepared for the hills I used to get wheels on air now I put air in my wheels change that tune train and cruise chains been L pace and move stra stats give man a heart attack but then my Pace improves BS and caders are strong now my legs up my CA are long it’s about time we do the sister cycle into [Music] tourist what is up guys if you’re new here then welcome to the channel and if you’re regular then welcome back now one week ago today I set off on what was one of my biggest challenges in a long long time we rode over 300 km all the way from Lisbon to the highest peak in the whole of Portugal but unfortunately for me somehow I managed to lose my camera along with all of the footage from the day I know what an idiot so there’s only one sensible thing to do and that’s do it all again yes I think I’ve gone mad [Music] so it’s now 6:30 in the morning I’ve been on the road for about an hour now and uh we’ve got a long long way to go because as I said we are taking on over 300K today I already done this ride last week stupidly I had the brilliant idea to do it all again because this idiot here decided to lose his camera along with all of the footage from the day well to say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement I was not happy about it but I uh picked myself up brushed myself off and decided that only logical thing to do would be to just do the ride again I know absolutely stupid idea oh God I’m smiling now but I’m just about 30k in at the minute so yeah I’ve got a long long way to go today’s ride is going to be very different from last week though in the fact that well I’m doing it solo whereas last week there was five of us sharing the work so yeah this is going to be a suffer Fest wish me [Music] luck so this that I’m doing today it basically goes all the way from my home in mafa all the way as I said to the highest peak in the whole of Portugal Ser the Australia the route itself is actually 330 km and if that wasn’t hard enough in itself let’s take a little look at the elevation profile yeah the thing that makes this ride so challenging is the fact that the majority of the climbing is right at the end just where you don’t want it oh it’s bringing back horrible memories of last week and of course the large majority of the climbing is done with Sid arraya itself which I will arrive at the bottom of the mountain with 300 kmers already in my legs and then I will have to ride 30 km uphill oh this ride really is a test of character and uh I’m not ashamed to admit last week I suffered I uh I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew that day I was riding with four other really strong guys and uh they was pushing the pace quite a bit in fact for the first 200 km we actually averaged 32 km an hour which well I can tell you for now I’m not doing that solo I’m averaging 28 on my own so not too bad but yeah definitely a bit slower than last week anyways I’m just about to hit the 2hour mark I’ve got 55 km in the bank and my plan of attack for today is to just go at a nice comfortable Pace obviously that does mean it’s going to take me quite bit longer but After experiencing it last week and being in a whole world of pain I don’t want that to happen again [Music] [Music] [Music] so we’re 3 and 1 half hours in now I’ve just ticked over the 100K Mark and uh yeah I’m suffering a bit already oh no this is not good news I am however distracted by the fact that it is an absolutely beautiful day today gorgeous blue skies the sun’s out I got some tunes going in the ears and compared to last week W the weather is uh completely different it was absolutely Grim last week on and off showers all day cold and uh yeah it’s amazing how much difference it makes having a bit of sunshine just along this uh nice flat stretch of road at the minute through some uh Farmers Fields I remember coming through here vividly last week because we was with a massive group of uh random cyclists that we bumped into so that was quite fun there was even a couple on a tando that was uh absolutely ripping along unfortunately I didn’t bump into them today because at a minute I’m uh battling with a bit of a headwind so it would have been nice to have some Wheels to hide behind right now but all you got to do is keep pushing those pedals and eventually you’ll be at the end [Music] SW is you is you [Music] SW SW 155 km in now and uh I’m just working my way up a small climb as I said earlier most of the climbing is in the uh back end of this route but there is still a few little lumps along the way I’m just focusing on really keeping that power down um my legs are already starting to ache and uh yeah I’m only halfway so yeah I just need to be as conservative as possible save that energy keep smashing the the fuel in I’ve been keeping on top of that I’ve been trying to get in about 90 to 100 G of cars every hour from experience from last week I know there will come a point when I don’t want to be getting in all of that so yeah I’m just trying to keep on top of it so yeah if I can just keep getting that fueling save the energy and then hopefully obviously I don’t want to jinx it but hopefully when I get to the bottom of the big climb I will still have some energy left because I’m going to need it it’s it’s some clb I’m uh really trying not to think about it that climb really is a thing of nightmares it is brutal there’s many ways to climb that mountain but typically the way I’m going up it is considered one of the most difficult it’s got some super steep pitches and as I said earlier it’s 30 km long disgusting [Music] hello I’m about 20 Kai [Applause] [Music] all right so I’ve just ticked over the 200k Mark 7 hours 20 minutes on the clock and uh I’m in a whole world of pain I used to do a lot of these sort of uh longdistance endurance rides but in recent times I’ve really neglected them I just uh just haven’t really had time life’s been a bit hectic at the moment and I haven’t prioritized cycling so I think when you haven’t done these sort of long rides they really do hit you even worse there’s something about doing a long endurance effort that you can’t fake it’s uh the only way to get better at it is by practice and uh yeah as I say I haven’t been doing a lot of this sort of stuff and it’s uh it’s really kicking me in I won’t go into too much detail but especially down there it’s uh it’s not used to it when you do these sort of rides more often well it becomes like a old bit of leather down there anyways over sharing the side I’m just approaching a town called now and uh I’ve actually pre-arranged with my wonderful partner Rachel to meet me there and I think she’s got me some lunch I cannot wait oh let’s go refuel [Music] [Applause] all right back on the road I uh ended up stopping for a little bit longer than I wanted to but uh I needed just some time to just sit down and uh do things like reapplying Shamy cream of course I also loaded up on some food I had some tuna Mayo pasta can’t beat that nice bit of carbs in the old furnace and uh yeah I’m just going to keep cracking on now ra is very kindly offered to uh stop a few times between here and the end now so yeah bit of a princess today I’ve got a team car with me and everything but it does mean I’ve been able to take the bag off the bike which is uh well when you if anyone’s ever ridden with bags on a bike you’ll know how great it feels when you take them off yeah bit of weight sheded off the bike and then just uh yeah let’s crack on I’m feeling a lot better at this moment in time but I don’t know how long that’s going to last [Music] here comes the team [Music] car as you [Music] [Music] bit windy up here I won’t stop for long but you can’t come past this View and not just stop for a minute and just take it in and especially today with a sun out I’ve actually been here two times before once when we done our gravel adventure and uh it was miserable weather then and then last weekend obviously as well and yeah it was miserable then as well so it’s nice to see this place with some sunshine on it it is uh it is pretty unreal look at that beautiful all right let’s crack on I’m in a whole world of pain oh that uh boost that I got from that food in the stop didn’t last long oh it is absolutely scorching I’m uh yeah I’m not used to this sort of hate especially doing a effort like this yeah woo it’s 28° right now and it certainly feels it oh feel like I’m riding in an oven I have got a uh short sleeve jersey in uh the van so when I catch R shortly I’ll uh switch over to that I didn’t quite expect it to get this hot to be honest but the more and more we’ve gone Inland it’s uh yeah it’s just kept creeping up and and now it’s so absolutely roasting oh man I’m in a bad way oh I feel ill it’s only been a few more kilometers since I last SP to you but I really in a bad way I’m uh yeah I’m not having a good day on the bike here oh I hate days like this you just feel like you’ve got nothing every bit of my body is hurting as well my knees are starting to hurt which is a pretty bad sign and as I said the hate is just really getting to me it’s making me feel sick I can’t even bring myself to drink but I’m hoping uh I’m going to have a little sit down again in the uh nice air conditioning van and hope that that sorts me out I’m just really worrying because well I’m starting to doubt myself and my mind is playing tricks on me and I’m looking at how far I’ve got to go I’ve got about 100K left and I feel like this I’m just like oh can I even do this I I I’m going to have to have a little sit down and a word myself see what I can pull out the bag oh it’s not my day [Music] [Music] got your treats I don’t think I can to eat anything no oh see taddy TDY C give Teddy baby oh thanks oh so unfortunately that day the Heat and the extreme pain that I was in got the better of me and I wasn’t able to complete the ride I made it to little over 260 km that day and the choice to end the ride there wasn’t taken lightly I really wanted to complete that ride I was out to prove something but you know you can’t always get things your way and all you can really do in situations like that is make sure that you learn something from it and that’s exactly what I’ve done I wasn’t prepared enough for that ride that day trying to do a crazy ride like that one week after doing it already well that was obviously a stupid idea especially when I’m not in the greatest shape that I’ve been and I won’t go into it but there was a whole host of other reasons why I probably shouldn’t have done that ride that day but like I say all you can do is move forward and make sure you learn from your mistakes the other thing that I think is quite important to realize is that it’s very easy to get caught up in these challenges and trying to push yourself but you do need to be mindful of the fact you don’t want to cause yourself injury and I am very glad that I stopped when I did because I was in bits for days after that ride it’s actually a week after right now and I haven’t ridden all week and uh I just needed to give my body some time to rest and fully recover because yeah I was in a bad way anyways that day after I had passed out in the car for a little while I woke up and we drove to actually where I was supposed to be finishing the ride in serid australa and we ended up staying the night in a hotel and then the next day we got out and we explored the area it was absolutely incredible I’m telling you now if you ever get a chance to go check that place out you’ve got to go it is just something else The View are absolutely incredible and you get to drive through these beautiful mountain pass roads and yeah it is just it’s like something out of a postcard it is just absolutely breathtaking anyways I’m going to leave this video here it is actually Rachel’s birthday today and uh we’ve been having a bit of a beach day but uh I just escaped for a minute because well I didn’t want to sit in the middle of a packed Beach talking to myself like some sort of nutcase so I thought I would uh disappear a minute um I’ve been meaning to end this video all week and yeah I haven’t got around to it I’ve been uh more focused on licking my wounds I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode thanks so much for watching please like comment and subscribe and I see you guys next time oh [Music]