Apesar de practicar ciclismo há mais de 20 anos, a minha primeira participação no Troia-Sagres foi apenas no ano de 2014, um ano em que choveu do inicio ao fim. Foram 200km de frio, chuva e bastante vento! Na altura atribuí algum do mau comportamento na estrada às condições climatéricas e com o passar do tempo a vontade de voltar foi crescendo e o sentimento de superação falou mais alto, assim no dia 10 de Dezembro de 2016 por volta das 8h da manhã lá estava eu a iniciar a minha aventura em Tróia.
Para um Tróia-Sagres não basta saber pedalar, os acompanhantes também precisam de saber conduzir com a presença numerosa dos ciclistas. Ver carros de apoio a querer perfazer os 200km sempre encostados à roda de quem estão a acompanhar não é viável!! Causa engarrafamento de carros e de outros ciclistas. Se querem dar apoio devem de o fazer parando em locais estratégicos, previamente definidos e com as devidas condições de segurança, porque até nos carros parados assisti a situações de puxar os cabelos. Qualquer pessoa com dois dedos de testa sabe que um carro parado na berma da estrada com rodas dentro da faixa de rodagem é muito perigoso!
Se nos conseguirmos abstrair de todas estas situações, ou melhor dizendo, se conseguirmos evitar todos estes maus comportamentos, a sensação quando acabamos a subida até Vila do Bispo e percorremos os kms finais até Sagres é algo de indescritível… Avistar a placa da Vila de Sagres e pensar que estivemos a pedalar durante 6h, mas finalmente atingimos o nosso objectivo é MARAVILHOSO!!!
No meu caso ainda tive de pedalar um pouco mais, mas foi para chegar ao nosso hotel, o Memmo Baleeira. Sim porque isto de pedalar 200km e depois enfiar-me dentro de um carro para voltar para casa logo de seguida… não me faz muito sentido. Lá diz o nosso conceito… RIDE, EAT & DRINK! Assim fiz desporto e ainda passei uma noite maravilhosa com a Sara e sem filhos, porque de vez em quando também faz falta.
Sobre o alojamento deixo tudo para um proximo post. Podem dar uma vista de olhos aos dados da epopeia, aqui no trava, devidamente registados pelo Garmin edge1000.
Despite practicing cycling for more than 20 years, my first participation in the Troia-Sagres was only in 2014, a year in which it rained from start to finish. It was 200km of cold, rain and quite windy! At the time I attributed some of the bad behavior on the road to the weather and over time the desire to return was growing and the feeling of overcoming spoke louder, so on December 10, 2016 around 8 a.m. in the morning I was there to start my adventure in Troia.
This time despite the cold and morning fog, the forecast was for a sunny day, some wind but sunshine … fortunately expectations were not defrauded and even before arriving in Santo André, there it was, clear skies, sun and nice temperatures, very different from my previous participation.
My start was a little bit agitated, because the fool here thought that it could join the group of Vitor Gamito and that the average of 45km / h plus km less km ended up lowering … Yes of course !!! If not for the group being almost all professional or ex-professional cyclists and so near Pinheiro da Cruz I found it better to lift the foot and follow at a slightly more moderate pace.
The advantage of pedaling in events with a great number of participants is that we always find a group to which we can join and so the fatigue is lower, but unfortunately we also have the reverse of the medal. 3000 cyclists at an event without any official organization or policing will eventually lead to abuse. Abuses that could easily be avoided but unfortunately in Portugal the mentality of the people on our roads and I am talking about drivers of motor vehicles but mainly the cyclists, is far from being the most correct.
I do not know if it is the effect of the herd, or if the adrenaline simply leaves 90% of the people dumb and stupid, but circulating on a national road where the berm is often non-existent, a compact platoon of dozens of units is an invitation to doom , If to this factor we ad the drivers, often the ones supporting the cyclists, to make surpasses in a curve, with continuous line, I sincerely do not know how we don’t have more accidents … pure luck, I think!
This year I saw cars stop out of hand because others were coming in the opposite direction, I saw cyclists occupy both lanes and what impressed me the most was seeing two assholes, because there is no other adjective to qualify these people, who were disputing a wheel of a third cyclist, as if sprinting to a finish line, ended up colliding with each other and while one was almost thrown off road the second was calmly looking to see if the bike was intact and at the same time deviating to the opposite lane, where a long-haul truck circulated, which, despite the insistent honking horns, only saw the rider deviate 1 second before the frontal collision!
All this stupidity only calmed, probably due to the accumulation of fatigue, around km 130, from here the groups become smaller and dispersed, many have already given up and now went inside the support cars, fortunately!
Despite all this I can tell you, pedaling from Troia to Sagres is wonderful, stunning, the landscapes are the best that our country has, and these secondary roads but with excellent pavement, are ideal for pedaling, it only has to be in good and much smaller company.
We have time for everything, to pedal, to enjoy and appreciate, to stop to eat a snack, which in my case was immediately after Vila Nova de Mil Fontes and again in Rogil, where the support of my tireless wife was preponderant, with a beautiful cheese and ham sandwich!
For a Tróia-Sagres it is not enough to know how to pedal, the support also need to know how to drive with the numerous presence of cyclists. Seeing support cars wanting to make the 200km always leaning against the wheel of those who are following is not viable!!! It causes bottling of cars and other cyclists. If they want to give support, they must do so by stopping at strategic locations, previously defined and with safety conditions, because even in the cars stopped, I attended some scary situations. Anyone with the minimum of intelligence knows that a car standing on the side of the road with the wheels on the road is very dangerous!
If we can abstract from all these situations, or rather, if we can avoid all these bad behaviors, the sensation when we finish the climb to Vila do Bispo and go through the final kilometers to Sagres is something indescribable … Arriving to Sagres and just thinking i’ve been pedaling for 6h, but finally i achieve my goal is WONDERFUL !!!
In my case I still had to pedal a bit more, but it was to get to our hotel, the Memmo Baleeira. Yes because this thing of pedaling 200km and immediately after getting inside a car to go home… does not make much sense to me. So it says our concept … RIDE, EAT & DRINK! So I did sport and I still had a wonderful night with Sara and no children, because from time to time it makes perfect sense.
On the accommodation I leave everything for a next post. You can have a look at the data from this epic event here in strava, properly recorded by the Garmin edge1000.
