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Xterra Spain - First professional podium!
14th Jun 2015
The longest, hardest, hottest Xterra so far...
Xterra Spain. Only 3 weeks on from Xterra Portugal, where I massively struggled in the heat. A 3h50 race in 33 degrees was a wake-up call I need to do some heat acclimatisation! I thought surely Spain cannot be any longer or hotter? But I’d better prepare just in case. And just as well! Without those turbo sessions & hill reps in all my winter kit, treadmills or saunas whenever I hit the gym - I’m not sure I’d have survived this one! 4h12 race time in 38 (yes 38!) degrees… it truly was a strategy of survival!
Xterra Spain 2015 was a brand new race so we were all excited to see what the course would hold. The online videos were great to preview – but it never looks as steep or technical on YouTube than it does in real life! Plenty of tough and steep climbs, but rewarded for the effort with some awesome downhills. Definitely a mountain biker’s course! As for the run – this included 400m of climbing over 3km, and the most technical descent I’ve seen - a full on fell run! 2 long sections were just a taped off area where you had to make your own line through the undergrowth – there was no path!
We enjoyed 2 days in Plasencia before the race – trying out local restaurants where everything on the menu was a mystery! Even though between us internationals we knew most of the Spanish words, we still had no idea what would turn up on the plate. We did find an awesome gelato shop though, much appreciated at 10pm when it was still 35 degrees! We also enjoyed the urban playground of steps and escalators linking the old town to the river – like a purpose built bike park ;) Little did we know we’d be descending some of these obstacles as part of the race!
It seemed all the instructions for the weekend were in Spanish – even the race briefing - although thanks to Spanish Pros Roger and Ruben for translating the details we all need to know - like whether wetsuits are allowed, where the aid stations are and what will be on them. This would prove essential for such a long day out in the sun. Then it was on to our TV interviews… again in Spanish! For us internationals it was camera roll, Go! And just make something up. The organisers seemed happy though, and it’s the least we can do :-)
Before we knew it, race night was here! The only place I’ve ever stayed where I needed to keep the air con on to sleep. It was just so hot, and all were apprehensive about the race conditions with a 12:30pm start tomorrow.
One last recce of the run course in the morning (by bike) plus carrying my bike several times up & down the hotel’s 3 flights of stairs… I had a good warmup! I was disappointed the water temp was only 20* which meant wetsuits allowed. It was very hot to be standing around in neoprene! None of us non-Spanish speakers understood what was going on at the start, but the gun went, and we were off!
I was 2nd out of the swim, but as usual I knew top biker Helena wouldn’t be far behind. The plan was to keep her in sight as long as possible on the bike – but at the first 30% climb I had a problem with my gears, chain locked, I had to get off and run, and I never saw her again. In fact I wouldn't see any other girls for the rest of the race as I held 3rd position for the next 3.5 hours & 50km!
In such a long race you really have to stick to your own pace rather than race the other athletes: it can be frustrating, but push too hard and you risk blowing up and not finishing. In fact many collapsed or dropped out, and I was the only Brit to finish! My Swiss friend and car-share buddy Jan made it to the finish but collapsed at the line and was whisked off to Spanish A&E. Thankfully a few litres of saline drip later and he was feeling much better, but it just illustrates how tough conditions were.
Back in the race, I was stoked to clean every descent; some of which I wouldn’t have ridden just 12 months ago. On the climbs I was having trouble with the heat as well as my gears – although the local bike shop did their best to fix, they didn’t have all the parts I needed. It was not ideal but I don’t think it made any difference to the end result. There were 2 better ladies than me on the day so big congrats to Helena who ultimately won, and Brigitta - first out of the water - who I never saw until the finish line!
In summary, this was the longest, hardest, hottest Xterra so far and I was delighted but mostly relieved to cross the line in 3rd place – a career best :-D
Only after the finish did I discover my biggest foreign fail – forgetting that no shops are open on Sundays here. I had no food in my hotel and restaurants don’t open till 8pm. Also we had the presentation to attend! So it was 5 hours from finishing the race before we got to eat anything other than the fruit buffet at the finish! Cue lots of ‘hangry’ internationals who could have chewed carpet by the time we procured a meal at a restaurant… nothing like massive plates of fish, salad, pizza and pasta to revive everyone back to normal though.
I was too tired to pack my bike that night, so ended up doing it at the airport, much to the car hire attendant’s interest. Bike successfully in bag, then 6 customer service queues and 6 arguments with Iberia later, my bike was finally checked in, and I had killed the 4 hours waiting for my flight. Sadly my wallet was 75 Euros lighter, but on the plus side, I narrowly managed to avoid the Spanish air traffic control strikes!
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