Atlas Mountain Race: Day Four (day time)

The ‘Old Colonial Road’ lived up to the hype, it was a tough and testing climb.

An old road now abandoned and covered in loose stones and rocks. This makes the going slow and arduous. I must cross two points where the road had been washed out. In the dark this was not simple but I decide on the blunt force method. Instead of wasting time looking for the easy route I carried my bike in one hand and scrambled straight down the rocky face. Then threw it on my back and scrambled up the other side. No time wasted but a few loose rocks lost to the abyss.

In the quiet of the night I rode past a shepherd standing by his fire. We could see each other’s silhouette in the firelight but not faces.

As I reach the summit, I’m rewarded with the orange warmth of sunrise. The descent is a ripper and I smash my way down. I take the bulldozer approach to descending. With front suspension, a 2.4 front tyre and limitless adrenaline, nothing stands in my way. I have full trust in my gear. At the bottom was tarmac and a quick run in to a town. It was Tuesday morning and busy.

Breakfast. After eating and drinking enough for 4 grown adults, I look over the bike to check it was in good shape. I always do this in a town, just in case. My enthusiastic descent had cost me some tyre pressure so I pump them up. As I unscrew the pump, the valve core came off in the pump, literally sheared, not far above the sealing nut. I extract this from my pump with my pliers and unscrew the nut so I could replace the valve core. The stem is deformed and it just would not come off. Problem!

I stood up and looked around. Behind me, across the road, stood a blacksmith. He’s angle grinding a fence he’s making. I walk over and point at the problem. He points at the angle grinder and before I could stop him, he buzzed it off with efficient precision. Brilliant. I can now fit an inner tube, at least, as I won’t be able to seat my tubeless again. I turn around to walk back over the road. In the time I've been with the blacksmith, a van with 20 mountain e-bikes has arrived. I’m astonished. I haven’t seen a single e-bike anywhere on my ride and here is a van loaded with them, in a little town in the middle of nowhere. I pinch myself. This time I must be hallucinating!

Wasting no time, I go over to the driver casually leaning on the van as he smokes. Yes, he has a floor pump. And of course, I can use it. So, back to the bike, spare tubeless valve core in and tyre reseated. Tubeless. From fucked to fixed in five minutes flat. In Arabic there is an expression that you hear a lot, “Inshallah” – “if God wills it”. At that moment, it feels that God, the universe, or just fate, was not only willing me to finish, but to finish fast. I waste no more time. I get back on my bike and set off to race to the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll give it my all.

The next section promised to be tough, if you believed the race manual. And given Nelson’s disposition to underestimate, I figured it would be far worse than what the Colonial Road threw at me. What should have been a real slog along a canyon riverbed and then, of course, a stinging hike-a-bike. The reality was a pleasant ride along a canyon riverbed, through oases then a nice push up a hill. The gradients were stiff but steady and the views wonderful. For once I found a potentially tough section to be a joy. I guess this made up for the harder than expected sections elsewhere.

The momentum to CP3 was on and the temperature was rising as morning turned into afternoon. The terrain eased off and some sections of loose gravel fluctuated with tarmac. Afternoon was reaching peak temperatures of 30 Celsius as the next climb began, with the checkpoint midway up. As it started, I rode with joy into an oasis with some welcome shade. I passed a few shops and restaurants. I didn’t stop and resupply because CP3 wasn’t far. I was low on food and out of water.

Finally, I arrived at CP3. No good resupply here. Normally the checkpoints are well supplied. Here I found only water and rice. Alberto, the volunteer, took the brunt of my frustration with a smile and embarrassed I quickly apologise for being a nob. The owner of the establishment kindly and quickly makes me an enormous portion of milky rice. Though simple, it is perfect riding fuel. Then we talk about my bike, I share the story of my weirdly lucky breakdown. We take a photo and he wishes me luck. What CP3 lacked in resupply, Alberto made up for it with his good spirits. Oh, I look at the log sheet; I’m 5 hours behind Sofiane, still in second place. With 200 km to go it’s unlikely that I can catch him.

I’m off climbing again, with water and food in my belly, feeling good. I know there would be a town not too far and then a big town early in the night. At the top, to my delight, I am rewarded. I hit the summit at the perfect moment; an incredible sunset. From the mountains, looking west, where I’m headed, the sky is just huge. I’m racing hard but I stop. I make a short video and soak in the moment. It is moments and memories like this that burn bright in my mind. The final pass of last year’s Silk Road Mountain Race is there with me and will be forever. These moments are where I find my reason for being out there.

I can see the gravel switchbacks dropping down into the dusk from my perch up high; it looks beautiful. Just minutes into the descent and I take a sharp left into the village, down between some houses and I thread the needle at speed between some bushes. The smooth gravel becomes chunky rocks. I just chuckle out load, after all, this is a Nelson Trees route and I expect no different! Around 9 pm I arrived in the big town and the first shop I see is a patisserie. I order one of everything and then more. I sit down and eat a few sandwiches and several yoghurt drinks. I need a big feed; I don’t plan on stopping until the finish and I have been riding for 17 hours. I still have another 150km to go, I figure I’ll be riding until daybreak.

Day 4 - Daytime Stats

Distance: 198 km

Elevation: 3,500 m

Riding time: 16h 36m

Stopped time: 1h 40

Sleep: 0

Ride with GPS: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/45072297