​This is the fifth part of my memories from Transiberica 2021. Please find the previous parts here: >part four< >part three< >part two< >part one< Happy reading!

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​I was waking up to many times, during my three-hour bivi stop. First, because some people were partying nearby and later because it got pretty cold. When my alarm clock rang around 1 AM, I felt like I wasn’t sleeping at all. Despite that, I made myself get going again pretty fast. There was a 150 kilometers of the relatively flat and super straight road after Segovia waiting for me, leading to Sierra De Francia and CP6 parcour. I was hoping to get there for breakfast.

After not too much time riding, a media car with Pablo and Carlos caught me out of nowhere. Pablo shouted: „do you know who’s behind you?” I knew. I’ve checked the FMC beforehand and I knew that Urlich was closing by, when I was sleeping, and also I knew that Justinas stopped somewhere not far up in the front of me. The race was on. I was trying to ride faster, but I still felt like I’m only warming up after unsuccessful bivi’ing and I felt that I need more time to get my pace back.

It wasn’t long when Urlich caught up with me. From there we rode next to each other, sometimes one or the other taking some minutes of lead. It was nice to have a company for a while and it felt like a short break off the race mode. It was still strong 150 kilometers but as we spent some parts of it together, talking about ourselves and getting to know each other a bit better, the night and its distance passed pretty fast. It was fun to see when on the sunrise, our routes did suddenly split. So natural and also super strange feeling when in the middle of a conversation, in the middle of a topic, you suddenly stop talking, because the other person is taking a different road. You quickly realize again that it is a race, and that the best thing to do is to get going. It is the essence of free route racing.

Since I’m alone again, I started to focus on myself. My food and water finished some time back, and it didn’t look that much will be open in the area. I still believed that I’ll find an open bar in one of the small towns. I was already closing into the CP6 parcour located in Sierra the Francia, and even if that wasn’t the truth I had a super strong feeling that I have been here before. It made my ride much easier.
When I was dreaming about a good coffee and some breakfast, I found it, Dos Hermanos in a small town with a too-long name to repeat it. When I made my order, Urlich did show up again, and that made us have a coffee and breakfast together. Such a coincidence!

Pena de Francia, the final climb of the CP6 parcour, and the whole region were like out of the planet. It was Spain that I remembered from the last year. Great roads, switchbacks, views. Just perfect cycling. There were two climbs to do, and both of them I did in a full sun already. Puerto del Portillo, the first one was harder for me, because of the lack of trees in the lower parts. Pena de Francia, the main and quite epic climb, that was called a Spanish Mount Ventoux, wasn’t that bad, as the open part was high up, 1727masl. It was enough to kill the heath feeling. I’ve climbed it having amazing weather and fantastic views. I had a quick photo on the top and I rolled down onto the hot valley. The next destination was up north, in Portugal. Big-name and known name: Braganza Castle. 

Lower than 1200 m asl was nearly bearable. I had a feeling that I’m slowly getting used to the heat at one point, but there were moments also that I felt pretty destroyed by it. Nearly every petrol station meant a shortstop for a drink and ice cream. Pouring water all over myself was a spectacle only for the shopkeepers. For me, it became a normal daily routine.

The plan for the rest of the day was to get as close as possible to the Portuguese border and ride it all through the night. Experienced by the 2020 bad Portuguese drivers, I wanted to avoid the traffic as much as I could.

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The road up north was constant up and down. The climbs were long and gentle, but definitely, after over 2000 kilometers in, the grade was felt by my tired muscles. I needed a better rest than the last night, and to do that, I logged into a small hotel in Moralina. Had a shower, lots of food like spaghetti, feta salad, rice and veg, and three hours of good sleep. It was a winner. I will never forget that feeling of complete relief when I was closing my eyes in the hotel bed. It was 9:30 PM and I set my alarm clock for 3 hrs. The fifth day was over.