by Chris Geiser

It is absolutely unbelievable to imagine that what started in January as almost a dare, is nearly a fait accompli! Jack, Aleksandra, and myself made our way through France this week by TGV (story coming next week), to meet @Tom Niccum, take care of some unfinished business, and then flew to Lisbon from Marseille on Thursday morning. With our unfinished business, finished, we had a great dinner, packed bikes to the car, and got some sleep. We were up with the sun on Thursday to eat the last of the food at Tom and Nancy’s apartment, and make the 90 minute drive to Marselle. (Cue Guy Ritchie montage):

Cue Guy Ritchie music — leaving at sun up to make a noon flight to Lisbon

1. Drop Jack, bikes, bags, refuel car, drop off at rental counter
2. Get to flight check in early enough to be first-ish
3. Check in, sweet talk baggage pricing
4. Get bike ex-rayed
5. Get through security
6. Get shaken down by security
7. Lunch
8. Board
9. Fly
10. Land
11. Maciej!

Security shakedowns aside, everything went pretty smoothly. We were met at the airport by the hardest working man in show business, Maciej! By 3PM we were in Cascais, and into our apartment overlooking the race course, and the Atlantic, and only a few hundred meters from the start line. We got setup, built bikes (this was our 6th such activity of this type this week), and started to figure out what dinner was looking like. The whole group was now in Cascais (with the exception of Clarence), myself, Jack, Aleksandra, Tom, Adrienne, Ari, Greg, and of course, Mirko. With the expo not yet open (although we stopped by to say hi as they set up), we were ready for dinner and hit the local seafood joint directly downstairs.

Veranda strategy session for the Medio route in the morning.

The Medio Route

Over dinner and on the veranda, we made plans for a recce of the Medio route first thing in the morning. Leaving from the start line, we wound out through the beach roads of Cascais heading for Sintras and points beyond, with the anticipated coverage of about 80 kilometers for the day, and about half the climbing we would see on the Gran Fondo route on Sunday. With Mirko leading the ride, we got going, and kept a brisk pace through the first few kilometers of the course. It was of course time for a photo.

The hambones on our first beach siting as we rolled out of Cascais on the Medio Route

With a quick climb up, from the beach road, I heard Mirko telling the group “this will be the first selection, on Sunday”. I asked him later what he meant; “so many will go out hard, and as they get here, they will slow down as they realize they are climbing”. We wound up and out through traffic, and got into the town of Sintras. Famous for its castle, but we were there for coffee.

Quick coffee stop in Sintras, to try the local custard tarts, and refuel.

As we pressed on, the traffic started to lighten up, and the roads seemed to magically widen, as we did more scenic climbing, and wound our way up some of the biggest climbs of the Medio route. Not too long after, and right along the route, I could smell the brine of the Atlantic as we approached the town of Azenhas do Mar. We went down a quick, steep, hairpin curve, and stood up to push up a steep incline to an overlook point, to a vista that took everyone’s breath away.

An amazing view of an edge of the European continent. Jack getting down the ramp to the overlook for a closer view.

We stood with our jaws dropped, took selfies, and joked but time was starting to slip away. So we got going, and pressed on. Through a few quick descents, and a couple of nice easy flat sections, we began the first part of several climbs. The group started to split a little, but we were mainly staying together and pressing on. The climbs were beautiful, and challenging, and a good test of what I had learned about myself and my training in Germany, and France, leading up to this ride. With a long fast descent ahead, we were quickly hammering along a beach road back to the marina where the expo was waiting for us.

It was good to get registration out of the way, talk to folks that we had only met via Facebook, and continue to get acquainted with Cascais.

The expo is open, the pirri-pirri is fabulous, and the view from our apartment is unbeatable.

It was time to try the local food on for size, and it did not disappoint. While we had a very nice lunch, the main event, was dinner at Somos um Regalo. A fast walk through the town square, and off the beaten path. There were no tourists, and they seated out party of ten immediately via some sweet talking from Tom.
Waiter: “Are you ready to order?”

Me: “But we haven’t seen a menu?!”

Waiter: “It’s chicken, and would you like rice? And a salad? And butata frita?

Me: “Yes”

And we were off. Some of the best pirri-pirri chicken out there. An amazing feast, and for a chicken lover such as myself, one of the best meals I have ever had. At roughly 10 Euro per person, it was also maybe, the greatest food deal I have ever seen, and I ate to hurt myself before being dragged out by the rest of the group with a leg bone hanging out of my mouth. We were fueled for the 7AM GFNY Group ride run by the GFNY founders, Uli, and Lidia in the morning.

We set out from the start line, and head in the opposite direction than we did on the Medio route. The idea was to do an easy 40km or so, and get as many of the GFNY World travelers together for the ride as we could. Our new friends Noel, and Luis, just in from Puerto Rico, were with us, and Clarence had arrived from Germany to establish “Gruppo compato”, the whole group together spinning out along the beach and back up the last descent we had done yesterday. This was a fun climb, twisting and turning up and out of Cascais, until hitting a short descent down to the most Western Point in Europe. Along the route, folks got acquainted, and reacquainted, and provided the proof to why GFNY is a global cycling language all its own.

Cabo da Roca is the most Western point in Europe. The closest we will be to home before we fly home. But first — there is racing to be done.

Uli and Mirko cranking it up. Mirko getting ready for the Portuguese Swan diving team, team photo en route to Cabo da Roca (the western most point in Europe).

Climbing back out of Cabo da Roca, we kept the conversations going until it was time to take the big descent back to the beach, and then hammer back to the Marina. We definitely saw a headwind along the beach as the wattage required was significantly higher today than it was yesterday.

Once back at the expo, I decided to figure out a completely obnoxious and self-serving sign in, and presented Ana Paula Cavalcanti with a copy of the Italian Job.

#SurfGFNY #GFNYDoubleDouble #114 is checked in and ready.

Trains to Lisbon and Back

With some time to kill, we headed to Lisbon to check out the old city. We had some Pirri-Pirri (yes, again), and climbed the hills to the Castle of St. Jorge. Then down and around and back on the train. With the heat on the train I got a little sleepy. Race anxiety crept in, and I had a dream that I showed up to the start line without my bow tie. I don’t know what it means, but if that is the only problem that I have tomorrow, I can do without the bow tie — this time. We are heading out for our pre-race dinner. More this week as we complete the #GFNYDoubleDouble and get ready to surf! I leave you with a gratuitous Lisbon photo!