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The day before

Louize Hill/Agnelo Quelhas / 31.05.2008

After three days of arrivals, yesterday afternoon the Hotel Barcelona reception in Lisbon was filled with piles of bags, and humming with conversation as the racers converged, waiting for the bus to take them to Bragança. There was even a face from previous races who turned up, Nuno Machado had brought Diogo Vieira, and there was an element of regret as he looked on, and watched everyone getting ready.

The bus arrived and was immediately engulfed in a wave of people, eager to get on the way. Bags were piled in the hold, which quickly filled up... then we had to take everything out again, and repack with the driver looking on in amazement, shaking his head in despair and commenting that “these bags are all too big�...

Finally, after a couple of delays and a traffic jam, we were on the way... the long journey was an opportunity for old friends to reminisce about past experiences, share stories and tales of what they have been up to since they last met, and for new friendships to be formed. Veterans who have done the TransPortugal Garmin before were able to spread some words of wisdom about the race. Peter “Pepe� Paelinck told his audience that “if I come back to do a race a second time, then it is something very special�, Dominiek Sacré was showing off his scar from when he fell in stage 6 last year.

Lisbon to Bragança is about 550 km, so the journey was long, and it was 2:30am by the time we arrived at the hotel. There was no hanging around, everyone rushed off to bed.

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