Garmin TransPortugal Mountain Bike Race
Stage 3 - Wilderness and cobblestones
Louize Hill/Agnelo Quelhas / 03.06.2008
Once again the starting times were between 8:50 and 10:00, and already from about 8:30 the large car park in front of the Pelicano hotel was buzzing with activity as bikers prepared their bikes and belongings for the day. It would seem the good weather is now definitely here to stay, so sun cream had to be applied. In this stage there are few water points, so people were worrying about water, concerned they would not have enough, but not wanting to carry too many extra kilos up the steep hills that awaited them.
The first racers set off, and the large group of men with the smallest handicaps were lined up ready to go when a small figure appeared from up the road, running, shouting and waving his arms frantically. As he got closer we made out a little old man, calling out to the riders that they should “forget about the race and go and see the reservoir, it is beautiful, you can get there by bike...�. Several of the Portuguese riders took the time tio explain to him that they wanted to do the race, but that the course passes close to the reservoir, so they would see it. Then the gentleman spotted the megaphone Teresa uses each morning to call the racers to the starting line. He asked if he could have a word using it, and then broke into song, singing verses of traditional and improvised local songs.
“I am going away leaving the fields behind,
I am going away the fields I leave,
but I\'ll take their picture with me on an ash-tree leaf �
When we asked him his name he replied:
“If my name is Nogueira, then that is what you should call me,
as that is what my godfather baptised me�.
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