Bimbache Raid Platja d\'Aro 2013
Bimbache Extrem - The day Before
Adam Rose (Team Beacon AR) / 09.09.2013
It’s 5:30am on Monday and I can’t sleep. Too many details jostling for position, clamouring for attention, their greedy little heads demanding gimme, gimme, GIMME! Gear, food, altitude gains, a niggle under my left toe, and above it all, that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that this race is going to be HARD.
Team Beacon AR arrived in the beach town of Platja d’Aro yesterday. Amped, a little pooped from the 3:30am start, but keen to engage with the Bimbache. We found a friendly atmosphere from the organisers, an element of wariness from the competitors (‘which of us is the mystery woman?’), good food, and decent accommodation 20m from the sea. Sorted.
We passed our kit check at the sports centre without hitch, and received the two large barrels provided as transition boxes, roughly the dimensions of a 44 gallon drum. It’ll be REAL fun trying to grab stuff from the bottom in the dead of night, but at least they’re solid and waterproof.
The all-important goody bag had tons of tourist brochures, significant for all the landmarks to study as potential checkpoints, plus an unusual tech shirt with the texture of a bed spread. Initially I thought it was an example of local embroidery, but apparently it’s pretty snazzy gear.
Then, last night, we received the route book. 19,477 metres of altitude gain: confirmed. Ouch. A fast start of coasteering, swimming and city orienteering for a few hours, before 22km of ocean kayaking. Then WHAM! 160km of mountain biking with 5338m of ascent! Flippin’ heck!
There’s 3000m of descent, too, but that number isn’t the one looming large. 14 stages in total, leaning heavily on the bike (later on, another 90km section with 4000m gain!), and roughly 90km on foot. 507km in all, to be exact. The final stage features the via ferrata, which we’ve been looking forward to, but that’s of minor importance right now.
So, the gazillion decisions are battering at them hatches. The weather is decidedly cooler than we expected and hoped for, intermittent rain, temperatures in the low 20’s on the coast, in the mountains reportedly close to zero, and the sea not enticing at all. That 6am start and early swim have me thinking of the wetsuit lounging back in London, no doubt sniggering in rubbery comfort – should I buy a shortie to keep the energy levels up?
Today will be about getting the food divvied up, receiving and prepping the bike boxes, the briefing at 6pm, and maps due by 8pm. Wish the latter were earlier – doesn’t sound like much sleep before the race kicks off.
The others are still snoring!
Oh well, bring it on - if a challenge doesn’t scare you, it’s probably not worth doing!
SleepMonsters
