Many months ago – before moving from Valdepeñas to Toledo – I promised a forumite to write a chronicle about “la quebranta”, as this “granfondo” or cyclosportive is commonly called . It takes place the third Saturday of June in the Pyrenees, starting from Sabiñánigo. Until now I have failed to fulfil my promise, but I have had an alibi: I have moved from Valdepeñas to Toledo and have not got a flat yet. Changing hospital is not easy as I have to adjust myself to a completely different type of patient. Moreover I do not have a PC at home yet, so it has been extremely difficult to write this chronicle.
To sum up, QH is long, is hard and is sometimes beautiful. According to your level of fitness, gears and scope, it may be an unforgettable experience or a nightmare. My own experience is bitter and sweet at the same time: I have started it 10 times to end just in five. The other five times I just abandoned and I knew it was going to happen, even some times it was planned in advance and a friendly car was waiting for me at the bottom of Portalet, at the famous “Laruns´pine tree”, where the Portalet and Aubisque begin, the road bifurcating just there and you face the first slopes of each climb according if you turn right or left.
It is undoubtedly long with its 205k, but that would not be too hard with enough kms of training. It is a combination of factors which makes it hard: climbs (long and steep), weather (difficult to find something easy at the mountains: either you freeze to death on descending or Tarmac melts with the heat), choice of gears (if you go to war you have to carry bullets with you: I will not forget the young and strong guy that asked me at the very first km of Marie Blanque if there was long until the top; he was on his 39×25 and nothing left. I pitied at him thinking of what was ahead) and especially tactics.
It may seem silly that you talk about tactics in a cyclosportive, but it is not so at all: depending upon your attitude tackling the first part you will “enjoy” the second half or just drag yourself to the finish.
Assuming that you have chosen the right gears (compact if you are strong, triple if not or you do not race or you have left your better years behind as it is my case) and you have on your legs at least 4000km that season, then all is left to tactics. By the way, it is not advisable a cog smaller than 26 behind: pros carry that one for this climb.
I will explain myself: you will find yourself alongside some 8,300 guys pedalling at full speed after the start. If you are not careful and find a bunch of 400 guys or so that will take you safe until the bottom of the first climb, Somport, you will end up overspending the first three or four hours, and you will desperately need that energy later. So the most important advice that I may give is: ride with your head until the reservoir that is at the very half of the last climb, the 29km Portalet. If you have the legs there, go flat out and you will pass riders by the hundreds and you will enjoy yourself. If you have the heart but not the legs, just endure and try to recuperate descending and think that arrival is not too far away.
Of course it all depends upon your expectations: if you want to enjoy beautiful landscapes and the company of people for about 100k of closed roads, then you have more chances of enjoying and will not take any risks descending (as I will explain later some of the descents are quite technical and risky if you do not know them or it is wet). But some people are fitter or racers, so they try to achieve a good placing or what they think is a good performance. These chaps will probably suffer but some of them enjoy that. I do not any more.
I know those roads by heart. You just leave Sabiñánigo with a few thousand guys more (you will listen the noise of thousands of cleats and it will take about 10 min until you start) and it is usually chilly as the ride starts at 7.30am (arm warmers or a light rain jacket or gilet quite advisable: it may be really cold at the Somport summit and on the way down to Escot). You have about 20k to Jaca, mainly flat and easy if you find the right bunch and right pace. You will be overcome by bunches composed of hundreds or riders that have started behind and are strong or have the legs to go faster: do not try to follow them and follow your hear rate monitor instead. Keep to your right, it is at times dangerous to ride in such big bunches of fresh guys that have trained for months for this day and are eager to go fast and get to the start of the first mountain.
You do not cross Jaca, you by pass it through a ring which has a steep hill and a very fast descent that lasts a few hundreds of yards. I have seen some nasty crashes there as the bike gets to 70kph just coasting and there is a bend to the right at the bottom to get into the main road.
Once there you start following the river up to the mountains and it is mostly uphill. It is a good idea to stop to have a pee and start eating. And be careful if you do not think it is chilly in those shadowy kms: that means that the day will be very hot.
You will soon get into Villanúa and then start Somport. It is a wide road that climbs little by little, until Canfrac train station, where the climb gets a bit steeper, never more than 8%. By then if you are clever you will have found your pace and try to save energy that you will need later. It is neither a difficult climb nor a long one but I do not enjoy it much as you face it too soon and the organism is not used yet to that type of mountain and effort.
If weather is benign then it will be sunny but still cool when you get to the feeding station in Candanchú ski resort. From there is just 2k to the summit. I always try to zip my gilet or rainjacket and get sheets of newspapers below the jersey that will dry up the sweat: the descent tends to be absolutely shadowy at that hour of the day, sometimes it is foggy at the French side of the mountain and the road is wet and slippery. Moreover there are a few difficult bends and you can go down very fast as gradient is about 9-10% during the first, more technical kms of the mountain.
I always keep to the right and keep a comfortable pace without taking any risks: I have seen one guy dying there and a few more badly injured. At my age I have no intention of endangering my life in what I regard as a pastime. Even if you are a very good descender (what I am not) or know very well the road (I know every inch of it). I think it is silly and impossible to gain much time going down if you are going to lose it later at Marie Blanque. I do not get paid to get 10 min earlier and I want to ride as many years as possible. That said, if you like going down fast you will have the chance here. Curiously enough, I always end with a bunch behind me: some people like-minded probably realize that I know the road and trust upon my pace and feel safe going down with me.
And now comes the tricky part of the QH: from the end of Somport´s descent to the top of Marie Blanque you are playing your cards and they will determine your future at the QH. If you keep your pace, find a good bunch until Escot and then endure Marie Blanque, you will probably enjoy the second half of the ride. If not, you will have serious problems at Portalet, especially if it is a hot day, as you will start that mountain pass at about 2pm and we have had Tarmac melting there some years.
Much has been written about Marie Blanque. It is an ugly climb and I do not think anybody but the very pure climbers can enjoy there. It climbs relentlessly for 9k, the first 4 it is easy and the last 5k it is an ordeal that does not get lower than 10%, each km worse than the one before. One km at 13% mean gradient means that you have parts of it that are far steeper. The climb has no bends but one at the last two hundred yards (to the left). Depending upon your speed you will be climbing with one digit on your bike computer and trying to stand without touching any other rider and fall. It is difficult to know if you have to stand or remain sat down. You will see many guys walking, which is disheartening (at times not much faster than yourself). Everything is left to your strength and will power, you weight and your gears. QH would not be the same without that climb, that is for sure.
At least you will get –either on your bike or walking beside it- to the top (quite often foggy there), you will put your jacket on and coast down until the feeding station placed about 5k later. There are many guys there, plenty of food, mud and mechanics in case you have had problems at your bike. It may be cold and rainy/foggy or sunny and nice, difficult to forecast.
And then the real part of the descent starts, luckily Tarmac has been repaired and it is not as bumpy as it was before. It is fast and tricky, with a few U-turns. Before you realize it you will find yourself heading south, towards Spain. It is a 20k ride until Laruns, the last French village before starting the long Portalet and legs may ache after the rest at the feeding station and the descent so it is advisable to spin for a few kms. If you feel tired start thinking if you find yourself able to tackle a 29km climb which may take you up to three hours.
Once in Laruns you turn right and start climbing Portalet, and “a second QH starts”. It is here where the real thing begins, for good or bad. The first part of the mountain just has a few difficult kms until the reservoir. There is a feeding station there and it marks the start of the last 9kms, which are the more difficult ones (7-9% gradient). You will see the road winding up to the top. No place to hide, just a few tunnels and people in pain, probably with seat problems, cramps or an ill-fitted bike. It may be very hot and no shadow in the last hour of climb. Luckily enough there usually are many people in the last kms.
It is a beautiful mountain as long as you are not in trouble. It is a relief to reach the summit and allow yourself a respite during the descent until the feeding station, but be careful as it may be windy and you may have problems to control the bike. The road is wide, landscape changing completely from the green north slopes to the far drier south, Spanish side.
Once you get to Escarrilla (a village that you reach after crossing a usually well lit tunnel) you will soon see a reservoir and turn left and go quickly down to the lake shore. The village there is paved with cobbles, which is not nice after many hours on the saddle. After the village the road goes upwards and suddenly you find yourself in the last difficulty of the day, the Hoz de Jaca mountain, a short but very steep (10% gradient) climb. The last km is made of concrete and you have no time to enjoy the scenery. At this hour of the day it is usually very hot in the valley.
Once at the top you better take care for the descent, with has a few hairpin bends and gravel. It is fast and short and immediately you are crossing a bridge inside a tunnel to go to the another side –but you won´t get there without effort as the last hundred metres or so are steep- and to the main road again (you have made a sort of loop around the reservoir) for a nice descent until Biescas, during which you may reach easily 70kph. You leave the village to your left and head for the final 20k towards Sabiñánigo. If you are lucky you will enjoy them in a bunch with or without help from your fellow riders. In general nobody will reproach you if you wheel-suck as most people are tired and just want to get there and understand that some people may be even more tired. You will see plenty of guys stretching on the saddle and changing position from sitting to standing, a consequence of a too firm saddle or saddle sores.
In half an hour or so –not withstanding south wind that blows at times- you will reach Sabiñánigo, where you started hours before (in my own case at least eight and a half and about 10 the last year). Time to cross the finish banner, cheer fellow riders, meet family if they have gone with you, drink and eat. That is the best possible scenario as it means that you have more or less enjoyed a long riding day without crashes or injuries apart from painful legs, arms, perhaps neck or buttocks.
If,on the contrary, you have had to drop out, you will look with envy at the finishers and you will start planning next year.
Concerning some useful data, there are many hotels where you may find accommodation, but take into account that you will have to book far in advance, otherwise you will end up to 50 or 70k far from the starting point. Food is available everywhere with menus suited to cyclists´ needs. The nearest airport is Zaragoza (about 130k from Sabiñánigo). If you fly to Madrid you are about 450km away and Barcelona about the same.
