KROMVOJOJ - Part 1
START to CP1 - Coll de la Crueta. 323km 6,572m elevation. 17hours 47min.
Kromvojoj at 1445km Road ultra race with 28,000m elevation. Across Catlunya, Pyrenees and Aragon. The route starts in Castevell del Camp.
The way I visioned the route in my head is that it goes North to the Pyrenees, turn left, cross the French mountains, get to Col du Portalet and then it’s South and downhill back to Castevell del Camp via Mont Caro.
Obviously, there was a lot more to it than this but that’s how it was in my mind.
The race started on a Saturday at 6pm. Its June so the sun doesn’t set until 9, the sun is still very hot but I have my high vis vest on ready for the night to fall. The starts of these races are always funny as people are settling into their own rhythms, I had a plan and I was gonna stick to it: take it easy, don’t push too many watts, climb sat in the saddle. Every little uphill people were out the saddle pushing hard and I was just spinning and chilling. We got to the first big climb, La Masarra, and all those people settled into their rhythm and so did I, catching up to them and having the opportunity to chat. The classic are you sleeping tonight and have you been to the Pyrenees before questions. Most of the people I spoke to opting for not sleeping that first night suddenly made my plan feel slow, but I kept confidence in it and stuck to it. The first climb had lots of switchbacks and was super nice. Over the top I had messages to say my tracker wasn’t working-great. I needed to restart it; this would be the first of many.
Through towns and windy smooth roads, Saturday night is always a weird night to be riding for me. You go from being in the intense silence and darkness to being in a bustling town full of life. This particular contrast made apparent at a gas station where multiple other riders were also stopped. The gas station shop was shut but you could order what you wanted through a window. It felt like a party-there was music in the distance and about five other riders. I had packed jam sandwiches and lots of Fuel+ snacks so I was just after some cold drinks: Aquarius and Coke.
I continued onwards, noticeably saw loads of cats this night which was fun. Another open supermarket, another Aquarius.
A few kms shared with other riders here and there, through towns and traffic lights and 24-hour vending machines. The kms ticked onwards until I reached my 200k target, then I wanted to sleep 90 mins. I found what I thought was a good bivvy spot. It was just after 3am. I got in the bivvy, laid down, set the alarm. Fell asleep for about 30 mins but was woken up by the sound of hubs rolling past me. I wasn’t too far from the road and as I knew most people were riding through the night. I laid there for a while trying to sleep more but after being there an hour I felt ready to ride, so off I went.
As the sun was rising I was in a town I had been before and from here for the next 100k, it was roads I knew. From Coll de Bracons to Puigcerdà. The sunrise was pretty grey and not the bright sun I wanted until the top of Coll de Bracons, the sun just peeping through the clouds.
The descent was cold, I stopped halfway to put on another jacket. I got to the bottom feeling a bit funny, riding along a flat section, I felt queasy and then threw up. Not the first time this has happened in a race-I think it must be a mixture of all that food and sugar trying to be eaten in a short space of time, I’m not sure. I saw a bench so I took a 10 min nap and brushed my teeth, waking up feeling a lot better with my sights set on a good resupply in Ripoll after the next climb.
A supermarket and some proper food and a coffee. When I say proper food I mean some sort of caked thing and bananas, just not sweets or sugar.
I passed Fanny in the town, always fun seeing another woman on the road. Across the two distances there were 15 women out of the 100 or so total entries, with only 6 doing the longer distance.
After this I felt great, and climbed up to CP1 feeling strong. The crew asking why I had so many bananas, almost in every pocket-it was because in the supermarket I could only buy a pack of 6 as they were wrapped in plastic. And I really wanted bananas, so I ate two and had to carry the rest somehow.
A checkpoint is always a target place in your mind-you get there a bit relieved and then you just have to get focus and keep on moving.
But a nice chance to chat to the volunteers after being alone on the road.
First checkpoint always feels like a great achievement and in this race with the CPs in the coolest destinations this was true. The race has the ethos of taking a moment to look back at where you’ve come, and being at the top of Coll de la Crueta, this was possible.
Now to enter the real mountains... the next CP 542km and 14,020m elevation away…
Photos by: Jordi Rullo and Tomás Montes
