This is the second year of Transcordilleras, a self-supported gravel rally that takes participants across Colombia by bicycle. There are two categories, non-stop and by stages. There are two versions, the short one is a three-stage race, and the long one is an eight-stage race. This is my second short version. During the event, participants have to cross the three Andes mountain ranges which divide Colombia.

The welcome meeting was held in the same place that the race was going to start, a cyclist hotel called Casa du Velo, near to Filandia, a little town in the “coffee land”. It was really cool to see a lot more participants than last year, and also see some familiar faces. 

A very interesting fact was that the female participation is increasing really fast - there were nine women if we add all categories, while only one took the start line in the first edition.

The first day started with a mixed long descent through gravel, rocky and paved roads. It rained all night and part of the morning, so the gravel parts were mostly full of mud and puddles. The leaders were full gas from the beginning, rapidly the race broke into little groups, and despite knowing the first part of the route, I couldn’t keep such pace, then I decided to keep mine, there were still many kms to ride and two more days to come. 

It was such a beautiful route, crossing coffee and plantain lands, little towns with big churches in the central park and at the end we had an amazing landscape of a huge valley (Valle del Cauca) between two mountains ranges, a valley that we have to cross the next day. 114 kms and 1,610 m of climbing later, Day One ended in Caicedonia. A main aspect to have in mind in this kind of race is that after finishing each stage, you have to rapidly find something to eat, clean the bike, prepare everything for the next day, and settle in the hotel or house, all that before the night arrives in order to have a decent rest and take the start line on time the next day.

Day Two and queen stage started, the largest and hilliest of the three, the weather was chilly but no rain. It began with a 6 km hillclimb, followed by some slopes to reach an almost impossible hill full of rocks and more than 20% grade, and except for one rider, all of us had to put our feet on the ground at some points. After a long descent we reached the valley. There we had to ride on gravel roads through almost infinite sugar cane crops, traverse little farms in the middle of nowhere and cross the Cauca River on a barge. 

Just before crossing the river, I was able to reach a group with which we decided to stop and eat roasted chicken, cokes and salty potatoes before the longest climb of the race. At the end of the climb, I was alone again, but only remained to cross a few little towns full of people drinking in bars and sidewalks celebrating the holiday and some amazing landscapes before reaching Trujillo. In total we rode 132 kms and 3,080 m of positive elevation. 

Day Three - the last day and shortest one, but with the most impressive landscapes because the whole stage went through the western mountains. Despite the efforts of the two previous days, I felt good, I had run out of gels, but I still have some energy bars. It started with a long, paved descent, then a very long unpaved climb, really beautiful, full of vegetation no matter where you looked, little towns and farms and a segment that was a destroyed formerly paved road, that felt worse than riding along a rocky track. The last 15 km was a paved road with an amazing view of the Calima lake. As soon as I saw the lake all my tiredness went away, I felt a push on my body and I gave all I had, all I wanted was to finish the race. It was 80 kms and 1,966 m of positive elevation.

I feel proud to have finished once more the short edition of Transcordilleras. Again, it was an unforgettable experience, I saw old friends and made new ones, the breath-taking Colombian landscapes full of green and birds, the very friendly villagers smiling and asking us about the bicycles. 

But the most incredible thing about this race is the atmosphere of friendship between the participants - if you have some kind of problem or need anything, there is always someone willing to help you, here we all are friends. I look forward to coming back next year, but next time I am really eager to do the eight-day race.

You can find all the details for the Transcordilleras event (which will take place next February 12-19th) here

All photos courtesy of Aburra Colombia