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So here I was, on my ass, day 1, looking for the courage to get up again and push my Diverge with all the bags up against the hilly road. Our GPS trackers would make sure we didn’t….a big relief. For me, Mauricio’s nickname was turning slowly from Angel to Devil, until he assured me that we weren’t going to die in the Colombian jungle. Clean and prep the bike, wash your clothes and make sure they dry, get diner somewhere, buy snacks for the race, sleep and get breakfast somewhere. Time was stopped after the finish of every stage, and then the fun could start. You were allowed to leave a 5 kilo bag in the van, which you would see again 8 days later. From the start till the finish on day 8, you had to take care of everything yourself. But also no mechanics making sure your bike is race ready again the next morning. No ‘Clif Bloks’ given to you during the race. So no clean outfits and no refreshments at the finish. The Angel explained to me, that self-supported in Transcordilleras, actually means self-supported. The parcours crosses several peaks of 4000 meter. When you pronounce it very quickly, 25.000 meters of altitude seems okay, but on a gravel bike, given 8 days, it is an immense challenge. And as he told me the ins and outs of the race, something became very clear to me… A new house to stay, when the first one was impossible to get to by car, the best places to eat and all the covid-tests we needed. He arranged everything for me and the boys. An old school training camp: train, eat, sleep and having fun along the way.ĭuring that trip, I met the organizer and first winner of the Transcordilleras race, Mauricio Ortez. This old guy was flattered and so I immediately accepted the invitation. Jumbo-Visma’s Tom Dumoulin and Koen Bouwman had invited me to stay with them and train together. So two weeks before the race would start, I flew to Colombia to get used to the altitude.

#THESSA NEEF REGISTRATION#

Registration was done, we booked our flights, arranged our bikes and off we were. After our trip to Kenya and the experience of racing on high altitude gravel, we were not afraid. Thomas Dekker, also a former teammate of Ardilla in 2008 and Hossel Dennis, my business compagnon, loved a little adventure too. The deal was made and I would come race in 2022. I could definitely see us conquering the Cordilleras of Colombia. I keep a fond memory of our time as riders for team Rabobank between 20, helping Menchov to his Giro d’Italia victory. Moral was high that weekend and, let’s be honest, how bad could it be? When I heard the name ‘Mauricio Ardilla’, he had me. When he said ‘three mountain ranges’’, I was intrigued. I had just won Gravel Locos and their Colombian camera-man came up to me and said: ‘’Laurens, I know you are about to do a 4-day race in Kenya at high altitude this year (see Kokoto), but did you know that we have a similar challenge in Colombia? This bike pack race takes you over three mountain ranges of the Andes, from east to west, 1100 kilometers long and 25.000 meters of altitude. We would have to go back to last year May, during my American adventure. How did I end up here, on Colombian rocks, sitting on my ass at 3000 m altitude? Cramp in my left foot immediately followed and as I sat on the ground, stretching it out, I overthought my choices in life. Just like an amateur at the first traffic light, I fell on the ground, in slow motion. And so I continued pushing the pedals on the 25 % goat track, until my rear wheel slipped and I couldn’t get out of my pedal fast enough. But no, last week I was convinced I would easily conquer those steep Colombian mountains in thin air, using the 31 x 34. It would have taken an hour or so to get it on the bike, probably not entirely as advised by Shimano, but at least I would have had it on my bike now.

Oh, if only I would have brought a 40 sprocket. With my last powers, I tried to make it work on the 31 x 34. I didn’t want to get off my bike again and having to push it up the Colombian hill, fully loaded.

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I was second behind Peter Stetina, my fellow gravel pro from the States and I just didn’t want to.

Thessa neef