I went island hopping for 3 days in the Canaries. My mode of transportation was a handful of ferries and many kilometers on my 3T Ultra.
Last Saturday night at 10pm I set off on the Gran Guanche Gravel ultra starting in Lanzarote. The route ahead was 700km and 16,000m of elevation gain. 5 islands, 4 ferries, 3 nights, 2 days, and 1 win.
The race for the women’s win was close at the beginning of each stage. On the 4th island of Tenerife I pushed hard in an attempt to make the one and only daily ferry to the last island of El Hierro. I realized I was going to miss it by about 10 minutes resulting in a 24 hour rest day in the middle of the race (and a nice tourist vacation with some hours by the beach).
Missing the ferry also meant all the riders behind me would be boarding the boat and racing to the finish with me. It was a challenging stage with over 4,600m of elevation in just 116km. I knew it would be hard but the thing about ultra racing is that I usually get faster the more days I’m into a race. We were on day 3 and I was feeling great despite climbing for 7+ hours straight.
I came across the finish at 3:45am to take the Women’s win and 9th overall. No major fanfare or fireworks, just some fellow riders, a friends parents, and a 2 liter of coke to share amongst everyone. This is ultra racing, and I love it.”
