24 hours more!!

Last week I was in Galicia, Spain, to participate in my first 24 hours solo mountain bike race. Two hundred people find each other in Somozas, in the most north-west point in the penninsula. It was like a party, a lot of people with theirs tents, mechanics, bikes and also a good rock'n'roll concerts during the night.
The race started at 12 a.m., and the start was more hard than we thought. I was also ridding fast but I just could be in the second position  for the first four laps. Every lap was really exigent, 11k with 300m uphill in a short difficults and tecnics hills and then a fast crazy downhill single tracks.
After the four lap I caught the guy who had been in the firts position, and fast I started to steal him time. Three laps latter he gave up. I kept pushing a few laps more, untill the sixth hour, when I found the second one, one of the best spanish' guys in this kind of races, in a lost lap. I didn't know exactly how was the time untill this moment, but I was calm then. I could stopped my firsts ten minuts to eat some pasta, drink a coffee and give a kiss to my wife, who went to sleep. I was alone in the night!! And the darknes was also nice. I just ride and ride, lap over lap, it was fun for me, I just was thinking in my next deal, www.expeditionidahorace.com and the laps passed for me really fast. In the first laps I had rode arround 37 minutes each one and now I was in 45. Anyway I was taking more time to the second one who soon will be two laps behind of me.
When we had rode twenty hours I saw him stopped and rest. He told me that the third one was also far away of him and that it was impossible to catch me. I just needed to do one lap more to win the race!!
It was so excited for me, because I won this race and I thought a lot how to do it and i did it, and also was really good because I put three big deals during my preparation to the Expedition Idaho Race, and I won all of them overall, (VBTT, The wolf race & 24somozasbike).
Now I'm just think in the beautifull race that we'll start next week in the USA with Jackie, Mimi and Stu! I'm sure that we worked hard and well these preparation months to be there for enjoy it and fight to be on the top!!!

Like a wolf!

Two days; 180km of road bike; 32km of mountain running; 16km surf-skiing in the sea on saturday and 24km kayaking in the Ebre river, one of the bigest ones in Spain; half marathon with 1100m of uphill and finally 110km of MTB on sunday. It is the wolf race, they name it "La Cursa del Llop" in Catalunya and it is the biggest multisport stages event in Spain.
One special thing in this race is that there are people who only race in one stage, then there are people who race toghether in a relay teams and finally the top category, the people who race all the stages against the other ones. I did this last one.
I started hard in bike, I finished the first stage in 5h28', 180km and 1700m uphill entering the 6th position. I did it thinking about the next mountain run. It started at 14:30, maybe arround 35Cº in the shadow. It was basically 16km in a long and sometimes hard uphill of 800m and then a long downhill in a bad pavemented road to the sea. I started to run easy, maybe in the 30th position. I was on 160 ppm advancing a lot of people under the sun, and when I arrived on top, they told me that I was 5th. I kept this position in the long downhill to the sea, and I just lost one place in the lasts flat kilometers. It was hard! Then, just to arrive, I prepared my surf-ski and I ate a big "jamon" sandwich. I had one hour to rest, befors the start. We had to sail 16km across little waves and wind to the first day finish line. The start was fast, I couldn't follow the first one but I staied with the second and the third one, and in the 10 km I started to push and I get the second position for the last section in the first day. I was already the first one in the wolf category with a cupple hours advantage, and I also had the best time than the first team relay.

The second day started early. At six in the morning, in the dark, we got in our kayaks to paddle 24km agains the river but in a flat water. I had some problems because the river plants tied on my orse, and I had to jump into the water several times to take it out, because it was a big effort for me to pull it. Anyway I arrived 3rd in the next transition, where I put on my running shoes and then we started to run a half marathon to the top of Moncaro, 1200m peak in a pavement road. It was a hot day, again, and we run drinking a lot of water to the cloudy top. I finally spent 2h17' to do it, and then I was happy, because it just remain one stage. The last mountainbike race: 110km and 1800m. I started it like always, in a soft rythm. I was arround the 40th position in the 30k, when I asked my legs more power... and they gave me it. I started to advance people untill the 15th position. I push hard after a full weekend to try my shape, and the result couldn't be better. Finally I cross the finish line, and I broke the best time of that race in more than an hour. I spent 21h10' to do it all. Before the race I thought to do it in less than 20 hours. Now I think that it's really dificult to do it, maybe if  anytimes any member of the "adventure race tribe" come here could do it, but I will also try it against him!!

I hope to see you in the Idaho expedition race: http://www.expeditionidahorace.com/

The Wolf Race!!

Everything is ready for the next race. This weekend I'm going to "El Delta de l'Ebre", in spain, to participate in this multisport race. It'll be two days with six seccions. On Saturday there'll be 190km ride with road bike, 32km mountain running and 16km of surf-ski, and then on sunday we'll start with the kayak, 24km of flat waters, next 21km of running in a steep pavemented uphill with 1100m and finally we will ride for 110km in mountainbike.
My goal is also try to do it in less than 20 hours. We'll see... I'll try it!! Anyway it is a good training to prepare the next adventure race: "Expedition Idaho" in USA with Jackie, Mimi & Stuart Linch in the THULE team.
I'll tell you how it went on monday... 

Hello everybody, I'm Albert!

Hello, world in general!
I'm Albert Roca and I supose that a lot of people who is reading these words already know me.
I've been racing in international adventure races since 2006, at firs with Antonio de la Rosa's team and then with Buff-Thermocool. Both gave me the oportunity to come in to this world, and now I can go to several places to run in a good teams.
Actualy I'm still interested in racing adventure races and I'm also interested in racing in multisport events all around the world.
I'm working hard in kayaking, mountain bike, mountain running and orienteering, and these are the kind of races where the people can find me.
I use to write in my blog, but in catalan. Now it is time to talk to you about my experiences and things that I do in english. I hope that you enjoy and follow me. I always follow you ;)
See you in the adventure!!