Words Thomas Boury

The Traka has confirmed once again this year to be one of the top gravel events in Europe. The Traka is composed of four races ranging from 50 km to 360 km. The race course goes through the magnificent Costa Brava.

It was my first time tackling a gravel race. I’m usually more comfortable riding races over 1000 km, so heading into a 360 km race would be a totally new experiment. But I saw this race as my first step toward Tour Divide 2024. With the aim to round up some speed work. I could easily say that the race’s hopes had kept its promises.

Right from the start the pace was incredibly high. I found myself in the second and then the third group behind the leaders. After about 100km I decided to reduce my pace in order to make it to the end. My gut started to cramp and my energy level began to drop as I was struggling to take on some carbohydrates. No fuel no power! But 360km is long, so I kept my head down and still pushed the pedals the best I could.

After about 8h30 I arrived at the 180km feed zone. I decided to take it carefully from there and managed a 10min stop, saying to myself it was not lost time. I ate some pasta and drank some Coke with the hope to feel better. I left the feed station alone, with a 70 km flat section ahead of me which I wasn’t too happy about. I quickly joined a group whose pace wasn’t that quick. I decided to lead the pack for a while putting some speed back before everybody started to collaborate. After about an hour we were overtaken by another group who just flew by. We all started to hang on to them, but I quickly knew that the pace wasn’t sustainable. I looked at my GPS, over 300w flat. I’m 63kg! After a couple of minutes, I decided to let them go away and I was joined by a second small group of five people. But the same happened, the pace was very high then low, and we underwent surges every four minutes. My stomach at the time felt really bad. I was struggling a lot to eat food. I knew the next feed station was at the 243km mark and I did my best to hang on until there. But with less than 10km to go I dropped. I rode by myself, or I did my best to move forward at 10km/h. After 10h50 I arrived at the feed station in bad shape. I wasn’t able to eat, my stomach cramps were bad and I threw up some bile a few times. I stayed there for about 20 min before moving forward.

From there I knew I needed about six hours to make it to the finish. I’ve been overtaken by a few numbers of riders and was absolutely unable to hop onto their wheels. But anyway I knew it was ok to suffer, and kept pedaling. In the last climb, I was joined by Madeleine Nutt, who was racing for the fifth position. She told me she’d been informed at the last aid station that two girls were in the chase not far behind. This left me with a new objective in mind. I did my best to help her reach the finish as quickly as possible. That made me forget my stomach cramps and we rode a strong last hour together.

I arrived in Girona after 16h52 on the bike with nothing left in the tank. Obviously, I’d be lying if I said I’m not disappointed with this result. I was there for the 15h mark. But I’m pleased with what I learned out there and the resilience I’ve laid. It’s a lot of experience added to my bucket and I’m confident It’ll be helpful later on. The landscapes, the volunteers, and the atmosphere were so nice and despite the pain, it was such a beautiful day.

Now onto the next one! I’m heading for a two-week bike touring holiday in Tuscany before putting in a solid training block before Hope 1000 in June.