Gravel Birds 2025 - Portugal
It’s now been three weeks since I finished the Gravel Birds event in Castro Verde, Portugal.
Although I’ve been cycling for years, this was the first time I participated in an organized cycling event, so I decided to go easy and do the shorter route: 330 km with an elevation gain of approx. 4,000 m. The long route was out of the question for me (750 km with 8,000 m to climb), since this was my first ultracycling event and I wanted to take it easy, understand the event, the logistics involved, and the new off-road bike I built from scratch and was riding for the first time.
I didn’t have many expectations or goals besides finishing the route safe and sound. However, as the day of the event approached and I grew more confident in my preparation, I decided that I would like to try to do the route in one go and get a taste of what it’s like to ride through the night until the sun comes up again.
As expected, on the night before the event, it was hard to get proper sleep. Anxiety was hitting, and making sure that I had everything properly packed made me pack and unpack things a zillion times. This was one of the biggest challenges for me during the race: finding what I needed among all the bags and pouches.
I tried to take the bare minimum, which ended up being probably too much. One saddle bag, two dry bags attached to the fork, a top tube bag, a snack pouch on the handlebar, and a tiny running/trail backpack.
Once again, it was clear to me that saddle bags are not my favorite solution, since it’s almost certain they will start bouncing too much at some point. At the end of the day, I even had to tighten my saddle bolts because the bag started to rotate upwards with the weight. Next time, I would really like to try a Tailfin rack, since it’s more stable and easier to get things on and off the rack.
I felt pretty good in the saddle during the entire day, but in the evening I started to feel the need to eat something proper besides gels or energy bars.
As I was not planning to do long stops and just wanted to keep riding as long as I could, I didn’t bother looking for a restaurant in advance. Therefore, the only ‘proper’ dinner I managed to get was a cheese sandwich, a pastel de nata, and a Coke.
Somehow that worked well and was enough to keep me going through the night. The night experience that I had anticipated so much was really fun. Although the temperature dropped a lot (from +24°C to 5°C), it was great to pedal under a full moon and share the roads with hares, foxes, and shepherd dogs that also had some fun chasing me for a while.
Sunrise was also amazing and another good reminder of why mornings are my favorite part of the day. Even though there was some kind of energy boost provided by the sunrise, a few hours after that (around 9:00), I started to feel the need for some proper food (again) and had the last piece of sandwich I had left and a few more gels. The last hour felt endless and all I could think about was having a proper lunch!
I crossed the finish line just before 10 am, happy and really surprised that I was 10th in my category!
I definitely want to repeat and see how can I improve in terms of packing and organizing all the gear so I can save time and move faster on the route.
Registrations for the 2026 edition open this September, and the dates are already set: May 9–15! I encourage everyone who likes this kind of adventure to save the dates and grab a spot for next year’s edition!
Inside my bags:
Clothes
Shoe cover
Long sleeve
Gloves
Neck warmer
Puff jacket
Rain jacket
Extra pair of socks
Summer sleeping bag (which I took just in case I needed some proper sleep)
First aid kit
Band aids
Medical tape
Paracetamol
Sunscreen
Lipbalm
Eye drops
Extra pair of contact lenses
Chamoix cream
Tooth paste & brush
Accessories
Two sets of lights
Power bank
USB cables
Multi tool
Patches
Inner tube
