Season 2014

[Bierzo Baggie]

Thanks Andy, that is praise indeed. It's all pretty simple stuff and I am certainly envious of the sheer range of language you and Sweder use.
It's funny, my job as a teacher over here is usually to do the opposite, to simplify and reduce language to a bare, functional medium of communication. Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading your next updates. We're due a new installment! Would love to walk those Swiss trails one day....

One more race to report from a couple of weeks ago.

And as expected my friend Roland declined the invitation for a rematch..

and yet more wacky characters to add to the cast list.

I would never risk calling any of the Capelo brothers wacky. Not one of “Los Capelos” is even the slightest bit wacky. Just hard.
There are at least 5 of them. Each one is cast from an identical mould in reenforced concrete. I have mentioned them before in The Football Diaries but that was a long time ago.

At some time or other I played either with or against all or them. Capelo Senior was “el legionario” and as a footballer was the best of the bunch. This was despite having only one arm. The other one had been blown off by a misplaced hand-grenade.

During one game I had the misfortune to clash heads with Capelo Junior. It left me with a golf-ball sized lump on the side of my head. Capelo junior came out unscathed. But I apologized just in case.

Capelo number 3 (or 4) is “el atleta” and my travelling partner for the next race. He was working on building sites around Geneva in the 80s and here he trained with Kenyans. Despite being no “speedster” (more of a “blood and guts” sort of runner) in Switzerland he got his 10k time down to 31 minutes and won a few minor races.
I’ve always said that Capelo is made for mountain running. He has very short legs and a high pain threshold. But with a fairly physical job and 3 kids to feed he’s always been a tad wary of the more extreme end of the offroad racing spectrum. A Capelo would never do things by halves and the risks would not be worth taking.

The Catoute Vertical kilometre is another uphill only time trail, 6K on the ground but with 1000m vertical climb. I know the route well and try to come here at least once a year. Catoute is perhaps the emblematic peak in El Bierzo, the one that every true Bierzo-man should one day climb.

The climb starts in the village of Colinas del Campo de Martin Moro Toledano which is the longest name for a village in all of Spain. Not bad, but it’s not a patch on Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is it?
And it hasn’t got a railway station.

We set off from Colinas in pairs. My partner had about 100m on me before we’d even left the village. Was overtaken costantly by the better runners who started behind me. And Capelo was a full 24 minutes behind me so my mission was to get to the top before him. In the end it was a close thing. There was livestock amongst the race prizes and one of his brothers works in the village abbatoir so Capelo was especially motivated.

Paced it well though and arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Enough time to enjoy the marvellous views from the top and cast an eye out for future route possibilites. Then came the worst part, descending with Capelo. The race had finished and he was wearing road shoes but the guy still motored along. Managed to follow him though. At a distance.

The best part was the post-race food back in the village and the prize giving.

First prize was a lamb.
Second prize was a chicken.
Third prize was a rabbit.
And yes, more free beer..

Catoute Vertical, 1 hour 24 minutes: 79th out of 95.



They don't exactly look overwhelmed do they?