Volcat Stage Race 2022 – Igualada, Spain

Volcat Stage Race – April 14th-17th, 2022

Ever since taking part in Ireland’s first and only mountain bike stage races (the classic Lough Derg Challenge races in 2011 and 2012), I’ve always wanted to try my hand at this unique event format again. I didn’t think it would be ten years until that happened, but a mixture of travelling, injuries and the fact there hasn’t been another MTB stage race held in Ireland since 2012, meant this was the case.

Thanks to the motivation of a friend, Mark, who had regularly been heading abroad most years to take part in races like this, I was convinced to finally try this race format again, this time joining him for a stage race near Barcelona in April 2022.

The race in question was the Volcat, a four-day stage race through the mountainous region of Igualada just an hour’s drive inland from Barcelona. It would consist of four tough stages adding up to a total of 204 kilometres with 4,670 metres of climbing.

My fitness most certainly was not up to this after herniating a disk back in January 2021, an injury that would plague me for most of that year. However, after getting back cycling again in late 2021, and biking both the King Alfred’s Way and the Trans-Dolomiti, I felt motivated to hit the ground running. Unfortunately a mixture of Covid, a new job, family visits and bike issues all conspired to halt my training in the two months before the race, meaning I was going in woefully unprepared for the long days ahead.

Below is a summary of what transpired during the four-day stage race, along with a collection of photos that show just how badly I suffered over the four days!

Stage 1

Distance: 39.95km | Climbing: 1,050m – Click here for GPS Route

The first stage of the Volcat involved an afternoon start, meaning we would be setting off during close to the hottest part of the day (22℃ – a very unreasonable temperature for a pasty Irish man!). This was something I should have taken into account, but the adrenaline got the better of me as the 109 mountain bikers around me in the Open category sprinted off the line. Ultimately, I set off way too hard for my current fitness levels, bringing my heart rate into the 190s where it remained for most of the day!

For the first seven kilometres I was right on my limit, the heat and high heart rate causing me to seriously struggle. So, when I turned a corner to be met with a 18% loose gravel climb, I had nothing left to give. Thankfully my chain came off when I tried to drop gears and I had an excuse to take a short breather as I pushed my bike up the hill.

Even with this, I had to take a break at the top of the steep climb to catch my breath. I simply wasn’t fit enough to hold this pace, so I had no choice but to manage my effort as I got back on the bike and began the remaining seven kilometres of climbing to the highest point of the course.

I dropped some places as I tried to bring my heart rate down, but was able to gain time again once the descending started. As much as I was suffering from the poor start, the gorgeous singletrack of this region more than made up for it. The descents consisted of some epic, tight singletrack which weaved between the red rock canyons of this region. Once through these, the route followed a precipitous ridgeline traverse with dizzying drops on either side before a rapid, dusty descent down to the town of Carme at 23 kilometres, the location of the first food stop.

My bad preparation showed here, as I had expected to grab some isotonic drink at this stop to help prevent cramps, but the only flavour available was lemon. There was no way I could stomach a warm lemon drink on such a hot day. So, I pushed on with just water and soon regretted it.

The steep kickers just kept on coming and coming for the next 11 kilometres. To make matters worse, I hadn’t tightened my seatpost enough after building my bike the previous day, and it had been lowering itself bit by bit throughout the day without me realising it. This, combined with the lack of an isotonic drink, left my legs on the verge of cramping.

As the kickers kept coming, and my dehydration increased, I couldn’t fight off the cramp any longer and succumbed to some agonising bouts where my hamstrings and calves seized up. I had to get off and push up the occasional climb to relieve the cramp before getting back on the bike at the top of each one, praying that lifting my leg over the saddle wouldn’t trigger another vice-grip cramp on my hamstring!

It was a real struggle, but I finally crossed the line 2 hours and 45 minutes later (somehow holding an average heart rate of 187 for that time), exhausted and looking forward to a good night’s sleep before the next stage, the longest and hardest of the race!

Stage 2

Distance: 67.47km | Climbing: 1,751m – Click here for GPS Route

I woke up feeling knackered after the previous day of racing. My lack of training for the race really showed here with my poor conditioning leading to back pain, saddle sores, and aching legs, hands and feet. The perfect cocktail for the longest stage of the race!

Due to my poor condition, and the very fresh memory of how badly I judged my starting speed the previous day, I really knocked back the pace at the start and kept my heart rate low.

Thanks to this, I moved steadily and well up the first climb and had plenty of energy upon reaching a large queue at the top. I thought this was for the feed station and unscrewed the cap on my bottle and threw in an isotonic tablet in, before lightly screwing it back on. The idea was that I would save maybe 10 seconds at the feed stop while filling the bottle.

This little trick backfired massively, however. It turned out that the queue was actually for a technical descent followed by a steep, loose kicker. I descended this and then pushed up the far side with everyone else. The feed station was then at end of this bit of trail. I stopped ready for a quick refill and noticed that my bottle top had fallen off on the descent. So, I had to chug as much isotonic drink as possible there. I got back on the bike and tried drinking as I pedalled onwards. But with the missing bottle cap, all I could manage was to splash my face in isotonic drink which, as it turns out, isn’t so helpful when trying to rehydrate.

With a sticky beard caused by the isotonic drink, I pushed on, wondering when I would finally get my shit together at one of these mountain bike races! All I remember from the next section was tons of kickers and dust as I pushed hard to reach the next feed zone at the 24 kilometre mark. I stopped here for ages, taking a gel and repeated huge gulps of water as I knew I wouldn’t be able to drink again until the next feed stop.

In fact, I clearly looked so knackered and dehydrated at this feed stop that I even made it onto Spanish and Catalonian TV! I’ve forgotten nearly all my Spanish since I cycled across South America back in 2016, but the gist of it seems to be:

• Several minutes of footage of the leaders of the race in the elite category. These incredible specimens of human perfection pedal through gorgeous scenery, making it look effortless as they power towards victory.
• Commentator begrudgingly mentions that there is also an Open category where average humans take part.
• Pan to me, red-faced, out of breath and looking lost as I wander around the feed station with my missing bottle cap.
• Commentator hides his disgust and they immediately pan to some women in the open category followed by the elite racers almost immediately again.

Footage that was broadcast on TV is below. I wander into frame at 07:38:

Once finished at the feed zone, I pushed on and settled into a big 300-metre climb. Even once over this, the climbs just kept on coming. With 1,750 metres climbing over the course of the day, this shouldn’t really have come as a surprise. I struggled to maintain a good pace on the climbs, but thankfully I was able to push hard on the descents and gain back some time. The technical nature of Irish mountain biking meant that I could make serious ground on the descents despite being on a hardtail.

I continued to keep on my limit for the rest of the day, racing through the rocky mountain terrain, trying to make up for the lost time at each feed station as I had to stop and down bottles of water due to not being able to carry water on the bike any more.

With twelve kilometres to go, the majority of the big climbs were out of the way, and I instead faced a long section of fast rolling fireroad consisting of loose gravel. There were lots of kickers so I had to try and carry every bit of momentum possible into every corner. I was on the absolute edge of my grip, pushing as hard as I could, before then sprinting for all I was worth into the next climb. I pushed on like this all the way to the finish, letting the adrenaline carry me all the way to the line.

It was only once I crossed the line and I stepped off my bike that I realised I could barely walk. I managed to push my bike a few metres past the paddock exit before my back completely seized up and I dropped to the ground, unable to move.

It took fifteen minutes of lying there on my stomach, trying to straighten it out until I could stand again. One paramedic and another racer stopped to ask me if I was okay before leaving me to my misery.

Our rental van was parked on the way to the finish line, and I had passed Mark and his partner there, so they were getting a bit worried when I hadn’t reached the van yet. Thankfully they came looking for me, and found me sprawled on the ground. They were able to help me up and push my bike back to the car as I limped along beside them, feeling absolutely broken.

I had minimal cramps this time, but I was still dehydrated due to going long sections of the course without water or isotonic drink. But the biggest issue was obviously my back. I was really hoping it would improve overnight as I still had two more brutal stages waiting for me.

Stage 3

Distance: 60.95km | Climbing: 1,497m – Click here for GPS Route

Checking the results from the previous two days I realised I was in the mid-seventies out of the 110 racers in my category. Considering my ill-preparedness for this race, I was happy with this, and set myself a target of getting into the sixties overall.

I knew my body was in a bad way, so this was a difficult target, but I wanted something to aim for so I came up with some slight tweaks to help my body through the next two days. Firstly, I planned to leave my fork lockout off for the entire stage. Previously I had been turning it on on fireroads and flat sections to gain time, but the lack of any suspension on rough ground was contributing to my back pain. On top of this, I planned to straighten my back out on all fireroad and road descents in the hope this would prevent it from seizing up again. And finally, I decided I would not throw away my bottle cap early in the day, allowing me to drink my isotonic mix as I pedalled along!

Helpfully, the start of the third stage was the exact same as the first, which meant I knew to take the start a bit easier this time. I progressed up the first climb nice and steadily, getting into a good peloton. We all worked well together, taking turns on the front to block the wind until we neared the top of the first fireroad climb.

Here, the fireroad kicked up steeply into a narrow piece of singletrack. I felt good, so I pushed on hard, trying to get clear of the group before the pinch point entering the singletrack.

I caught a large group near the top, most of them walking up the final super steep end to the kicker. I left a gap and then sprinted up it, attacking for all I was worth. At the top, as I was right on the edge of my balance, nearly stalling out on the steep gravel, a Spanish rider kindly shoved my back and yelled Opa! This helped me through and onto the tight, technical singletrack with a nice gap.

The trail descended out of the sunshine and into a dark wood hidden in the base of a canyon. The whole descent was absolutely gorgeous and allowed me a much-needed chance to cool down after the brutal heat of the first big climb underneath the baking sun.

There were a few pinch points where people got off to walk rocky sections but I managed to get in behind some fast riders who had only signed up for the last two stages of the race (as these were on the weekend) and were full of energy. Thanks to this, I flew down through the really tight jungle-like overgrown singletrack

At the bottom of this descent, I rolled into a feed zone where I quickly refilled my water and sped out the far side into a big climb.

I ended up in another good group here, which included a pair of Spanish guys who I had been dicing with for the previous two stages. One of them always had a bluetooth speaker in his backpack playing fast-paced Spanish dance music which helped take our minds off the brutal climb and the rising temperatures.

From the top of this climb, we were funnelled into some narrow singletrack down through another forest. Right at the bottom of this descent, as you were reaching top speed, there was a big gully straight across the racing line.

I noticed it at the last moment and just about managed to manual through it, avoiding a puncture. I continued on past at least five other riders who weren’t so lucky, and soon found myself behind another one who had punctured but was still pedalling onwards. We got caught behind him for ages on this singletrack climb losing a lot of time until he caught up with his partner ahead who must have had the spare tubes/pump/CO2 canisters.

Once past him we flew into the descent. Here I went over a small jump which had a photographer to the side. I pulled up on the bars lopsided and nearly crashed into a stump as it caused me to land at an angle and lose control. I just about saved it and continued on, flying down some really fun, fast, loose descents.

I tried to push hard up next series of climbs, but again found myself struggling due to my lack of fitness, and was passed by plenty of people. As soon as I reached a descent, I really went for it, taking risks as I tried to make up for lost time. Due to this, I very nearly missed a turn on this section, but the male member of a mixed pair (which I had been racing on and off for all three stages so far) shouted at me, helping me notice it just in time.

I flew down the rest of the fireroad and reached the final feed zone. I stopped here to fill up on water while everyone else around me skipped the feed zone and pushed on. I tried desperately to catch them by pushing hard on the last climbs and a long fireroad descent, but struggled to make any headway.

I finally caught the mixed pair I had been racing all day on a really steep kicker. The male member helped me yet again here, putting a hand on my back and giving me a vital push after I had stalled out on the insanely loose soil. He shouted some further encouragement as I raced onwards to the finish line.

I pushed hard up the final climbs, but failed to catch anyone else. Nonetheless, I finished the day well and had moved myself up to 70th place overall with two guys within a minute just in front of me.

The aim was to push as hard as possible the next day and try to get into the sixties. Either way it was a great surprise to not be right at the back of the field, but even more so just to be having some great fights with other racers.

And even better, my back felt much better at end of stage thanks to regular stretching during the race and the fork not being locked out, which meant my body took less of a battering compared to the previous days.

Stage 4

Distance: 41.91km | Climbing: 883m – Click here for GPS Route

I went into Stage 4 with the aim of pushing as hard as possible considering it was to be both the final and easiest stage of the race. My back and saddle sores had just about held up, so I hoped to be able to let go a bit and really push on.

I lined up beside Mark at the start, but instead of letting him disappear into the distance as usual I kept to his back wheel for a while, and when he got away I tried to keep him in sight, pushing way harder than I had at the start of the other stages but managing to maintain the intensity. Perhaps the reason I had fared so badly during the start of the first stage was simply my lack of conditioning, and now, after three hard stages of racing, my body had adapted to the intensity required for these brutally fast cross-country race starts.

The 450-metre climb fluctuated between tarmac, singletrack and gravelly fireroad, before spitting us out onto a super steep tarmac road which would almost bring us to the highest point of the day. I really pushed hard here, keeping the wheel of some faster guys and sprinting hard until we reached a steep fireroad. I tried to continue gaining places here, pushing myself to the absolute max, knowing that after these 450 metres of climbing a big descent lay ahead.

When I finally reached the top of climb, absolutely spent, there was a queue into the singletrack. I waited patiently here and used the opportunity to down an energy gel.

A few minutes later, I had reached the front of the queue and was faced with a rapid descent down an open ridgeline with lots of rock drops. Even on the descent long queues had formed with slower, less confident descenders in front. It took a while, but by taking the harder lines on each occasion I managed to get around the queues and let loose towards the bottom of the descent. I was popping off a few drop-offs and had loads of fun railing around the berms as I rattled down to another fireroad. Another Spanish rider who had gotten in behind me and followed my wheel down all the technical lines pedalled up beside me at the bottom and shouted excitedly in Spanish, fuelled by adrenaline after the flat out descent.

I got in a good group on this fireroad and sprinted up this and straight into some more technical singletrack. These trails were some of the steepest and tightest of the whole race with lots of loose, loamy soil making for some technical riding. There were inevitably some queues at the steeper points, but I had lots of fun here.

Once out of this we reached the food zone and I stopped for water and some excellent cured sausage (one of the reasons I was quickly loving Spanish feed zones compared to the Irish ones!).

I pushed hard up the next few fireroad climbs, but found myself running out of steam as I neared the last climbing of the day. I had pushed myself super hard all day and was now paying for it, as several riders began passing me out. I tried to hold it together, gritting my teeth and pushing through the pain until I finally reach the last summit.

Five people had passed me out on that final climb, so I pushed hard into the final descent, trying to catch them, taking risks on each corner as I tried to maintain as much momentum as possible.

As hard as I was pushing, I was still unable to catch the five guys in front before the finish line. I did manage to nearly catch a pair just before it, but realised that I would be ruining their finish line photo if I passed them out! So I hung back and crossed the line to their left.

In the end, I had put in my best performance of the four days, managing 50 places better than any other day overall. This helped me overhaul several of the people in front of me in the general classification, moving me up to 65th out of the 110 racers that had entered.

I felt surprisingly fresh after the stage with my back feeling much better. I had learned a lot of lessons over my first three days of stage racing which had added up and helped me out on this final day.

Mark had finished 50th overall after a fantastic effort, his training and hard work having paid off.

It was a great end to our four days of racing and my first ever stage race. After how much I had enjoyed the camaraderie between the various racers, the beautiful scenery, the fun trails and the intense racing, I decided I would definitely be signing up for another one in the future.