Congratulations to Olivier Jadoul – for setting a new Cabo de la Nao – to – Cabo Espichel, Spain record in the male (18-49) , Standard bike categories. Oliver is the first person (any age, male or female) to undertake this attempt under WUCA certification.

Record Attempt:

Spain to Portugal (East – west) 1000 km

Tale of the tape:

My Name is Olivier Jadoul and on November 10th 2022, at 09H26 AM Is started from Cabo de la Nao (Spain) , at the intersection of the 2 furthest streets of the coast at the East of Spain, offering a large sea view and more important; the impression to start at the furthest east point in Spain.

The objective was to reach Cabo de Espitchel in Portugal (Lisboa) on a distance of 1000 km.

What were conditions like?

I had perfect weather conditions; it was unbelievable for the season. During the day I had around 19 to 26 Celcius degrees, no clouds and sun most of the time.

Same for the wind, I had sometimes a chill wind pushing me in the back.

Nights were very cold as long as we were crossing the desert, but after that I was most of the time cycling under cool temperatures.

Why do a record?

I did want to set this record on request of my children, and also to prove the world that we are unlimited and capable of great achievements.

This was also a big challenge for me knowing that before that I never did or tried cycling and I had 11 months to prepare and get ready, coming from maybe the most complicated part of my life. That record set a new chapter of my life and made will inspire my children for the future!

What equipment did you use? Anything special?

I used a time trial bicycle of the Brand Argon 18 (E116 series), and traveled with Ekoi Cycling gears (most of the time short sleeved clothes), a decathlon classical helmet. I also used gloves all the way.

 

What did you eat and drink?

I ate liquid supplement food on the first half (provided by my sponsor Beautysané), after 500km I felt quite sick (because of the stress I guess) and started to vomit, and it was hard to eat anything so I finished the ride eating few quantities of cooked rice with fried eggs, some soups while cycling, adding also a lot of dried fruits and a few fruit bars and some baby stew fruits.

What was the best part?

Passing the frontier of Portugal was the best part for me , after more than 40 hours not sleeping and having ups and down it gave me goosebumps and lots of hope and a regain of energy.

But over everything; The best part was enjoying and living the whole process. At a certain point I was suffering and it looked like a never ending route, that’s where I decided to enjoy the moment , enjoy the whole process and remember all the time preparing , the attempts the failures , successes and great people I met because of that challenge.

What was the hardest part?

The first night was the most difficult part. As we were climbing up to 800 meters high, the cold and humidity start to hit. My body was in pain, the team started to feel tired; It was a huge and unexpected obstacle and mentally very difficult to overpass.

 

Did anything particularly unusual happen?

We were stopped by the police at around 6AM, who did not understand what we were doing. Hopefully everything went very fast and in less than 5 minutes we were good to go again and the police crew wished us the best of luck

Exact finish location:

I arrived at Cabo de Espitchell (a bit under Lisboa), facing the oceans. There was a very big lighthouse guiding me and showing me that I was at the right destination. The sky was full of starts like I never saw before: It was night time but still very clear with a fresh wind and large fields and a very big parking where we stopped.

Exact Finish Time:

November 13th 2022, at 02h57AM.