Stefano, Felix, and I quickly dipped in the icy springtime water before ascending the hike-a-bike feature, only mildly cursing the organizers. Now that I think about it, that made a nice environmental touch, too!īelén and I chugged just through barefoot, happy that our dusty belts got a cleanup.
The organizers even went through the trouble of installing a zip-line feature over the stream so riders wouldn’t have to worry about water working its way into their drivtrains, bottom brackets, and hubs. Kicking off the event, the communal first ride is called “Blind Bash,” and it aims to blend the attendants together at certain bottlenecks in the route, such as river crossings or steep hillside trails. While they’d lock into a fast pace and a mission to finish the larger itineraries, our party group opted for the “cheat codes” in the shortest route, numerous photo breaks, and roadside snacking. We were almost meant to be at the tail end of the sixty-odd other riders, and it felt right to be there. To our surprise, we met quite a few friends and acquaintances at the starting line, with whom we quickly formed an international club of slow-yet-steady ridership, dubbed the Party Group. The Aragon event is located in Sierra de Guara natural park, where the first emerging peaks of the Spanish Pyrenees serve as a backdrop for the cozy campground cabins that were our shelter for the weekend. There’s a Little Bash, a Big Bash, and so on. The Border Bash events are centered around multiple routes of varying lengths, occurring over a weekend and spanning an average of around 90 kilometers with the occasional hike-a-bike section to challenge the riders. You may guess already we are not in a hurry. Over the years, we’ve established a way of frequently stopping so Belén can take a breather while I set up a tripod somewhere. Our bikepacking attitude is to take it slow, absorb what we are riding by, and document nearly all of it. My partner Belén and I both ride bikes made of steel with gearboxes and belt drivetrains. And I must confess that upon being invited to this year’s Border Bash in Aragon, Spain, I was a little reluctant to head out there. I’ve never worn a tight jersey or participated in a race. I’m usually intimidated by gravel events, as I’m not the fastest rider or particularly skilled at riding long distances.
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