I’ve just finished a gravel cycling holiday in Portugal, had a great time and can highly recommend it! I booked through Love Velo but they partner with Bikesul to arrange everything, both companies had excellent comms.
I did 5 days of riding with a rest day after 3 as was a bit worried I’d be too knackered, in hindsight I’d drop the rest day off doing it again. Averaged just under 50 miles a day with 30-40% on road (sounds a lot but in reality those sections went quickly and at times I was glad to to have a rest physically and mentally when going between off road sections!). The company moves your luggage between hotels so you just need to carry what you need for the day’s biking (I was doing it solo so took a few spares just in case). They have an emergency number to call if you need a pick up but I took it fairly easy on the more technical descents as I didn’t fancy knocking myself out or ending up in hospital for most of the trip…).
There was a good variety of off-road tracks, mostly hard pack with loose gravel over it but some rocky, sandy and dusty sections to.
I took my bike with me (Argon18 Dark Matter) but they rent decent quality KTM bikes too. The bike was near flawless the whole trip, ripped a sidewall knob partly off on one technical rocky section which I ended up having to plug as it would only seal until the next rough section on its own. Glad I was tubeless though as I pulled quite a few thorns out in the evenings when doing post ride checks. The Rival XPLR mech started making a bit of a noise on the last day but only when in first so might just need a good clean. I started with a freshly waxed chain and wiped it down with a microfibre cloth each day, did a top up with drip wax after the third ride (150 miles use) but was a bit unnecessary as wasn’t getting any noise from the chain (but I took the drip wax with me and was bored on the rest day…).
I think the Hutchinson Caracal Race 45mm (come up as 48mm on my 32mm internal rims) were a highlight in terms of equipment. Very fast on and off-road, only one minor issue with the sidewall knob and much better grip than I expected. I only really struggled on 15%+ slopes with loose gravel as had to sit down to avoid spinning out and a couple of sections over 25% I ended up walking as was too knackered to wrestle with the bike trying to maintain traction
by i_cant_find_a_name99