While mist is veiling everything, rain and cold are hard enemies. Which were the most intense moments beneath the rumbling sky?

There where many. I can’t almost remember any day without rain. I remember also the cold when we crossed a mountain pass at 2600m and the temperature dropped to 0ºC. Once we reached the top, we encountered a closed refuge. So we immediately started to go down, to lose altitude and gain temperature. Fun fact; in this case, downhill turned into a real torture, as the wind factor and the absence of physical effort literally turned us into ice blocks on a bike. I remember having difficulty in using our brakes as we lost the ability to bend our fingers.

During the trip, you often found yourself tired by cycling, wind–whipped by torments and wet from being out in the rain. So…why? Which is the meaning of it all?

In august of 2013, I was in a meeting with Rafa Soto, director of the ad agency Raiz y Soto, and I was telling him that I had to refuse a job he wanted to hire me for because I was about to cycle the Pyrenees. In the actual economical context, taking this decision was not an easy one, but Rafa, bike lover himself and having done the same trip a few years before, told me the following: “Don’t worry, you will see, these kind of trips are so beneficial for your body and your mind that you will come back with good energy, and good vibe attract work, clients, everything…” And he was right, the month after I was back I felt in an incredible shape, both physical and mental. Literally invincible. And this resulted in having a lot of work, but most of all, feeling happy. It’s all about this.

Which is the relation in between you guys? And how did it change/grow during the journey?

I always say as a joke, If we would have been four women… we probably would have killed each other long before reaching Milano. Alex, David and Euge are friends since their childhood and as the Belgian guy in-between three catalans, I was a bit the “Black Smurf” in the group but maybe it was actually a good thing as I talk less, and I’m less impulsive. I think we were a very good mix.

Was there any ritual you guys were regularly doing?

There were many actually: complaining about pushing, debating and sometimes arguing about where and when to stop for the night.
 At the end of the day, we used to take a picture of the screen of the GPS with all the figures, check the following day track and spot village where to buy food. We always stopped in the first village we crossed in the morning and take a warm expresso or tea.
 Every time we would encounter a free Wifi spot we used to stop talking to each other and frenetically chat and send pictures on WhatsApp.

The night falls. It’s pitch dark. How is it like camping overnight in the middle of the Alps? What was worrying you the most? 

We always tried to stop at about one hour before sunset, so we could choose our campsite, mount the tents and eventually cook, with daylight. It seems that bears are present in some national parks we camped, but honestly, It didn’t prevent me from sleeping. What was worrying us the most was actually the fear to be busted by forest guards or authorities. Law doesn’t allow to camp outside in determined zones (shht, don’t tell anyone, he says). That said, as soon as the sun raised, tents were dismounted, and we always left the bivouac site cleaner than it was when we arrived, carrying our garbage until the next village.

What’s next?

A three months backpack trip to South America from December till March 2015. Among other things on the agenda: crossing the “carretera austral” by bike.