The marathon stage, one of the characteristics of the Titan by Alejandro Santamaría

The marathon stage is 112 kilometers long through the desert on a self-sufficient basis

This day all the runners have to transport what they need to spend the night and for tomorrow. There is no assistance on arrival at the camp We do not have our luggage. We only have food, the rest we have to take it.

Everyone has a full hydration pack and a sleeping bag and other things tied to the bike with zip ties or tape. Those who dispute usually have a friend who carries his jacket and other things to reduce weight, but most carry everything.

Today's stage was not very hard in quotes because they are all hard. 112 kilometers with little unevenness but with a stifling heat. Today we were entering the desert and in the end there were long endless straight lines with wind against.

The kilometers pass slowly with the mountain bike and the road becomes even longer for those who are more calm. 

This is a test to have a lot of patience, here it gives time to think about all the problems of oneself and to solve it, and also those of everyone else. In the last 50km we have hardly seen any houses or local people, just some dromedary, proof that we were entering the desert.

The hard part of the stage does not end with the goal. Today we sleep on the ground, in a giant haima where we all live together. The night will be hard, in addition to being more uncomfortable we will have more noises and more smells. This stage in these conditions is one of the peculiarities of the Titan, they do it like this to make it even more mythical like a trip to another time when this was normal.  

For many this is a great challenge and certainly in these circumstances it will be even more remembered and more satisfying. Although there are unnecessary precarious moments. On occasion the showers have run out of water and some participants have to wait more than 1 hour to be able to shower after arriving. But we are almost cut off in the desert and anything can happen here.

See you tomorrow

Alejandro Santamaría