The plan was to travel 1000 km to Southern Portugal by bicycle from Nazare to Albufeira, exploring Portugal’s beautiful landscapes and training parkour along the way.

Like any good trip, many essential tasks, including bike maintenance, were left until the last few days leading up to our departure. If we had only taken the extra time to prepare, our first several days wouldn’t have been filled with mechanical issues, which reached their apex as my friend, Cris, road the first two days without brakes.

You’re never really prepared for what an adventure may hold, and we weren’t prepared for all this one. What started with a trek through enormous quantities of mountains with a broken bike and little money, ended with getting lost and running into the massive storms that would ultimately put a damper on our travels.

After completing a third of the journey, we ended taking a train from Lisbon a few hours back home. The feeling of waking up during the middle of a 1000km bicycle adventure only to be back asleep in my own bed was nothing short of amazing. Although we didn’t complete our goal, the challenge was met with our best effort and ended being an incredible test of endurance on such a behemoth obstacle. This is definitely a challenge I will return to.