We decide to stop, as soon as we find any kind of shade, to cool down. The scenery is sublime. We enter the National Park of Sierra Nevada, and we climb a scorched col. We meet a solitary golden cow who seems to wonder what we’re doing here. We ride along the white trails, taking advantage of the freshness of the lessening heat as the day wanes, and finally, we set up our bivouacs on a plateau under a sky filled with thousands of stars. The night is a lively one – a boar comes to rummage through the bushes by our feet, local farm dogs chase it away and, finally, a herd of goats with incandescent eyes pass by, rounding off the animal parade.

At the end of the morning, we arrive at the first checkpoint, Gorafe. A wall, in the form of a mountain, towers before us. The route does a loop in the desert and we pass exhausted cyclists who are coming back from it. One of them tells us that this section is extremely difficult and that there are no waterpoints. We learn that several participants are suffering from heatstroke and there are a number of cyclists abandoning the race. For me, the aim of this adventure is to go as far as I can. Adrienne and I decide to short-circuit this loop, so as not to use up all our ammunition – too bad about the race since, effectively, we are disqualified from here on.

We pedal onwards in the pitch black of the early morning. The end of the climb is a wide and gentle track – the sun rises in time for our arrival at the top. We enter the Sierra de Baza nature reserve. After crossing a dry zone without any trees, we reach the highest point of our journey, the summit of the col of Calar Alto. Many observatories have been installed here, no doubt the view is clear and unobstructed.

Next up, a 25km descent – one which should be ranked in the top 20 most beautiful descents – along perfect tarmac, with breathtaking views and no sign of a single car. It takes us down to the village of Gergal, the doorway into the Tabernas desert. We sleep just at its edge, as bivouacking is banned there.

The Mediterranean is finally in view. It is a deep blue and the water is clear. We couldn’t resist a quick dip before continuing our route along the coast. A path hanging over the cliffs takes us to Cabo de Gata, a nature reserve for birds and a site with volcanic origins. We see a lot of flamingos here.

The sun is setting, we still have 30km to go until Almeria, the big city in which we had planned to spend the night. But we are out of luck – this section is covered in sand all along the beach. It will take us about three hours to get through it. We meet two Swedish participants and we each weigh up our chances of completing the race before tomorrow’s 8 PM deadline. There are still 200 km left to go, with 4000m of elevation gain. All four of us agree that the challenge is impossible. It’s finally time, then, for a long overdue and well-deserved beer.