“We’ll just go out for two, maybe three hours,” our guide Marcus Ornellas informs us.
“I have a nice loop in mind that’ll get us back in time for lunch.”
Six hours later and we’re still 25km from home, at the side of a road in the hills above Faro, photographer Steve’s 20kg+ eMTB having long since run out of juice.
We send Marcus back to our base at the Quinta do Lago Resort alone.
The early March evening temperature is flirting with 20°C and the pastel de nata custard tarts pinched from the breakfast buffet have congealed in our jersey pockets.
Steve has also ridden the first 85km in jeans and Crocs, having left his cycling kit at home in Bristol.
The bill for tonight’s sidra (Portuguese cider) is coming out of my pocket if I ever want Steve to come on holiday (sorry, another tough work assignment) with me again.
The early-season warm-weather trip is one of the great joys of being a cyclist, offering the chance to experience new roads, feel sunshine on your skin and test your fitness after an off-season of Zwifting or riding wrapped in multiple layers.
I count myself as mightily lucky to have ridden in Mallorca, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and, perhaps the ultimate winter/spring cycling destination, Tenerife, over the past decade or two while the UK roads have still been under an icy sheet.
That said, I still encountered ice on the verges near Mount Teide in the latter, and have never been as cold on a bike as when riding, admittedly jacketless, through the clouds in the Parque Rural de Anaga.
Yet, I have a rule to not go to the same place twice for the early-season escape, so in a bid to find a fresh riding destination that isn’t a Spanish island, I’ve shifted to Portuguese territories in recent times.
São Miguel Island, in the Azores, felt like an untapped paradise of quiet roads, wondrous climbs and hugely varied scenery, the lack of cyclists no doubt a result of the logistical demands of reaching the mid-Atlantic archipelago from mainland Europe (direct flights are few from the UK).
Road cyclists were also sparse on the island of Madeira, more understandably given the ferociousness of the island’s ascents, but there was appeal for gravel riding, especially once the hills were scaled via bike (or cable car) from Funchal.
Having pretty much exhausted Iberian islands, this time it's the turn of the Algarve in the south of mainland Portugal.
Our base, just west of Faro Airport, is the vast Quinta do Lago Resort and its wealth of restaurants and sporting opportunities, including world-class golf courses, tennis courts and open-water swimming opportunities in its lake.
There are also the nearby sands of Praia da Quinta do Logo beach, part of a vast stretch of coastline that’s regularly voted one of Europe’s best.
We’re sharing our hotel with sidelined Manchester City players on the road to recovery and pro tennis players taking part in Quinta’s International Tennis Federation tournament, while Harry Kane and his Bayern Munich team were visitors to the resort the week before our trip (we’re told the England captain was an absolute gent).
In good company
After a gargantuan hotel buffet breakfast, we meet with our Brazilian cycling guide Marcus at the resort’s Campus facility, which offers a range of road and mountain bikes for hire, and hosts multiple group rides during the week.
Marcus is a former national triathlon champion of Brazil and has raced at Ironman’s pinnacle in Kona, Hawaii. He still looks the part, too.
Conversely, I’m hobbling after recently tearing a knee ligament, while Steve has shown up to ride in denim and foam clogs.
We cycle past Quinta’s opulent residential properties, which make Sandbanks in Poole look positively Dickensian, before a brief tour of the roundabouts of Faro’s hinterlands.
The riding rewards arrive once we get beyond the suburbs of Loulé, where the smooth tarmac and rolling hills of the Serra do Caldeirão await.
Joy of the open road
Motorised traffic is conspicuous by its absence, as are other cyclists.
A rider in UAE Team Emirates kit powers past us, having seemingly stuck around after the 2024 2.Pro Volta ao Algarve (Tour of the Algarve).
This was won for the third time by Belgian superstar Remco Evenepoel, of Soudal–Quick-Step, ahead of his compatriot Wout van Aert and the UK’s Tom Pidcock.
The UAE rider, travelling too fast to be identified, still manages a friendly “Olá!” before becoming a dot on the distant horizon, his speed at once inspiring and slightly demoralising.
I usually ride alone in the UK, so I can trundle at my own pace and experience some quiet time (I have two young-ish kids).
Days like today remind me of the pleasure of companionship and having a guide – not least because of the lack of time spent fiddling with a Garmin when I inevitably get myself lost.
Marcus is still racing and still finishing in the top five of triathlon and cycling events, and it shows in his lean physique, despite the enviable fact that his wife is a French pastry chef.
We chat about his upbringing in Brazil and the divisive political climate of his former home (and that of Britain), before we happily return to food, football and Marcus’ elite triathlon career, where he pitted his racing abilities against the British greats of Spencer Smith and Simon Lessing during one of multisport’s golden ages in the 1990s.
Regeneration game
A detour to the village of Querença brings a sharp 12 per cent climb, where Marcus’ competitive instincts resurface after we decide to race to the crest.
The loser will buy lunch. I weave across the tarmac while Marcus rides straight and true, a picture of efficiency.
My wallet is out before I even reach the top, joining the long list of British men (hello, David Seaman) left dazzled by Brazilians in sporting pursuits.
Also dazzling is the friendly Restaurante de Querença’s array of outrageously cheap cakes and pastries, fine coffee and a fridge full of fizzy drinks.
All are much-needed for the climbs that follow towards Barranco do Velho.
The inclines may rarely reach double figures, but the 12km-long ascent out of Querença is a quickfire test of our post-coffee energy supplies and early-season fitness (but not too much of a test – the 30 per cent brutes of Madeira this is not, thankfully).
Flanking the ascent are the biologically rich and gnarly cork oak forests that are a feature of southern Portugal, their lower sections of bark harvested for wine corks before regenerating within a decade.
Happily, no trees are harmed in the making of the cork stoppers, with their ability to absorb CO2 increasing fivefold in this regeneration process.
At Barranco do Velho, we cross the EN-2 highway, which starts 30km from here in Faro and runs 800km all the way to Chaves on the Spanish border in Portugal’s far north.
The Portuguese tourist board are billing it as the nation’s answer to Route 66, and our resident end-to-end expert Rob Ainsley rates it highly, the nearby A2 motorway having taken much of the EN-2’s traffic.
It’s one for the retirement bucket list when I’m 80.
The reward for the climbing is the widescreen Miradouro do Alto da Ameixeira viewpoint, where we stop to savour the views towards the Atlantic Ocean to the south.
We realise we haven’t seen another cyclist for three hours, a far cry from cycling in Mallorca. And the lack of wind has been a refreshing change from riding in the Canaries.
The early-March air temperature, meanwhile, has sat around 20°C for the afternoon; perfect for cycling, if less so for our jeans-wearing snapper, who’s also carrying a bag loaded with camera equipment.
Down by the boardwalk
Having overtaken us while cycling one-handed on today’s climbs, karma arrives for Steve when his ebike battery dies.
The 8km descent to São Brás de Alportel is fast, thrilling and negotiated with ease, the 6km-long false flat that follows less so.
Marcus, despite his protestations, is sent back to Quinta alone so he can make his appointment at tennis school.
We slowly navigate the towns of Loulé and Almancil before getting ourselves hopelessly lost down a dead-end street just metres from the resort.
It’s a blessing in disguise, however, with the track taking us to the wooden boardwalks of the Ludo nature trail, where dunes, lagoons and the golden sands of Quinta do Lago’s beach meet.
Steve unpeels his Crocs from his suffering feet and collapses into a chair as I shuffle to the bar for the cold cider I’ve been promising him since midday.
Our back-pocket custard tarts have now become part of our jerseys, so we venture to Quinta’s Bovino Steakhouse, where the chefs do unbelievable things with braised carrots and chargrill a ribeye to perfection.
It takes Steve’s brain and backside a couple of ciders before he agrees, but it’s been one of my favourite ever days out on a bike.
The escapism and endurance, companionship and conversation, coffee and cake boxes have been resolutely ticked, while star billing must go to the Algarve’s empty tarmac and epic topography.
As it stands, I’m open to breaking my rule about not returning to the same destination twice.
There’s plenty more to explore here, with a foray further west into the hairpins of the Serra de Monchique mountain range at the very top of my list.
We also haven’t explored some of the network of gravel routes around the Serra do Caldeirão, while a chance to combine watching some of the world’s best at the Tour of Algarve in February with some group riding sounds like a one-two worthy of any cycling club’s attention.
Just leave your Crocs at home…
Local Knowledge
- Distance: 110km Elevation 1,440m
- Download the full route: Komoot
Getting there
Most main UK airports run direct flights to Faro International Airport – we flew Easyjet from Bristol to Faro for £120 with luggage in early March. Quinta do Lago is 20mins away by taxi.
Where to stay
We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel in the Quinta do Lago Resort west of Faro. Famous for its world-class golf courses and restaurants, the resort also has a lake, nature reserve, swimming pools, bike hire and access to the vast sands of Quinta do Lago’s beach.
Standard rooms (with an ensuite and private balcony) start from €155 per night.
Where to eat
The friendly Restaurante de Querença in the village of the same name boasts an array of quality cakes, good coffee and a fridge full of fizzy drinks.
Recommended places to eat in Quinta do Lago are the Bovino Steakhouse, Dano’s bar at the Campus and the Magnolia Hotel’s own restaurant.
Bike shops
We rented our bikes from the Campus in the Quinta do Lago Resort. The Campus organises social spins from 50-120km each week led by former Brazilian national triathlon champion Marcus Ornellas. Carbon bike rental for three days was €147.
