So the race is over, and I’m now back home, enjoying the feet up and racing season reaching to an end. It is pretty surprising, that nothing is 100% planned for the next year yet. I have some ideas, not nothing for certain.
Photo: Rupert Hartley
Anyway, I wasn’t going to write about the future, but more about the past and the present, that happened recently during Further Elements. What you will find here is a short race recap, a promised before gear kit, and the clothing that I have used during this crazy and wet race, but also some thoughts. I like it when they appear after the race. It usually means that it wasn’t all for nothing!
So at first some data and a short race recap:
*third rider home / 460km/6592m/31H25M*
How did it go?
Well, it was a short race. We started as a group, following an organizer truck, and after some minutes we were let go to ride on our own. The gravel was smooth at first and the fast boys set up a super strong pace from the very beginning. Neil and Laurens started smashing the gravel, so I was like: “OK, I have to push hard to then”. But, as hard as it is to say, I definitely didn’t have it with me, and simply couldn’t keep up to stay in the winning game. The silly but painful fact was that I did put on too many layers at the start and I had to stop after 20 minutes or so, to take off some clothing, as I was boiling. A rookie mistake. Anyway, that was when I lost contact, and from there I was only trying to catch up. After midday, I was done! I had to compose myself and simply continue, hoping for a better time later on. The night brought fresh power, the weather got worse and that was when my time came. I did manage to climb back to the podium.
I had two stops during the race, on km180 for a coffee, base layers change, and a sandwich (this is when I noticed my SPOT wasn’t blinking. It died for good btw) and a second one, km348 where I had another sandwich stop and I did add some extra clothing on.
It wasn’t an easy ride at all, but I have to admit that I felt good during the night. I was crossing the Cairngorms land, without much of a knowledge about what’s the landscape around me. A bit over halfway my Di2 stopped shifting, I connected it to the power bank and finished the route with a cable plugged in. It was hard to keep it in on the rough terrain. I had to stop here and there to fix it. It was pretty annoying.
Photo: Rupert Hartley
The weather for the ride was as expected. It was raining a lot, and I could easily call these extreme conditions. The UK MET office set up a yellow weather warning in the area we were passing through, so it was definitely a hard one.
Once again, the clothing I had did the job, that’s the simple truth. I started the ride with a 2/3 base layer, a Mille GT 2/3 jersey, and a SCHLOSSHUND rain jacket. The bottom part was a winter bib-tight Mille GTO with a Mille GT Rain Shell pants over it, and that was really enough for the first day.
On my evening stop, I’ve changed the base letters for 3/3 winter one and added a winter jacket Mille GTO EVO. That took me through the night but I have to admit, the morning was challenging. It was raining nonstop during the night and I felt that the cold was getting me in. After the sunrise on my second stop, I added an extra base layer to the whole setup and at the finish line. On kilometer 460, after 31 hours of rain and cold, I had on me this: two base layers (2/3 & 3/3), a warm 2/3 jersey, a winter jacket, and a rain jacket and I was pretty pleased with my body temperature regulation. The key to success with this type of weather and also the type of clothing that I’m using is that you have to keep moving. This is when the garments are working.
Photo: Rupert Hartley
Important things when riding for a long time in such difficult conditions are shoes and small accessories like gloves, hats, etc. Here I did come prepared also and was equipped with two pairs of gloves (2/3 and 3/3 system), neck foil, winter hat, and two pairs of socks. The shoes from Suplest Gravel Performance were also advertised as perfect for spring/fall conditions, and I have to admit that I didn’t feel discomfort, even when crossing multiple rivers and bogs. My toes were nice and warm all the time even if super wet. Oh, and I had Mille GTO winter overshoes on them, maybe that’s what was keeping the warmth in.
Photo: Rupert Hartley
If you would like to hear about how the track/the route was like, I have to admit that you better be ready for hard and rough stuff rather then some premium gravel roads.
I already mentioned multiple river crossings right? Actually, these I loved and they are really justified when you are building the loop. If there is a river on the way, you have to cross it at some point. It was simply fun, crazy fun but fun!
When I say that the route was rough I meant the rough stuff, rocky and “slow-steep” downhills, bogs and marshlands crossing, or super bad double tracks, better for mountain bikes rather than gravel. I did push my bike with 35C Pirelli Cinturato M tires a lot, and I’m really surprised that they did hold all that they faced.
Just to be clear, I’m not complaining here at all. I was expecting all that from Further, and probably that’s because I did enjoy the challenges given to us. I did laugh at them in places and was really happy after completing each hike-a-bike section. What I’m only saying is, that it wasn’t a gravel race that some would like to know, but it was a true adventure race that we may fall in love with. It all depends on our expectations, I was expecting an adventure, and definitely had one!
Photo: Rupert Hartley
What I dear a lot from the whole experience, was the time spent at the finish line, in Corrour Station House. The house stuff was so good to us, and the stay was simply the biggest. It is a place that everybody would love to have after the route struggles like we had.
Photo: Rupert Hartley
Meeting with the new and old racing friends is always pure ultra-cycling gold and was one of a kind this time also. It was great to see the ex-pro riders coming and racing alongside, and what was even better to see is that they share exactly the same passion for cycling as me or us amateurs. It is simply cool to be able to race the TDF stage winner and nothing was unreal there, and despite all the sponsors each of us may have, we are all equal on the road and that is beautiful!
I’ve also met a bunch of riders close with their hearts with Scotland, Northern England, HT550, and UK Bikepacking as we know it, and it caught my thinking how much people are mentally connected with these “slogans”. So many times I’ve heard: “This was an HT550 bit” or “This is the best Scotland”, “I love to come back here” and others. I’ve learned how much we can have for this little, and I really know the feelings of these local riders. I have it each time I ride around my own Klodzko Valley or Island Beskid, and it is good to feel this connection to the actual place from a slightly different perspective.
Yes, I definitely enjoyed Scotland!
As promised before the race, my kit list:
All clothing was Mille GT long-distance series set up with all the accessories from Assos of Switzerland
The sleeping setup was BIVVI, silk liner, jungle back from Snugpack with a super old mat from Alpkit. I didn’t use sleeping gear but it was compulsory to have it during the ride, so I just did carry it in the Apidura Expedition 9L saddle pack.
Spare tubes, tools, a small medic kit, and an emergency blanket I was carrying in my Assos Spider Bag.
My Apidura frame pack was packed with race food (snickers, M&Ms, squeezed fruits), and some little electronics like an EU-UK adapter, Di2 charger, small power bank, and spare AA batteries for my etrex.
Here is the ride if interested: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/138380982
and if you enjoyed the read and would like to help me to write more stuff like that, you can simply get me a coffee: https://buycoffee.to/pikopulawski
Thank in advance!
Piko
Pawel Pulawski /// @pikopulawski 