2023 Recap!

Here it is, 2024, and even if it is only a couple of it when I write this, I feel like a lot has already happened. The time in my life has been flying recently, this is why I decided to say, wait! Before the next year starts, I have to make a little recap of the previous one, because, for my cycling life, it was too great to simply say, see you later!

Well, let’s start from a strong kick, exactly how the 2023 started. I was training hard, from January first (actually a few months earlier) 6 days a week. Together with my coach Ian Tosh, we knew our goals, and we knew that they were set up high.

My first race was a magical 1000 km around Rwanda in the heart of Africa. With the great support of Assos of Switzerland, I set off to race against the heath, the climbs, the high elevation, the hard and rough terrain, and some of the strongest riders out there. It was a journey that started way earlier than the race itself. All the preparation, vaccinations, and logistics, it was a big thing that consumed a lot of my time in the first months of the year.

The race went well, I didn’t win, but I had a lot of adventures. Finished fourth, and wasn’t happy at first, but after some time I realized, that I won a lot more over there. You may read a full race recap (Polish language but you may Google translate) from the race here:

Race Around Rwanda – Paweł „Piko” Puławski

After I came back to Europe, the cycling season wasn’t there yet, but we were already working towards my main event of 2023, the Trans Am Bike Race. The training came back quickly and together with early spring coming along, the more outside riding was happening.

As 2023 was a Paris-Brest-Paris year, I created a series of qualification brevets, which were taking our riders through the land close to my home and my hearth also, the Klodzko Valley. I gathered more than 300 riders in these amazing events, and what is most important and enjoyable, was even able to ride some of them myself together with others. I have to admit that my brevets aren’t the easiest ones, and they are mostly focused on the Central Sudettes, but one is 100% sure, the routes I did proposed were always well recognised by my fellow riders, and this is something that I dare a lot. There is no better feeling, that a fellow rider saying:

“Hey Piko, that route you have built was awesome!”

Thank you all for this feedback. It gives a kick to continue this journey for more.

Cargo bikes were always a huge part of private but also professional life. And also in this sector, 2023 delivered a lot.

Together with my work colleagues, we opened the Polish market for this type of transportation and did a lot to promote and establish an emission-free way of living, working, and thinking. We built probably the first in Poland cargo bike-focused only workshop and small rental system and helped to establish the zero-emission delivery system in the city center of Wroclaw (my city). We also started work on establishing the Polish Cycle Logistics Federation to push and promote green transport into other cities in Poland. It is a big journey, and I’m happy to be a part of this, personally having my cargo bike as my main way to move around where I live. Each time I ride it, I feel that it is the way of the future and I hope the others will follow.

Between work, there was cycling, and in 2023 it was truly a lot of it. I hardly believe when all the kilometers came in, but they were there. As once someone said consistency is the key and this is how my 2023 numbers went high. Also, first time in my life I visited one of the Spanish islands, where all the cyclists are going in the winter. It was a good experience to see this cycling mecca myself, and also having my family next to me was great. We visited Mallorca in May, and I fell in love with this place. We will definitely be back.

The Race Through Poland No.5 could be a topic for another few pages, but here I will write, that the edition of the race was so good, that I felt 100% fulfilled in my hunger to give others what I love. We had amazing riders, exciting competition, fantastic organization, and the best-ever finish line, where we all stayed as one race family. It was a one community-building event.

The June. The biggest race of my life, and the one that I have been waiting for many years to finally attend the monster. The TransAm Bike Race, was my main goal for 2023, and with hunger to break a record time (so-called FKT). I haven’t finished writing this race recap yet, so I will not go into too many details here, but I have to admit, it didn’t go as I wanted it to go.

For over six months before the race I was getting ready and at some point really believed that I will be able to beat the record time. It is important to say that just before the race life did its thing and on the start line I wasn’t to shute about it, but… I was still thinking of finishing it around 17 days. Finally I made it to the finish way over 18. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m still super happy, and by taking my problems I had on the way, still concider this as a great personal result.

I’m writing all this only because this was the race where I did realize that it is hard to imagine the effort until you try it yourself, and once I finished the route I can clearly say, that doing it in a record time is absolutely outstanding and I can imagine now, how huge fight it was for Abdullah, the current record holder.

That was probably the biggest lesson of all, from my ultra cycling adventures.

The ride is here, on my Ride with GPS account:

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/125852455

The time after I came back to Poland, to family, and to work, was mentally one of the hardest times in my life. It is all blurry now, like in the huge fog, and the only time I could focus was once sitting on my bike, but I knew the more I was doing it, the more it was taking away all of my mental strength. I can clearly say now, that I was in a dark place, and my mind couldn’t agree with all that happened. Workwise wasn’t easy also, my long absence and huge race expenses took a big toll and I had some hard personal and professional problems to overcome. I couldn’t simply feel happy about what I have achieved in the US, and finding the motivation to move on, to continue, to think about racing was impossible.

I was really lucky to have my biggest and strongest background, my closest family, my kids, and my wife. I do realize that when all of this will end, when there will be no more racing for me, they will still be there, and it will be only us. Once I realized that, I discovered the biggest life lesson that I could get, and suddenly my TransAm Bike record-breaking failure became a huge success. I have to admit that it took me long after the race to understand it. The mind is a tricky one, and it can take you in some dark places, and still with a smile on your face.

So there it was. Another race! A short one, a different one, a hard one, and definitely exciting. On the edge of autumn and winter, I raced Further Elements, and it felt great to be in the competition again and also in a slightly different format than a proper long-distance road race. What was the best about the whole experience was the confirmation, that I still love it, and that after the hard time, I can still find the motivation. The race finished for me in the third position, I saw my mistakes, and the two guys before me were simply stronger. It is a motivating feeling.

After the last race, there is always a time to rest a bit, think, look for something, and for me, I found my joy in delivering the routes to others. There were still brevets happening, with a lot of riders attending, and a lot of group riding with friends, but one thing that I’m proud of the most is the route that I have created in my beloved Klodzko Valley. I called it a Bikepacking Gravel Crown of The Klodzko Valley, and I truly believe that this is a pearl of the region and that everybody who loves nature, gravel, adventure, and being outdoors should try it. I called in “kotlina400” and hoped to ride it again in 2024, first thing when snow will be gone from the Central Sudettes peaks.

Here is the web for the route:

https://kotlina400.pl/

The end of the year, was all about my family, about planning for the future, but also about cycling in my homeland, the Carpathian Mountains. It was few years back when I rediscovered this land from my childhood in a new and really deep and emotional way. I rediscovered it on my bike, what for me is the best way of discovering things!

Yes, 2023 was great, was hard, was big, was long. I didn’t win it and I didn’t reach my athletic goals, but this is how we learn, and become better, and I believe that with all that, it was the greatest cycling year of my life.

And please, don’t get me wrong, it is not about the distance covered, but I’ll still share this card from Ride with GPS, as it is simply awesome and for me, it tells my story.