This is a story of a charity ride. Please support if you only can:
https://eskarbonka.wosp.org.pl/tywofyfipi
Photos by Gliadi Content & Paweł Rzepecki
It was hard to not wake up after 1AM. Four of us Maciej, Jędrzej, Asia and me slept in the same room, and all the phones started ringing in every ten minutes. I got out of bed pretty fresh. Calculated that I slept for more than five hours, and I could feel this. Unfortunately not all of us had good night sleep. Maciej had two hours maximum, as he was fighting with his front derailleur, while all of us were sleeping.
It is a pretty funny story when I look at it now. Last evening, before we went to bed, Maciej asked me to take of his front derailleur because as he said, it wasn’t working anymore and his plan was to continue on one chainring only. So we did, I took it off, we unclipped and clipped the chain back, and after all of that we went to sleep. It appeared that Maciej woke up in the middle of the night and started looking at his bike, and suddenly realised, that it wasn’t the derailleur what was broken, but the derailleur holder was loose. And while we all were sleeping he was fighting with it, clipping the chain back etc. The final effect was good, he had his bike 100% functional again, but his body was lacking the sleep.
Anyway, we had to ride, there was no time for giving him more sleep, and I have to admit that I wasn’t worrying about him, as I knew he did sleepless rides before and I was sure that he will manage until our next planned sleep, 350 kilometers away in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, already in the mountains.
We had a pretty crazy breakfast, made from leftovers from last evening’s dinner. I had chicken soup and a pork chop with fries. What better can you have 1:30 AM before another long and cold night ride?
2 AM, 13.01.2024 we were back out on the cold, on a small road in Łowicz, ready to continue our journey. At the same time, three more riders arrived, Marcin, the one who rode with us last evening, but also Tadeusz and Michał, both from Warsaw. All decided to ride with us for a minimum of 100km to our first planned stop in Opoczno. Having more riders around was helpful because time was running much faster, which for me was desirable in a pretty boring landscape where we were. It was dark, so I couldn’t see much, but there were only fields, straight roads, more fields, open flat space, and wind, side, strong, cold Western wind. Each right turn was painful, so we started heaving jokes about it, and we were shouting from happiness if touring left (eastbound).
Apart from the wind the conditions weren’t bad really, there was some snow on the roads time to time but not much. The good thing was, that there was no traffic at all. We could ride next to each other in a group without worrying about cars, but we still were pretty careful as the black ice could be anywhere. It was minus 3 Celsius, another straight flat road, fields around and suddenly I heard a crash and fell behind me. It was Asia, who rode onto the super icy middle white line that cut her front wheel. Maciek was next to me, we stopped, luckily the other riders where far enough behind her to stop in time. Asia was on the ground, but getting up already. All the fall went on her right hip, but luckily she was wearing an UMA GTV Winter tights from Assos, which are equipped with side impact pads that took all the fall power and protected the bones. We were all pretty shocked that Asia simply got back on bike and we did continue to ride. There was a visible tear on the bibs, but most of it was on the outside garment.
All that was pretty scary, but after some time riding we were all back in the zone, and pushing forward to Opoczno. I personally was fed up of a flat land. Wanted a change, and also the sunrise, and I was more than happy when we arrived at our first petrol station stop. The atmosphere got even better there because more people were waiting for us, with tea, coffee, bananas, and sweets, and also two more riders, Jarek and Marta, who came to join us for some kilometers.
From this stop, I started to keep our timing stricken, as I knew that the snowy roads would come later, and we wouldn’t be able to keep the speed, and the only way to finish this ride in 72 hours was to keep our stopping time to an absolute minimum, so the first words from me, when we arrived to the station, was: „I want to see everybody outside in 30 minutes please.”
After coffee, tea, food, more vitamin water, I was back on the road with the rest of the group. The day was out, and another Voivodeship, Świętokrzyskie. It was a happy moment because I knew that rolling hills would start, and the landscape would become more interesting. It didn’t disappoint, we only had to leave the main road, and onto some small local ones in Radoszyce, and the fun part of the day started.
Roads become empty again, and the snow got deeper and deeper, but there was no ice really, and we were laughing from the whole situation rather than being worried about it. I needed this, something unusual, something different than simple pedaling forward through the flat land. Little towns, small hills, constant up and down, it was really fun, and when I was looking at our time schedule, we weren’t really losing too much time there. I can clearly say that we did crush this section, and Silesia, another region of Poland on our way came out of nowhere.
In Koniecpol, km 200 of the day (700 overall) I stayed a little bit behind, I don’t know why, the forest road we have been passing through just before the city was so nice and magical that I simply wanted to enjoy the moment. Once entered the city I saw Maciek riding from the opposite direction and saying that the bridge was closed and we had to do the detour. We followed him, and went to our planned petrole station stop, but we didn’t like it. There was nothing warm to eat on the offer, so we decided to go a bit of a route to visit another station, where it should be much better, and it was. All the casseroles, wraps, tea, and hotdogs were mine. It was amazing how cold is depleting the body.
Maciej took his 20 minutes to nap here and after a little longer than planned stop, we pushed further, knowing that hills near Krakow and Kraków-Częstochowa Upland were about to come.
More climbing, but also more dry and clear roads, so yes, we did climb more but we also could descend faster and overall time got much better. Together with the sunset we reached the Ogrodzieniec Castle, a pretty epic place, a little bit of our route, but the temptation to see this place was stronger. Our media crew was really happy that we agreed to this little detour, and I have to admit I was happy also.
Our next planned stop was in Olkusz, and we were already near Krakow, where we expected more riders to join us for some kilometers. We left the petrol station after 7 PM and we knew that our plan to get to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska for 8:30 was unreal. With about 70 kilometers to do we were hoping to make it for 10:00 PM now. Once again, I played a bad guy at the petrol station and pushed everybody to move on. The final section of the day was supposed to be hilly, with Kraków Valleys Landscape Park and Marcyporęba on the other side of Vistula Valley.
Minutes after we left the station, more and more riders started to join us. I don’t remember when but at some point we were riding as a peloton of about 20 riders. It was amazing, and I could feel the energy, flow, and happiness of everybody. We all made something pretty big there, we brought to life an idea. Some kind of connection, something that will never be forgotten by anyone and it was simply amazing.
Before the Vistula River, southwest of Kraków, we were four alone again. Only Michał, who joined us in Łowicz, was showing up here and there, as he decided to continue with us to the finish line, but he was keeping his own pace. The river valley was cold, as expected and once again Vistula wasn’t easy for us. The air was getting colder, the wind was blowing harder, and we were only thinking of getting to Pogórze, an outside northern belt of Western Carpathians, where our hotel was already waiting for us.
There was one more climb to do, Marcyporęba, which was totally new, and it did impress me, and I believe that I’ll come back here to ride it in summer conditions. Pretty long and steep climb actually not impressive with views, as it takes you through the village, but it holds the grade, and the final bit into the forest with a super steep finish makes the whole experience something to remember. Once I got to the top, and all the others with me, we flew down the mountain towards Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, and it wasn’t long after 10 PM when we reached our hotel.
There was not much to do after arriving as we collectively agreed on a 3 AM sharp start. Everybody started doing their things, including eating, showering, and sleeping. It was good to finally feel some warmth on the skin.
To be continued.
Pawel Pulawski /// @pikopulawski 