MPPxRTP Day3

This story is about the 1000km charity ride. Before you read, spare a coin if you only can, and enjoy the read afterward.

https://eskarbonka.wosp.org.pl/tywofyfipi

(Photos by: Gliadi Content & Paweł Rzepecki)

Sunday, 14.01.2024, a few minutes after 3 AM I was sitting next to the door waiting for others. It wasn’t an easy night, I have to admit. Even if we arrived here after 10 PM last evening, I didn’t have 4 hours of sleep. After showering and food, I was sitting along with Alina and Kosta, our main media and communications people from Gliadi Content, who followed our journey and produced all the content about it, and we were looking together for additional ideas to share our charity page and boost our fundraising even more. I was feeling super tired, but seeing the success of the whole action, and people donating and supporting us, I was ready to dedicate my sleeping hours to the case. It was well after midnight when I got into bed, and god knows why, at 1:45 AM I had my eyes open again and they didn’t want to fall asleep anymore.

And here I was, 3 AM, ready to ride the final 200 winter kilometers through my homeland, the mountains near my family home. I knew we didn’t have too much time, even if 15 hours was looking like a doable thing, I knew that as a group, we would be slow, and I also knew, that winter would be up there on the climbs.

Fee minutes after 3 AM, Asia, Jędrzej and Maciej joined me, and we were outside the hotel, in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. Until my Garmin uploaded our next section, they were already gone. I started few minutes later, and actually I enjoyed this, because it was pretty cold, and by catching them up, I managed to warm up pretty quickly.

I joined them on the pretty well-known climb in the region, taking us through a super steep road to Lanckorona, a lovely town. From there there was not much going up anymore. Maybe one small climb and then long and fast descending to Myslenice, where we entered the actual mountains, so called Island Beskid. The weather was ok. It was cold, and the wind was strong, but so far the roads were ok, not dry but also not frozen.

We chose this section with Maciej deliberately, as we know this road is the safest option to get to the Race Through Poland 2019 segment from the north. The safest in terms of the weather. From all the mountain passes that you can choose, the road through so-called Lubomierz will always be rideable. This is what we were saying, and we proudly named this section “the way of the forefathers” as we rode this one since when we started cycling a long time back. It was fun, and I have to admit a little bit emotional also, but what came after was really unpredictable.

First kilometers after Myślenice, when we only turned south, the wind attacked. It was strong and super cold, and the 15 km flat-ish section was hard and pretty difficult. We pushed hard with Maciej in the front of the group, only looking at ourselves from time to time and laughing at times, that our forefathers’ road was testing if we were worthy to pass through. It was great and motivating.

We had a super short toilet stop on the gas station in Mszana Dolna. This was were the actual 20km climb up the Lubomierz pas was starting. Everybody used the opportunity to put some more clothing on. As for me, I added my Mille GT Thermo Rain Shell Pants, because the wind was strong and super cold, and the speed we had as a group wasn’t hard enough for my body to generate the warmth. I had to protect it from the wind.

We rode up, usually I was next to Jędrzej, and some meters behind were Asia and Maciej. I kwon this climb like my own bed. Each turn, each gradient, I was home. Less than half way to the top the snow started falling. Not much at first but after some minutes it was a proper snowfall. There was no traffic at all, so the road became white in a couple of minutes, and once we were close to the final section, the road was covered in 10 or even more cm of snow.

We got to the top, and climbing was ok, but when started descending, this was where the tricky part got in. On the southern side of the pass snow was even deeper, and we had to be super careful to not fall. Because of few cars, the natural gutters appeared on the road, and that was even more tricky. We had about 20 kilometers downhill like this, and with the temperature way below zero, pretty low speed, and constant need of focus on the front wheel, this was a super hard and cold ride, and it wasn’t as we planned. We were about two hours behind our schedule at the petrol station in Zabrzeż. Luckily we made it just in time for our TV live streaming from the route, but it was all really tight, and because of all of this craziness, we didn’t have much time to chat and rest.

In Zabrzeż my father visited me. It was nice, especially when it was only 10 kilometers to my family home. Also Lucjan, another friend from Wroclaw joined us, and decided to ride this final day together with us. It was after 9 AM when we continued alone Dunajec river, and we calculated that there are only three big climbs to the finish.

The first one, it was already a Race Through Poland section, in the hearth of Gorce Mountains, long nearly 25 kilometer climb to Knurowska Pass. This land is a home for Kasia Niewiadoma, well well-known and recognizable pro cyclist. After our last pass, we knew that here it would be even worse. And it was. Last 10 kilometers were totally covered in snow, and on the top of the pass, we weren’t really sure if we’ll be walking or cycling down. Luckily my tires did run perfectly through deep fresh snow and five kilometers of descending to Spiż, a flat region located already on the foot of High Tatras, went pretty fast.

My and Jędrzej got to the other section of Dunajec Valley first, but we both agreed, that it was to cold for us to stop and wait for the others. We decided that we will ride to the first shop near the road, and we will wait inside. Unluckily, we forgot that it was Sunday, and all the shops are shut on Sundays. After we bounced ourselves of the market doors, we continue towards the Trzy Korony Hotel (RTP2019 Control Point), with intention of riding really slow, to let others to catch up with us.

Maciek phoned me, and said, that his bike broke, no more brakes. It was hard to believe at first, but I was happy to hear his determination in his voice, and that he said that he will try to fix it. We disconnected, and after some time of super slow rolling, Asia joined us. We were entering Piennins, a lovely region on the edge of Poland and Slovakia, and Maciej phoned again.

„Lucjan was with me – he said – and we agreed, that I’ll continue on Lucjan’s bike. He will take care of my bicycle.

Wow, that was something. I was happy to hear this. We agreed that we will continue to the planned Control Point, me and Asia will eat a quick soup, and start riding so we won’t lose time for the stop. Jędrzej was going to wait for Maciej, and they were going to catch us up afterwards.

And this was exactly what we did, and the plan worked perfectly. Heaving a fast warm soup in the hotel was great, and than the road towards High Tatras was much easier. Roads were good and rideable again, and we knew that we had two more climbs to do.

I rode with Asia for less than an hours, and Maciej with Jędrzej joined us. From this moment we were all together until the finish. We knew that there is no more stops planned, and our time schedule was made like for minutes. There was nothing spare. One mistake, one mechanical, and there was no way for us to make the whole journey in 72 hours. And we knew what is waiting: Łapszanka.

It is a small village, some say with the most beautiful panoramic ever for High Tatras. What was important for us, it was a short section, where the snow ploughing is not happening ever. And it was downhill, 18% , maybe more is few places. After we climbed, there was a view, it was nice, but I was already thinking about this downhill. Once we took left of the main road, the road was fully covered in a deep snow. There was no chance to ride it. I tried at the beginning, but when the downhill got steeper I decided to walk. And as a dream team we walked gently for over one kilometer, to rejoin the main road again.

There was one more climb now, about 10 kilometers and about an hour of time. It was looking like a lot of time, but we still weren’t sure if we will be able to make it. Once we started, the traffic was pretty big in Bukowina Tatrzańska. It was the day when the winter break was starting, and everybody was getting to their mountain hotels, and apartments in High Tatras. It was crazy at places, but the euphoria of finishing the challenge was stronger. I was feeling really strong and I wanted to push harder on this final few kilometers. But no, we decided to finish it together and it was in some way an extraordinary experience to make it in that way.

Once we were on our final kilometer, Jędrzej said that he is sad that the journey is about to end. And it was true. This journey was different than all the others. The camaraderie aspect made it into something, that I’ll never forget. Because of the higher purpose, the fundraiser and donations, as our main goal, we were able to ride together and what is even more important enjoy ourselves along the way. Four riders who usually ride solo, and are not used to sharing the long-distance challenge, did connect and made it as a team. It is a story that gives a lot of new experiences, and these ones I dare the most.

We arrived at PTTK Głodówka in High Tatras four minutes before 6 PM which gave us a total score of 71 hours and 56 minutes, covering over 1000 kilometers across the whole Polish county. And what’s important to add, we did it in the middle of proper winter!

We raised over 36000 PLN (over 8000 euros), which was fully transferred to the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, one of the biggest charity organizations in Poland.