Tag: Bikes

MTB maraton

After so much fun that I had in last year MTB marathon in my city I decided to do a few of them this year. First one took place in the same location – at Puszcza Wkrzańska.

This year we had better weather, no rain but the same amount of mud 😉 Unfortunately due to our running training schedules I was unable to train as much as last year what was easy to see at the end of track. Luckily this year I have many fans waiting for me and cheering me up.

Now I fill like doing some swimming and road biking because my next challenge is Triathlon. Stay tuned.

1st Szczecin MTB Marathon

After a long break from any sport activity (caused by the birth of our daughter) I got back to biking. A good occasion for that was the first Szczecin MTB marathon that took place in the beginning of October. Before that I had done some preparation and got familiar with the trail of race. And it was a good idea. I found out that very close to my place there was lots of hills with quite steep ascents and rough terrain that provide you both excitement and exhaustion.

On the day of the race it became obvious that conditions would be even harder than I imagined because it was raining during the whole day as well as a few days before. The track was muddy, slippery, difficult and full of fun ;-). We checked in at the starting point together with my best friend Michał and managed to get to the end in one piece.

After 1:22:55 I got to the finish line completely covered in mud but with smile on my face. The race was amazing and thanks to a few training sessions I had done before I was able to come as 42 on 163 competitors.

Ps – the authors of the photos are listed, the ones that have no author specified – the credit goes to Magda (Michał’s wife).

Tour Du Lac Leman

I have been thinking about a bicycle ride around lake Geneva for one year. This summer I had a great opportunity to do this because my best friend and biking buddy came to us with visit bringing his bike. So we started our journey Saturday morning and went counterclockwise around the lake. 

We rode through Geneve, Yvoire, Evian, part of Valais, Montreux, we took a longer brake in Vevey, then through beautiful Lavaux vineyards, Losaunne, Nyon and back to Saint Genis Pouilly.

The whole trip was 195 km long and took us 11h with a long break in Vevey. Our trip in Endomondo.

Biking to Le Reculet

Every time when I’m tiered walking down from a mountain peak, I think that this would be much easier on a bike. So this Sunday I went on my bike to Le Reculet to check this.

I rode by Le Tiocan, Col De Crozet, then through Jura and to Le Reculet.

Before I reached the summit I already knew that even if going down is easier on a bike, going up isn’t.

Ps -sorry that the photo quality is low (they are taken with a mobile phone)

Przyjezierze – Bike Marathon 2012

This year we are biking considerably more often than in the previous years and the biking marathon is a sign of this fact. I came across an advertisement of the venue on the local bike trip and decided to give it a try almost immediately. We encouraged our close friends to join us and so, the fun began.

Przyjezierze is a small town 80 km from Szczecin. We set off early, with four bikes on our indefatigable Fiat Punto (this car has gone through so much with us). It was our first time in a race so everyone was a bit nervous. Especially guys, who like to compete.

We were one of the firsts at the registration desk so we had quite some time for us to prepare to the race.  We were lucky, because the weather that day was perfect for a bike ride. Not too hot, no sign of rain. At first we made a short tour around the venue place. There was surprisngly a lot to see! The organizers made a good job.

At first we had a look at home made food by the farmer’s wives association. In the end… a biker needs some calories before the start (but not too much, so we all agreed that we will come back to the stalls after the race for a proper treat).

Then we had a look at the exhibition of cars – with Ferrari being the most popular. Wow, that really is a super looking car!

Then we moved on to see the show given by the bike jumpers (I don’t even know how they are profesionally called, but the animator said they were one of the best in Poland). This looked really cool and a bit dangerous. Respect!

When we finished the tour we still had some time before the start (which was planned at 15.00), so we decided to have a warm-up ride around the area. We followed the official trail of the contest for a while and then took an opposite turn to visit the Moryń lake. Poland is really beautiful.

We didn’t want to be too tired before the start so we came back quite fast, full of excitement while waiting at the „zero hour”. There were really a lot of pro bikers around us, so we felt a bit overwhelmed, yet full of hope and desire to have fun.

Some photos from the start…

From the route…

And from the finish…

That’s correct – my „finish” happened to occur in the middle of nowhere when my bike broke after an ominously looking (but fortunately victimless) accident. I was a bit disappointed not to finish the race but that’s OK, I had some lovely time walking my bike to the finishing line. Poland is really beautiful and I wouldn’t have taken these pictures if it hadn’t been for the accident. So in the end, there is always the good side of the coin. I’ll beat them the next year!

Radek came at a very good 35th place. He was the best from us and I think he was very proud of the result. All in all the race was very exhausting but real fun! We stayed for the award ceremony and got the medals ourselves. Nice souvenir. We will definitely come next year.

To give you a better understanding of how the event looked like here’s the video summary done by the organizers.