Finally, Sunday morning. Race day!

38 km, 1000 m climb, with a time limit of 5 hours. When I looked over the track description, I estimated, in a realistic fashion, I needed around 5 hours to finish. So I was a little nervous – I don’t like failing. I know nobody likes failing, but I don’t like failing even more.

I didn’t sleep well. Concerts lasted until after midnight, people partied even more. In the early morning, other people woke up to pack their tents and go on the hike back to Sinaia.

I ate. Absently. My biscuits, halva and dates weren’t as good as the previous day. I tried getting myself focused – splashed some cold mountain water over my face. Then I picked up my race kit:
– race number (89) with an electronic chip – hanged it in front of my bike
– one ugly tshirt – the color is cool, but that ugly white thing is ugly
– one house cd from 2009 – 2009 house is the best!
– one cd (documentary?) about food and factories, I think
– one sports drink

Cara was prepped for the race. I fiddled with the brakes the previous day. I also took down the rack. I loaded my backpack with some bars, a few tools and a jacket in case of cold/wind/rain. You never know when a snowstorm might hit. I took a place at the starting line, behind most of the people. I don’t want to be overtaken by a lot of people, I’d rather overtake a few. There were around 200 bikers waiting for the start. My goal was just to finish. 200th place is good for me.

The race starts. Soon after, I started overtaking people. The first 2 km were around the camp. We went up a small hill, maybe a 50 m climb, and I already felt tired. Will I be able to finish the race? Better bike smart than fast. I lowered my rhythm so my heart rate went within acceptable limits. I got overtaken by a few bikers, but I slowly warmed up and found my pace.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl47mgVxDTM?rel=0]

The next 10 km were on a mostly flat forest road. I biked at the speed I previously estimated. Even though the cars were stopped at both ends of this road, there were still a lot of cars coming from cabins along the way. I was speeding past them, but also breathing in the dust they were raising.

I finished the first part of the climb (around 250 m) faster than I expected. Good! I got out of the forest, onto an asphalt road, with the next 200 m of climbing. I was now biking on the Bucegi Plateau, on a beautiful sunny day.

I finished this asphalt segment with an even better time and I went on to the final segment of the climb – 350 m on a rocky road, to Babebe Cabin. This climb was the steepest, the rocks were tormenting me, the jeeps going up and down the mountain were annoying me. But I pushed on and finally made it to the checkpoint at Babele. They told me I was 146th. Awesome!

From here on there was only downhill. 15 minutes later I was at Piatra Arsa, having descended 200 m. This part was on a mountain trail in good conditions. I was speeding at over 20 kmph (max speed 35), but that didn’t seem enough when a dude without a chain on his bike overtook me. I managed to overtake him back, but he kept coming again fast. We exchanged places a few times, until he stopped at Piatra Arsa, to fix his bike. This means that, technically, I’m faster.

After a banana and some water at Piatra Arsa, I went onto the final section of the race. Just 7 km left. How hard can it be? The first part was on a mountain trail. It was a lot harder than before, the trail was deeper than the surrounding ground, so it was hard not to hit the ground with the pedals. I mostly ran alongside my bike, overtaking (!!) a couple of people. I even tried descending by bike – I failed and fell, getting some nasty bruises on my legs.

There was a short section of climbing on rocks, carrying the bike in whatever way you could find. Going up a rocky side of a mountain is a lot more fun when you have to push/carry/cling on to/balance a bike.

Afterwards, I biked through a forest, slow and cautiously so as not to cause any more bruises. The forest soon opened up to a depressing landscape: tall grass covering tree stumps, whitened by weather and time, remnants of a protected forest, in a natural park that is supposed to shelter endangered fauna and flora. The road here was mostly usable (you need this for serious logging).

I finally got back to civilisation, arrived at Pestera Hotel, started to see people (and cars) and crossed the finish line, in the wild cheers of the audience (I might be slightly exaggerating). How did I do? 142nd, with a time of 4h sharp. Awesome!

This post was written while listening to Markus Schultz’s Toronto 2009 set. Not because I like it, but because I earned it.