Bike Challenge Poland 2006

Bike Challenge 2006
This year’s bike trip sees us peeking behind the iron curtain and entering the BikeChallenge race in Poland.

Against all my common sense we have to fly to Poland from Stansted, the thought of a five-day stage race pales into insignificance compared to the ordeal of getting to the airport by public transport and that was before they announced a planned rail strike. I tentatively asked our friendly local taxi-man if he could do us a deal which turned out to be so appealing that we booked him even though the strike was called off. Paul and Jim were getting there by rail but as fate had it there had been a storm during the night, which had damaged power cables, and no trains were running, they too had to resort to a cab at extortionate expense. At the airport we meet up with Ken and Lawrence from Edinburgh, whom we had contacted over the internet, (and googled so we know they’re quite fit) and catch the Ryanair flight to Wroclaw in southwest Poland. We land with the airline’s trademark side-skid effect (– do they train all their pilots to do that?) at a tiny hut in the middle of pasture land and WW2 ruins with a fire engine from the same period escorting us to a standstill. Relatives are cheering from the perimeter fence all of 2 metres away and the terminal is lined with armed guards. The doors close firmly behind us. At passport control, Paul looks so bad that he has to produce his driving licence with another photo as proof that he really is an international athlete, granted it is hard to believe.

Ken had arranged the transfer from Wroclaw to Duszniki with the race organiser and it was Grzegorz himself that picked us up in a van and took us to the starting town, a two hour trip through cobbled street villages, very Austrian looking but just a little bit scuffed around the edges. During the trip we learn that the friendly young chap used to be a pro road racer, having lived in Belgium for 4 years racing with the Colstrop-Palmans pro team – the same as South Western’s very own Roger Hammond. He had retired in 2000 to concentrate on running one-day marathon mtb events and this was the second year for the 6 day BikeChallenge. We arrive at the Hotel Sonata, shower, change and set off to explore this delightful spa town, centred around a stunning sanatorium located in enormous manicured grounds with ornamental gardens and fountains. We find a restaurant and enjoy trying to decipher the menu, very little English is spoken here, we end up picking any meal and seeing what materialises. It’s hard to work out what we’ve ordered even when it’s in front of us! Our pizza is great but Paul’s fish still has its face on and is looking pretty indignant at being eaten by such a dodgy looking cyclist. At the next table are equally dodgy looking chaps, one of whom picks up Lawrence’s camera, we pose for the picture but he gaily wraps his arms around Lawrence and insists on the two being photographed together – cute!

The next morning we unpack the bikes and I’m appalled to spot a rip in my rear tyre and a deep scar in the front. I can't believe it - I’d ordered new tyres weeks before but they hadn't arrived and the spare tyres, that I didn't feel confident on, I'd left behind due to weight restrictions but they'd have been better than nothing! Raymond patches them with strapping and we plan to get new ones tomorrow, the mechanical back-up are bound to have some or there’s a good shop in the next town. We decide to recce tomorrow’s prologue which climbs up the fairly steep cobbled street onto a concrete track, where Raymond spots a dead mole. We continue up in dappled shade through pine trees deviating off road onto a dirt track before rejoining the tarmac for a steep kick to the summit. The track then drops into the local biathlon stadium. We take an off road trail back into the village, spot a sign saying ‘beware wolves’ – scary! and pass through the park stopping to taste the mineral waters en route – yuk! Anything tasting that bad must do you the power of good.
As we prepare to get a good night’s sleep the town is jolted awake by wailing sirens, it sounds like a bombing raid, I stagger bleary eyed to the window to be greeted by the sight of tens of young men sprinting in nothing but their boxer shorts towards the fire station! Within minutes the fire engines, with their now fully clad crew hanging from the doors, are zooming off into the distance. You don’t get that in Dorking!

Monday morning dawns bright and sunny, we wander down to the park to register and collect our race bags. These are still being filled with goodies and there is no sign of any mechanical support crews yet, so we decide to get a taxi to the neighbouring town of Klodzko to find the bike shop and get new tyres there. The taxi-man doesn't speak English, we don't speak Polish but we know the word for 'bike'. He takes us to a bike rental shop that gives him directions for a proper cycle shop, he drives us across town and locates the shop. They have my tyres but only on a fully assembled bike and they don’t seem keen to swap the tyres. They direct us to another shop where we find panaracers that I've used before, we get them but they'll be slow running. Time to get back, en route we see lots of Germans holding a vigil at a shrine and unfortunately resurfacing makes it a slow journey, it's now 1pm.

The prologue. Duzsniki 3.5km
The Bike Challenge is run very much along the lines of other races like the TransAlp with one unique exception – the first day is a proper TdeF style prologue time-trial, with teams setting off at minute intervals. The start is at 3pm, as Team 20, we’re off at 3.20.
After changing the tyres, we eat then decide to get our warm up in, just as we’re ready to go the heavens open in a deluge of torrential rain, thunder and lightning, which soon floods the basement of the hotel. By 2.30 it stops leaving us just half an hour, we start the course then head back to the starting arena where Team 14 are just off, we exchange nervous pleasantries with Team 19 Grzegiez and Arek who are Polish and very excited about the race. Once they've gone it's our turn and as it works out our minute men are Ken and Lawrence (Edinburgh CC) and Team 22 behind them are Skid Marks Paul and Jim! I know we'll be passed by the Scots but I so don't want to be caught by those two! The whistle blows and we're off, straight up through the town on steep cobbled lanes, which are still slippery from the rain. I feel awful, very stressed with a blinding headache. Within minutes I'm breathing heavily and my legs are burning, my heart rate soars, I'm hyperventilating, my legs feel dead and my arms hurt. Then my lips go numb, I try to remember my relaxation breathing techniques but to no avail. I'm getting slower and slower, I look ahead at Raymond whose almost track standing wondering what's wrong. I feel sick and dizzy and have palpitations and as the track steepens I get even slower, Ken and Lawrence have flown past and I'm just waiting for Paul and Jim. Raymond is shouting and encouraging me but his voice is so far away. An eternity later we crest the hill and pedal furiously down the other side into the finish arena at the local biathlon centre. Within seconds I feel normal again - how does that work? To my amazement Paul and Jim come in just about 2mins later, they must have gone really badly not to have made up more time on us. As for me I'm left feeling a bit shell shocked - I've never experienced that total out of control body panic before and it has unnerved me.We are directed back down into the village off road, slippery after the rain. We return to the hotel to clean up then get back onto the course to cheer on some other Brits from the Isle of Man. Once it’s all over it’s off to the pasta party for long queues and little food. The results are up and we’re 113, only 6 secs behind Skidmarks and thankfully not as abysmal as I’d feared.

Stage one: Duzsniki (Pol) – Police (Cze) 82.5km
Breakfast has been organised for 6am, yet we don’t start ‘til 10! We opt for a lie-in, take bags down to the truck and go back to the hotel for breakfast, then return to the start for passport control. Our numbers are checked off by scary uniformed soldiers, as we pass into the Czech Republic these will be recorded, any one not signed in won’t be allowed through. All is ready by 8.30am and we hang out the next hour and a half in blazing sunshine, I get the mechanics to tune my gears while I wait. Finally! We’re off! along the road with legs groaning, the route quickly turns off-road onto pine singletrack which becomes rooty and steepens, a queue is forming in front as people gradually dismount. Pushing the bike regulates my breathing and as we remount we begin to overtake many teams, however, I’m very wary of a repeat of yesterday’s panic and am careful not to lift my heart rate too much. We are in the middle of the ‘heroes’ those too fat to climb and too brainless in descending, scary stuff! The first checkpoint looms stocked with fruit and juice, we refuel then join a swampy track interspersed with boulders and more pine forest trails – it’s just like Dorking… we pass under an impressive viaduct and get our feet wet for the first time in a shallow water channel. The next climb leads us past a big green house surrounded by red and white fencing - it’s the borderline and the armed guards are waiting. After a brief foray into the Czech Republic we pass a couple of soldiers in the forest and are back in Poland and a technical descent back into Duzsniki including the most horrible off-camber, slippery long grass section which is much worse than the rocks and steps. We retrace the prologue course under thunderous skies and pass by a hotel whose residents cheer us up a particularly nasty kick-up in the trail. More forest trails lead onto wide, open farmland and bumpy, stony tracks through grain fields, just like the South Downs… We’re back on the Czech side now and it has got very hot with little shade to be found, I’m still hesitant on the climbs but I am impressed with my descending, this bike refuses to be deflected off course by mere rocks and I’m dropping like a demonJ. By the next checkpoint Raymond’s knee is hurting so I give it a quick massage to get him to the finish at Police. Tonight we are residing in the town’s secondary school, food is scarce for us vegans and just weird – some sort of apple rice pudding cake, the massage is good and the showers pleasingly tepid after the heat of the day.

Stage 2 Police (Cze) – Gluszyca (Pol) 75.5km
We wake to blue skies, have breakfast of muesli and bread, complete passport control then change my rear tyre for Raymond’s front tyre in an attempt to speed me up. Again we hang around until the start at 10, we could easily be on the way by 9! Enthusiasm just drains away whilst waiting, although we did spot a huge crane on a nearby chimney pot. Once away we climb out of the village. There’s a bottleneck as we go off-road into a cornfield but the racers soon spread out as the track ascends to a stone cross monument. We pass through more fields then join an old, cobbled drove road, this deteriorates into large steps and boulders and makes a technical descent. I’m managing quite well until the guy in front of me goes over the handlebars and I decide it’s time to walk. Raymond loses his bottle cage, which snaps from the jolting but he retains his bottle and clears the lot. For once I’m being held up on a downhill! KB’s tyre has fantastic grip on the stone slabs. After the checkpoint we climb again, on firetracks and pine trails, then drop down on loose gravel descents. A girl from one of our rival mixed team falls and gets nasty gravel rash, Raymond thoughtfully takes her picture at the next checkpoint just afterwards. Another climb and we cross the border between red and white hoops in the ground, then it’s a very rooty grassy singletrack descent and a long climb on firm forest track, which narrows and gets progressively more rocky and rooty and Raymond manages to knobble Grzegiez (19) off his bike. We pass workers drinking under the trees and later learn that they’ve been bribed to stop felling whilst the race is in progress by the organisers with litres of vodka! At the top is an incongruous white lighthouse, then it’s a choice of a wide boulder strewn descent or an adjacent tight singletrack which unite on a wide very loose, almost vertical, gravel ski piste - a hairy descent to the final checkpoint. Country lanes take us to today’s highlight - THE TUNNELS at Osowka and the reason we entered the race in the first place! The network was devised by invading German forces during WW2 for the secret construction of V2 bombers. The soldiers murdered all the local women and children and forced the men to build the tunnels before killing them too. The entrance is like riding into a wild west gold mine and you can feel a blast of icy air as you approach. The thought of death and the temperature drop from 32’ to just 7’ brings me out in goosebumps. I forget I’m still wearing sunglasses and I can’t see a thing even though I employ Roger’s trick of closing one eye and sticking one leg out before I enterJ We climb a rickety set of wooden steps, walk up through swirling mists, and take photos. Rounding a corner we bump into a tourist guide and his party in hard hats, they enthusiastically point us in the right direction. I suddenly realise that I’ve still got glasses on, take them off and can see quite clearly, and ride out into brilliant sunshine and searing heat. I can’t help feeling slightly disturbed that I’ve just giggled and shrieked my way through such a poignant place. A gravel climb takes us onto some excellent pine singletrack and a final gravel and cobbled track descends past a tempting outdoor lake crusted with sunbathers and swimmers to the finish. The school accommodation is a bit of a walk from the finish and has SWRC coloured railings, the bikes stay upstairs in the gym and the showers are deliciously luke-warm. Our food has settled into a bizarre combination of either rice or pasta with a choice of three toppings: stewed apple and cinnamon compote (seemingly a favourite) and the unvegan options - blueberries in yoghurt or a milky strawberry coulis concoction. Everyone else seems completely unfazed by this but I think it’s just plain weird! I’m inspired to buy tomatoes for sandwiches tomorrow.

Stage 3 Gluszyca (Pol) – Karpacz (Pol) 73km
Indeed I have tomato sandwiches for breakfast. Blue skies herald another ferociously hot day, which starts uphill through the town and out onto forest track. A mixed team passes us and I get the “Lance glance” off the girl, my climbing legs are returning and with a nod to Raymond we attack as the path steepens, re-taking them and several others besides over the long climb, just as well as I’ve got the ‘fear’ on the downhills today after having descended like a demon the past couple of days. Today we see Skid Marks at the checkpoint – that scares them! After refuelling it’s another long climb on firetracks with very steep hairpin bends, our sort of terrain, many teams are walking but we just grind on past them, then wind down a long leaf-littered channel where a cameraman is filming. The route contours the side of a hill through fields of corn and grass and….lo! we encounter a sofa, perched just off the trail in front of a line of wooden observation towers with magnificent views down into the valley! It’s too great a temptation to miss, I drop the bike and run up to sit on it and get my photo taken, alas as I do this all the mixed teams overtake us, but heck! Who would believe a sofa in the middle of nowhere and brand new at that! Photographic evidence would prove to be invaluable as no one else sees it and I was beginning to think it was all a dream! At CP2 they’ve run out of both water and Powerade, the first glitch in an otherwise superbly organised race. Unfortunately, it’s just before the big climb of the day and it’s reached 36’, Raymond’s having a sugar low but melon and oranges revive him. We travel dry-mouthed on stony caminos through a village with a Madonna and child statue, then see an old couple sitting outside their front door watching the race go by, in front of them are two buckets, green for drinking water and blue for dousing sweaty bodies, ‘tis a miracle! We gratefully drink and fill our bottles. Down the street children are offering out water, not needing it, Raymond motions for them to pour it down his neck and they shriek with delight. This sets a precedent and we later hear cries as other riders unwittingly get showered as they pass! The climb is double forest track but relentless and draining, I chose a baby gear and grind away grateful for the shade provided by the trees. After 12km it’s a fast and furious descent to the next check point where they have spring water, just fizzy enough to be disgusting! A dusty pine descent leads to a heavily cobbled camino where a man with his horse and cart waves us through. Our feet are stinging from the impacts, big black butterflies with white edges to their wings encrust the trees. Another rough camino takes us to the finish and a neutralised section on the road into the tourist resort of Karpacz, the biggest place we’ve stayed in. The official finish lies in the sports ground and the school accommodation is a good walk away, tiring when trying to carry heavy bags. There’s only one shower so we wash under a tap before having a massage and then hit the shops. I’m craving a coke and Raymond buys new sunglasses. Locals say it’s been the hottest day for 270 years – we can believe it! On the street, we are met by Nicky and John (Team Orange) who are very excited. They have just discovered the Kolorama - a dry toboggan run and insist we have a go. We sit in plastic trays, get pulled up a hill on a metal runway and released at the top to career back down through loops and berms, excellent fun. Raymond finds a present for lilcuteone and we chat to Arek and Gzregorz before retiring for the night.

Day 4 Karpacz (Pol) – Teplice (Cze) 78km
This morning we are woken by a stern megaphone announcement to get the bags loaded by 8am prompt and we stagger under the weight to the truck before going back to collect the bike and go through passport checking procedures. It’s 8.30 and already boiling hot, we wait, at 9.30 bags are still arriving and we’re herded into the start pen, and still we wait, there’s no shade and I feel sick from the heat. The neutralised start through town finally gets underway at 10.15 and it’s immediately into rocky singletrack where everyone ends up walking. Raymond looses his footing on a loose boulder and jars his shoulder. Once riding, the track settles in to a lovely middle ring grind, again we’re climbing well and pass many teams, Raymond complains I’m making his legs ache! Join road at top and go through official border control then extremely fast road descent into strong headwind, biggest gear bit’n’bitting with another bloke, sharp turn off-road and forest track past social bike riders with kids and panniers, again we’re riding with Team 19 and discover they’re great Top Gear fans! The trail turns into nice wide singletrack through pines, very swooshy and only interrupted by water bars which get more frequent and more proud with sharp lips, we see lots of people stopped with punctures. I’m just thinking we’ve been lucky when ‘pssssst’ my rear tyre goes flat, as we stop we see Skid Marks a couple of feet ahead also fixing a puncture. Once mended we’re on our way, we pass Skidmarks who’ve flatted again and take the bars more gingerly, they soon peter out and trail gets faster leading onto a gravel road and broken concrete descent with a very dodgy bend which I very nearly overshoot. We blast through the next checkpoint riding more stony and grassy caminos and cornfields, gravelled lanes and wooded singletrack. Skid Marks have us in their sights and catch up with us on tight technical singletrack that leads into our first !!!! warning sign - a steep descent looms and we have to slide our way down only to be met by a !!!!! drop – aargh!, A rope has been put up to aid our descent but just gives us burns on our hands, Raymond has to come back for my bike, it’s weight has been a godsend to my descending but carrying the thing is impossible! Next comes a long flat tarmac section, Grzegorz has avoided asphalt more or less completely so far but the respite is welcome. It undulates through the valley, then it’s back on the staple stony climbs under blazing skies, any degree of shade is ridden for and appreciated. I realise I’m getting low on sugar, get a couple of gels down me and feel a lot better. A gravel track leads into open fields with spectacular views of the rock formations, for which this area is renowned, peeking from heavily forested mountainsides. A last boulder strewn descent into a 360’ hairpin complete with photographer and the finish line. Tonight’s school is very close to all the amenities including freezing glacial melt showers, how I would have loved that when I was sweltering in 36’. The vegetarian goulash for tea was fantastic but incited the boys to gluttony. There is a brief rainstorm and Raymond points to the window saying “está lloviendo”, the ‘low-tech Czech’ (whom we’d met in the TransRockies) looks up, grins and babbles at us en español, we’ve found a common language!

Stage 5 Teplice (Cze) – Duszniki Zdroj (Pol) 59km
We wake to more rain and Grzegorz warns there’s heavy rain and flooding in Duszniki. At breakfast Raymond finds muesli and gorges on two big bowlfuls. The obligatory hour and a half wait for the start today has its bonus as by that time the rain has cleared. We also get to see the tiny commuter train trundle past the school. The start takes us out through the town and uphill on a long winding hair pinned tarmac lane, which then snaked back down again. In his attempt to avoid asphalt where at all possible Grzegorz cuts a few of the corners with off road excursions, the last is deep gravel and we slither to a stop and a queue! There is a tiny metal bridge crossing into the forest with gates to negotiate. Through pine trees and blueberry bushes and a small village with rustic decaying buildings to the first checkpoint and a long climb out on double track where we wave at a spectator who bows back to us. Tarmac and forest tracks continue to climb gently until we round a corner and the trail goes vertical! Manic crunching of gears and swearing follow and we grind up through a dark and dusty ethereal forest. One bloke behind us doesn’t seem to be a low enough gear and hollers himself upwards with a loud “Waarrrhhh” mimicking Brian Blessed in his prime! Not to be outdone, Raymond “Waarrrhhh”’s back and this incites a louder yell from the bloke and another guy behind him joins in. Before long there’s an echoing chorus of groans interspersed with manic laughter. My concentration runs out before my legs and I have to pull over to stop before the final bend, Raymond calls ‘watch out’ and I stand back to let a man through. I didn’t realise that Raymond had meant himself not the other bloke and that I’d stepped right into his path forcing him to stop momentarily but he soon recovered and went on to clear more than anyone else, all but the last 4 feet which really were ~1:2. As we joined a long plateau through cornfields we could still hear distant graunches from people in the wood.
The dry ground spits dust from the wheels in front that gets into your eyes despite glasses. Tractor ruts lead to a small village set on a hill with a cobbled street running up through it that looked like the legendary Huy. Raymond has exerted himself and climbs this one slowly, the steep hair pinned road descent is a blast and we flick off road to cross the border back into Poland. A grassy cobble-stoned jeep track meanders upwards, Raymond is getting slower and annoyed, when he says something to me it provokes an entirely unreasonable angry response and I suddenly realise that I need to eat – getting irritable and annoyed for no reason is my usual cue for sugar. Once I’ve downed a couple of gel shots it suddenly occurs to me that he’s probably sugar bonked too. I urge him to eat but we can hear the noise from the checkpoint ahead. As we get to the top of the hill we find not a checkpoint but a family playing an improvised band on dustbin lids, plastic bottles and cutlery! Raymond stops to photo them and eats. A dusty descent takes us to another multi-day endurance must-have –a water crossing! We leave the road to plough upstream, pass under a bridge and rejoin the same road. I struggle to find my balance on the slippery rocks in the current and hold people up, again the weight of the bike is telling, but the cold water is bliss in the unrelenting heat.
The trail runs through farmland and across wooden bridges over small streams and I get a sense of deja-vu. Sure enough the track drops into the shallow stream next to the impressive viaduct we passed under on Day 1. The final checkpoint is here, we grab some fruit and continue on road that gradually morphs into track then pine needled dirt climb into the outskirts of Duszniki. A rival mixed team is just ahead and we pass them before the top, a good technical singletrack leads back down but a bloke who’s remounting his bike and straddling the whole path blocks me. This allows another mixed team to pass us as we join the road into the finish. The team we had passed attack on the road and we jump on their wheels but it’s been so long since I’ve done this that we don’t manage to pass them. It turns out they were trying not to lose time on the other mixed team over which they had a 2 min advantage! We cross the line in a jumble of bikes and handshakes. Team 19 come in later and are infectiously euphoric at completing the race.

We have reserved another night at the Sonata so ride our bikes up then walk down to collect our bags. Raymond asks where to hand in the transponders and inadvertently gets us interviewed by the organiser’s TV crew. The presentation is set for 6pm, at the hotel we shower and change and just as we’re about to leave the heavens open. We wait for the worst to stop then go into town, stopping by the finish to see if anyone has handed in any lost property, Paul has left all his cycling clothes in the gym this morning. We get to the party to find all the veggie food has gone so we go back for a pizza instead. Later there is a slide show and video footage of the days riding and Raymond treats himself with bib shorts to match the event top. We say thanks to Grzegorz for a very successful trip and leave him to play drinking games. I sleep fitfully in the comfy bed as I’m now used to stone floors.

Grzegorz has arranged our transport back to Wroclaw, we meet him for lunch but he’s carrying a hangover as first prize for last night’s efforts. He’s very keen for our thoughts on the race and we say that the only downside was the relatively late starts, otherwise the BikeChallenge comes highly recommended. Poland and the Czech Republic are beautiful countries, the scenery was fantastic, the weather gorgeous and the race encompassed more off-road than others we’ve done, Raymond described it as all the best bits of the TransAlps squashed together with the tarmac taken out. Grzegorz happily tells us he’s negotiated with the Czechs and the race is secured until 2010, so as the lovely international mountain bike girlie says at the end of the promo film “come and do it”!! JG