Bikepacking Trans Germany (BTG): Pt 6

Day 7 Saturday

I felt fresh despite the 4am start, I was eager to closed the 25km between Patrick O and myself and hopefully leave Peter F behind while he slept. If they stuck to their usual routine I guessed I had a little over 2 hours to do my damage. The cold morning air and bitter head wind drained my energy quickly, not to mention the crappy trails in the Czech Republic.

According to the height profile I would peak after an hour then it would be mainly down hill for most of the morning. It was true but, the down hill has horrible trails so slow and bumpy going on my suspension less bike. Just before 7am I found Patrick packing up. We had a quick chat “You caught up already, you must have started at 5am or something?” I lied and said yes, I knew he’d pass me within the hour and he didn’t need to know my new strategy to slowly creep past him in the night. I left him packing and indeed within 30 minutes he was with me again, we rode together and had a pleasant chat for about 15 minutes until the first main climb…..He was gone again, boy that man was fast up hill. I was thinking “you go little Hare, the tortoise will catch you soon……”.

At 0930 I passed the next Selfie checkpoint, climbed the ladder to check out the view then pushed on, I was hungry…

A little over an hour later I crossed the Elbe and was delighted to find a long overdue supermarket and bakery where I proceeded to waste and hour shopping, stuffing my face and drinking coffee.

The rest of the morning was a stunning ride along small rivers and valleys with the occasion cheeky climbs then the descent into the flat lands. This first afternoon of the flats was perfect for me, more asphalt than usual and a cheeky headwind. I’d spent all Winter riding flat lands into the wind. I found a good cadence that had me zooming along close to 30km/h. Until I found the infamous ice cream machine…

The tracker showed Patrick and big apple riding together about 30km ahead of me, I did my best to closed the gap and by dinner time it was only 10km or so.

The ride after dinner was flat and stunning through various parks, it was so tempting to stop and camp on one of the open fields next to a lake, but I was on a mission. I had good legs and intended to stay in the flow. I crossed into Poland just after dark and camped in a mosquito infested forrest. Just before I lost phone signal Detlev was 10km ahead and Patrick and Anja were a little further ahead and still moving. I hoped they’d stop soon but suspected riding together that Anja would want to push on to CP4 some 40km further on. Peter F was far enough behind that even if he sneaked past me he wouldn’t get too far ahead, he’d already put a long day in too. So be it, plan the ride, ride the plan. I set my alarm for 4am again which would just about give me 4 hours sleep. I’d cycled just under 200km with 2500vm.

Day 8 Sunday

At around 0330 I was rudely awoken by a crash through the forrest nearby. A swine? a deer? Hunters? The boogey man? My heart was throbbing and I was wide awake, “did I hear the grinding of gravel too? another rider?” “nah, just imagining things….”. I rolled over and tried to sleep and remained restless. Fuck it…move. I was on the road at 0350. An hour later I had phone signal again and could see what the damage had been in the night. Detlev had stopped 20km ahead of me and Patrick/Anja 37km ahead….. To get that far ahead they’d probably had a late night and would be sleeping at CP4. Just maybe I could sneak past while they still slept?

A few minutes later just as it was getting light I saw a cyclist coming the other way. My first reaction was that it was a Polish cyclist heading to work or something. Then I saw the BTG name badge. Fuck, fuck…..the moment of panic any racer should get if he see’s a rider coming the other way after a short sleep. One of us was going the wrong way. I felt fairly sharp but you never know. I’d just pasted the bunkers, and the poi was behind me on the gps, I was cycling North….Ok, I’m good. Peter F had pulled an all nighter and was looking rough (the crash in the forrest mystery was also solved). He wasn’t convinced I was going the right way, but didn’t trust himself 100% either. He decided to ride the 1km to the bunkers, have a sleep then have another go. Looking at the tracker replay, he’d been almost 20km ahead of me and blown it with a wrong turn while tired which brought him back South. Such an easy thing to do when awake for more than 20 hours. Such a waste of an all nighter.

I pushed on and as I crossed the river marking the border with Germany, checked the tracker again. Detlev was already moving again and still 8km ahead of me. ” Bugger, won’t catch him today.” CP4 were still sleeping.

I hit CP 4 at 6am, and moved swiftly on while the sleeping beauties slept. Peter S was now only 30km ahead (compared to almost 100 a couple of days earlier) and he was moving again Detlev was now only about 8km ahead. The chase was on, I just needed to keep up with them and get another couple of early starts in and just maybe……

Twenty minutes after the CP 4 it was obvious why I’d made a couple of kilometers on Detlev. The forrest trail turned to sand, which would be the main theme of the next 10 hours in the “Flatlands”.

As this is only the third iteration of the BTG there aren’t many blogs out there. But in hindsight you do often read hints between the lines like ” you might think its all downhill after the mountains”. I’d taken note of this, though I didn’t know what to expect, I was convinced the flatlands wouldn’t be easy, though obviously hoped they would be.

The morning and afternoon were a combination of either sand or single track forrest trails with dozens of nasty 10-20m climbs that you won’t find on a height profile but that wear your legs down (especially after 100km of sandy trails).

By the late afternoon I was tired and frustrated, it seemed that the bastards from BTG would keep the trail challenging to the end like you should. I laughed. Nice work gents. But the frustration and swearing at the BTG bastards wasn’t over….

Patrick caught me at 4pm just as the trail moved into the lush green forrests East of Berlin.  It had taken him 9 hours to catch up my 15km head start. I guess the sand slowed him down more than me, he wasn’t his usual speedy self, he’d also left Anja playing in the sand somewhere behind him.

The next hour we rode mainly together through the forrest (read mosquito infested nightmare). The track continuously went up and down and there were regularly fallen tree’s blocking the way (probably 30-40 in total). At each obstacle a squadron of mosquito’s was waiting and would start dive bombing before I’d dismounted. Throughout the evening Patrick and I leap frogged each other, he was faster up hill and on technical sections I was faster (or more careless, one of the joys of having a steel bike) climbing over or throwing my bike over the trees.

I hear there’s a price on the head of the BTG scout for the Berlin section, I also hear he’s now in witness protection or a shallow grave.

Joking aside this wasn’t a very pleasant section to travel through (could hardly call it riding) even though it was only a couple of hours. But, it is also a part of the total package of an adventure race, and an essential part of the package in my opinion, sections like this give the more tenacious people with less talent for cycling a chance to get an advantage. The BTG throughout has a huge variation in types of tracks and other challenges meaning everyone gets the chance to shine in his/her own area, adventure racing is more than just having the right gear and being a good cyclist.

Later I hid from a thunderstorm at a pizza delivery place, they didn’t have sit in facilities so I ate dinner on their doorstep, like the homeless bum I sometime am.

By 11pm I had almost caught Detlev and it looked like he had stopped 30 minutes previously, it also looked like Patrick had stopped a kilometer or so behind me. I had planned to pass Detlev but the sleep monsters had been hassling me for an hour or two. 18 hours into a tough day its interesting what the dark, shadows and forrest will do to the mind. Cows crossing the road turn out to be tree leaves with a little backlight from the last light of dusk. Houses turn out to be pile of cut logs, deer that you almost hit as they cross your path turn out to be deer crossing your path.

As I pushed my bike downhill on a sandy track my last energy evaporated and I started to feel cold and dizzy, soon after a flat spot of grass appeared, the perfect spot for my tent. There was also a light breeze that would keep the mosquitos off me while I set my tent up. “Don’t be soft, push on”.”nope, time to be smart, better to sleep than have a crash in the dark so close to the end” The chance meeting with Peter F and Morgan after their all nighters and Tobbe’s run in with a badger all good reminders to play it smart. I went to bed tired and went to sleep just before midnight, I’d considered only getting two hours sleep then pushing on but with a little over 300km to go, its seemed smarter to stick to the plan and have 4 hours sleep, then maybe tomorrow do the heroics.

All told, I’d ridden, pushed, walked and thrown my bike 230km, I slept well.