Day 2: Alone again
Felt the need to be alone. Found resupply in a bakery vending machine and then supermarket. Pastries, bananas, chocolate, snickers.
Reunited with the crew at frites place, fun to see them again and ride a bit more. Kept my distance a bit – nice to be near people but not so close – at times.
At some point, broke off from them again – Yoni stayed back to go at her own pace and James/Alexander continued on. Before I knew it, we were back at the start of the race, completing the first portion of the figure 8. I made a quick stop at the tent to change my clothes, charge some stuff, say hi, say goodbye to Yoni and continue onward. I was in great spirits, my legs felt better, and the course was beautiful and free of cars. After a few hours of riding, found a medium sized town to get some falafel in. Pasta would have been ideal, but unfortunately the only pasta place was packed and would have taken 45 minutes to get my food. In these events, it’s constant decision-making and each one will affect the next. Would it have been worth it to super carb load but also lose 45 minutes? I got the falafel and 2 orders of fries – a good amount of calories but my stomach felt queasy after eating so much greasy food and then pedaling for 3-4 hours into the night.
Rode by myself for the rest of the day… and into the night! Kind of scary in the beginning. Spooky, eerie, silent. But then you kind of get used to it. And you get tired, so less energy to feel nervous. Empty, deserted country towns, random houses, not many people! Through massive fields. Crops on both sides.
Pushed onward. Near a river. Seeing a random factory/power plant. So ominous and weird to see suddenly in the middle of nothing. Then, I found the best bivy spot in a city park, surrounded by hedges so felt very protected from wind. Was looking for a site for a while. Several hours. But it’s a good strategy, just patiently try to find something. The bus stops are not great because they’re too close to the road/exposed. Best is some sort of pavilion, park, covered area.
Day 3: Hungry for food and companionship
Woke up at 4AM, out the door by 5AM and the sun was already coming up. Efficient and excited packing. Felt confident about my sleep spot and ability to ride alone. Cold morning, I wore all my gear and was mostly comfortable. Through the mysterious city of Huy (where Oliver, Alex and James were sleeping). The idea that I overtook them gave me confidence and excitement but also made me feel sad that I missed them.
The terrain started to get quite rough. A lot of hike a bike and multiple times requiring the aeropack to be dismounted to cross a tiny trail without failing into the creek below. It was both frustrating and exhilarating. I simultaneously cursed the organizers for creating such a grueling course but secretly felt pleased to rise to the challenge and overcome it. I pushed on for hours, my food supply slowly dwindling to nothing.
It was a holiday, so I was worried about stores being open. Found a random bakery in a small town, wandered in with a surely dazed look on my face where I proceeded to grunt and point to 12 different items and robotically eat most of them, hunched over in a corner like a wild animal. Another rider came in, and we silently nodded at each other, knowing that we’re in the same parallel universe, something that these people in the default world just won’t understand. We chatted a bit and he told me that he did the entire Falnderian tour (300km) in one go and that it was terrible. He went directly to the shower with his clothes on to get off all the filth. He also developed the worst saddle sore he’s ever had. After a quick sleep, he drove to Leuven to see his doctor and have his butt examined – to ensure that he could keep going. The doctor gave the OK, so he returned to the race and continued onward. It sounds terrible (and funny about the doctor part), but he was clearly enjoying it – “People say this is type 2 fun, where it’s only good when you look back – but I’m having so much fun right now!” he said. It was his first ultra. I told him he’s going to get addicted like me.
The pastries, coffee and surgery drinks helped me continue onward. Several hours later, I came across another resupply town – this time with an open grocery store, so I had to stop. I charged devices at a cafe and stocked up on junk food such as snickers, Twix, donuts and any other easily consumable high caloric food. At first, it’s fun to eat all these foods because they taste good – but one quickly becomes tired of them. The key is to eat things that continue to taste good. Pedaling is only one part of this race, it’s really a competitive eating event!
Despite my best efforts, I felt weak and underfed. I was also descending into a negative mental space; my legs felt tired, I was alone, it was getting hot, I craved some companionship. Where’s the group I was riding with yesterday?
I made it to the town of Spa, a fancy tourist place surrounded by lush forest and springs. I methodically rode all over town, looking for an open restaurant for some pasta. I craved “real” food, tired of eating snickers and donuts. Everything was closed or too crowded. I finally found a place with pasta but as I was sitting down, they informed me they were out of pasta (even though they had the sauce). All I could do was laugh at another obstacle being thrown my way. I wonder if I could have just gone to a supermarket to buy the pasta and have them cook it for me? Too complicated! I resigned myself to wait an hour for the Chinese place to open at 18h and go take a nap in the park like a homeless person. I laid down and suddenly heard the familiar whirring of multiple free hubs. It was the crew! James, Alex and Oliver found me on the tracker! I was so stoked to see them! I signed up for the race hoping to see these friends from a previous race and was bummed to have spent most of my time alone. James had to scratch due to failing brakes but Alex, Oliver and I carried on. I changed my plan for Chinese food as Alex and Oliver wanted to continue, realizing that at our current pace it was going to be a “monumental” uphill battle to finish the race in time. (pun intended).
Re-energized with some companionship, we rode for several hours, traversing technical terrain, brief yet wonderful tarmac descents and plenty of climbing. We arrived at a picturesque town in time to eat at the last open restaurant (falafel again) and book a small room for the 3 of us to share. The bed and shower was much needed after 3 hard days of riding and sleeping rough in the bivy. We also ran into the photographers for the event which injected us with some much needed outside energy to realize that people are watching and care about our endeavor!
