This was planned to be the highlight of the season. Unfortunately I failed.
I had quite a few all-day cycling adventures planned in 2019. I was specially preparing for this one and it took me quite some time to plan the whole route and to calculate whether I would be able to succeed in one day ride. I also had quite a few physical workouts the month before and the whole preparations went great. Since I am this kind of person that learn most of the mistakes while performing certain activities, this was also the case here.
Ria's breakfast mmm
Fully loaded the day before
The first mistake was that I packed too many stuff,... again! and I could definitely save a kilogram or two with the right packing approach, given that I was planning to get to my destination in one day. Weight is very important, especially on these long rides with a lot of climbs.
The route I planned had a total of 260 kilometers and 4300 altitude meters. I spent some time route planning, so I knew it by heart.
Start 4:50
Bela krajina
I started early in the dark and had some luck avoiding rain. Everything was fine for the first 100 kilometers. At around 120km I had some steep but quick climbs to make and after those I felt a little pain in my right knee. I said to myself it's just this kind of a ''exitement pain'' that sometimes occur.
Snack at Sabljaci lake
Ogulin
Modrus
The route continues over two climbs through the woods. It was really interesting to ride as there was a minefield around me all the time. Signs of minefield caution everywhere. Crazy.
Minefield
Dabar
Otocac
But my knee got worse and worse. I somehow managed to make it over the first climb, but the descent was not pleasant as well. I really didn't want to end on a mine so I made it slowly to Dabar village and another ascent awaited me. The knee really sucked and when I started to climb the last one, it was already hurting so much that I was actually screaming and kind of biting to the top and made it barely.
Welcome tears of anger.
Fake smile
The descent to Otocac followed, where I had planned a lunch with my wife before leaving for the real hills. Yes, the real hills just didn't started yet. After the lunch I felt that I had to give it a try, albeit with pain. I continued my ascent towards the wilderness of Velebit but unfortunately I did not succeed.
The pain was too hard and with each press of the right pedal, I gasped. It no longer made sense. Fortunately I told Ria to wait down in the town for about half an hour more, just to see how I would feel. She was with me right away and I had to pack my bike and continue the journey by car.
But this is not the end of this story.
I got home after this summer vacations and the first thing was to examine my knee problems. I searched for some informations and quickly found the possible reason. With the help of my hairdresser who is a very keen cyclist, I found the right answer at bike fitter.
I went to meet Niko, a bike fitting specialist who properly set me up on my bike and voila. After a few months, I slowly got back in shape and the pain was gone. Body fit on a bike is so very important, which is why I really recommend it to all cyclists. And I must admit that I didn't make any kind of focus about bike fit before that happened so yeah, like I said before, another lesson learned. I will definitely do this route again and finish it properly.
Thanks again to Body Geometry Fit tehnician Niko Korber.