Work.

The trip started a little bit off as I hadn’t had enough sleep in the preceding nights (less than 6hrs and really bad quality sleep) and my food intake was poor. I went on with the agenda.

Friday, 0500 – Brasov

Woke up, coffee, email, container cargo that might be confiscated by the Coast Guard false alarm at PORC, second coffee, Cristina wakes up, coffee for her, George wakes up, coffee for him.

1100

Meet Vali – pick GoPro mount. Go to ProBike. Get spare tire, pump, gloves, socks and set the tires pressure.

Have friendly chat with the salesman:

-These gloves are great for long rides!

-How long?

-You know, 100-200k.

I leave only thinking of how can 100k be a lot? Dumb, I know.

Return home. Grab a quick bite. Scroll instagram. The fuck is reels? People wishing me good luck. Luck has shit to do with this but thanks.

1300

I try and sleep a little. Cristina and George go for a walk so they don’t disturb me. I fall asleep only to wake up after a couple of minutes fully pumped. Panic kicked in, the guy on duty inside my head only saying It’s happening, motherfucker! Buckle up! over and over again. Robert details more nicely on the voice inside our heads, read into it.

1400

We load everything in the car and start driving towards the start already failing to make it in time as there was a two and a half hours trip as opposed to what I had in mind of little over one hour. Ciprian calls, he passed his auto exam. His happiness sheds some light onto my darkness – I feel good for him. We keep going, listening to heavy metal and whatever the fuck songs I have saved in my playlist. Nothing seems to help, dude up there still goes It’s happening, motherfucker! Buckle up! with a satanic voice. I fail at shutting him up.

1640 – Balea Lake

Grab some fruit gels, power gels, one bottle with water, one with isotonic. This was the easiest part of the course so I had nothing to worry about. A friendly handshake with George, some photos and off I go.

Truth of the matter is that I envisioned a really low tempo effort within the first 90k, until Curtea de Arges. It’s fun going down the mountain but it’s not all downhill – some pedaling was required. No problem, life sucks.

There are parts of the road that suck so bad, one bottle comes loose and breaks. No more isotonic I guess. Luckily, George had brought a spare one and replaces it in no time.

1800 – Vidraru Dam

I arrive hungry as hell. Crackers, peanuts, almonds, more mashed fruits, water, one gel and off I go.

I kept going until close to Pitesti as George stopped at Curtea de Arges to buy some more food we had planned on the night before. I felt good, put on some music along the way, everything was working within limits. One thing kept bothering me: the milestones. If you ever taken a car ride, you look at them and it goes a little something like this:

CITY X: 40km

You scroll through your news feed, chat with people that you ride along with, perhaps change the music, some more scrolling and then decide to look how far you’ve travelled

CITY X: 19km or smth

I had it going something like this:

CITY X: 40km

ONE AND A HALF ETERNITIES LATER

CITY X: 39km

It was a major difference between what I was used to while looking at milestones compared to this. The distance went really, really, really slow even though I was above my target average speed. A true battle emerged in my mind: on one hand, if I start pushing now, what if it comes back swinging at 300km?  On the other hand, if you don’t push, why are you doing this?

We are already behind schedule as we miss our 12AM cut-off near Corbeanca – 250km. We departed 1hr late and during the last 2hrs I got so tired of focusing on the asphalt while trying to keep balance that I was swinging from one side of the lane to the other.

0215 – Corbeanca

Dead. I found myself so deep into the pits of hell that I had no clue if I should continue or not. I was shot. This is where I was:

Pavement / asphalt line.

Pits of hell

Savages who eat ice cream with french fries

Hi! This is Ergo, reporting.

I decide to take a 20min nap and let George know. He was cautious enough to bring his camping mattress thus saving my ass and back. As I lay down, I switch to 15min nap. He’s confused but he knows me well enough not to discuss such changes.

I fall asleep within the first 30s.

Alarm goes off so do my on-board dials. I felt everything was on the red line – muscles, joints, ass, back. Everything. My body was in full red alert. My insides were shouting what the fuck are you doing? This wasn’t part of the deal!

It’s happening, motherfucker! Buckle up! goes again.

I eat some instant ramen. Coffee (absolutely no effect). Some gazpacho – tasted like nectar of the Gods.

It’s happening, motherfucker! Buckle up! 

I rise. It hurts. Grab my gear and leave. I was in no condition to keep going.

I felt I was making great progress, able to pedal and push above target speed. I take a peek at my Edge and see only 13km/h. The effort felt like doing 40km/h. Also, a light drizzle started just enough to fuck up with my mind as I was riding slicks.

I saw no point in continuing as this. There was no way I could stretch this for extra 250km. Reality check.

I give up again and lay down in the car for 1.5hrs until sunrise, hoping the rain will stop.

I wake up feeling refreshed. No more internal alarms, felt a little bit rested. Brush my teeth (wash your fucking teeth btw, it’s cheaper than getting them fixed), wash my face and start all over again.

1230 Slobozia

Meet with Cristina, Antonia and Alex. I still, to this day, have no idea why they came or feel as I deserved this. For Alex, it sounds stupid to ride your brand new car at 30km/h or less for almost 12hrs just to join my dumb ass and escort me to the finish line. Or for Antonia to waste a full Saturday on staying in the car behind my back. Or Cristina to come back from Brasov where she was just fine to waste a full weekend on this.

I’m happy to see them – they seem joyful.

More food, more hydration, refill on the carry-on and off we go.

For the next 140km the rules were pretty simple: light CP every 20k for refill. I was eating OK but not so much on hydration. Isotonic was too sweet and water tasted like puke.

It went well for the next 120k even though I constantly missed my target speed no matter how hard I pushed. The weather was great but the front-coming wind was excruciating. I tried keeping back of George in the van but the processing power required to stay 2-3cm away from the bumper while maintaining a 30km/h cruising speed for both me and him was too much to handle at this point.

1900 – new low

I feel dizzy. Everything hurts but just right on the verge of breaking apart. Not much until black out. Basically, I couldn’t see and I felt like vomiting. Nothing comes out.

Stop the bike, lay on the grass. Look at the sky – silence around. 2min later I remember this happened all over again in April when I tried pushing for a 1h30min half-marathon: I had to stop at 19.6km as I hit ERROR 404 and unable to finish. What if this is my finish now? Have I been pushing for 460km just to finish it like this? Could it turn that stupid so I finish 20km short?

Rise again. It’s happening, motherfucker! Buckle up!

We reached the seaside around 9pm, almost 28hrs since start.

This expedition could not have been possible without:

• two technical cars
• 4 people taking care of my sorrow ass
• one idiot
• Garmin Varia (link & link)

When Moise told me about the Varia, I was skeptical: Yeah, yeah, technology, just let me ride the fucking bike.

Before you go huffing and puffing about spending €300 on two bike lights, follow this: the mind gives up before the body.

Repeat after me: THE MIND GIVES UP BEFORE THE BODY.

I believe there’s a certain computing power to our brain until it gives up. Let’s measure it in [c] computings and settle for 100c / activity.

You are using 70c for the activity itself, 20c for nutrition and leave 10c for the rest. You are using the 10c for:

• what if I get hit by a car?
• should I check my phone?
• have I closed the door?
• am I good enough for my spouse?
• whatever else thoughts

Using the Varia made me feel safe and took my mind off dealing with back-coming traffic. The back light has an integrated radar which communicated with my handlebar mounted Edge thus alerting me. No Edge? No problem – it has an Android / iPhone app so you can skip the Edge.

One decent dental implant starts at €500 + months of work. The Varia is cheaper.

Garmin Romania gave me the Edge & Varia ecosystem to test for free but I am not paid to write this nor compelled to do so. 

The hardest thing was the safety net. Last time I biked to Constanta, things were simple: safety meant reaching the train station and riding the train back home.

When you start an ultra running race, you only have a couple of checkpoints where you can drop out but even then you have to wait for a special ride to take you back to the starting line. It’s easier to just slow down a little and hope for a comeback.

Now the safety net was there all the time – the fucking safety cars.

It was like holding on the ridge of a skyscraper but if you let go, you only fall 1 meter. And this made it so much easy to quit. It was so easy. And so much harder to keep going.

I will never, ever do this kind of stupid shit, ever again.

See you soon, motherfucker.

I asked my team mates to write a few lines on their own race. George took it up a notch and will make a separate entry.

Ce îi spui unui prieten care îți povesteşte despre o nebunie pe care vrea s-o facă? Ce-ai putea să-i spui în afară de “hai că vin cu tine”? N-ai cum să-l opreşti, că îl cunoşti deja pe om, ştii că mută munții din loc dacă îşi propune. Tot ce poți face e să-i urezi mult succes şi să te uiți cum îşi duce la capăt nebunia.
Deşi am fost pe traseu mai puțin de 10 ore, pe ultima bucată, între Slobozia şi Constanța, mi s-a părut că drumul a durat o eternitate. Mai poate? Nu mai poate? Ajunge fără accidentări la finish?
Când stai cu volanul în față vreme de 10 ore, la 20-25 de km/h, ai timp să te gândeşti la 1 milion de lucruri.

Inițial am vrut doar să “tag along”, să mergem pe traseu, să ne mai oprim în checkpointuri, să mai fim o față cunoscută. Dar mi-am dat seama rapid că e nevoie de un input ceva mai consistent, mai ales că George, care era în maşina tehnică, avea deja o noapte nedormită. Ideea a fost să-l protejăm cât mai bine pe Ergo, să mergem în spatele lui ca să evităm incidente de genul ăsta.

Fiecare checkpoint îmi dădea sentimentul că se întâmplă ceva important, că suntem într-o competiție oficială.

La finish am răsuflat uşurat, ăsta a fost primul sentiment. “Bine că s-a terminat chinul ăsta”. Nu e o bucurie să-ți împingi limitele, e cu strâns din dinți, cu stări de rău, cu “ieşirea din zona de confort”.

În mod normal, după 12 ore de stat la volan (am plecat la 9:30 din Bucureşti, am ajuns pe la 21:30 în Constanța) aş fi fost rupt de oboseală. De data asta am simțit mai puțin oboseala pentru că am avut non-stop în fața mea un om căruia îi era de 100 ori mai greu. Eu stăteam cu fundul în maşină şi țineam de un volan, fără pic de efort.

Aş mai face chestia asta vreodată? Dacă Ergo îşi mai propune chestii de genul ăsta, sigur că da. Însă de data asta o să iau lucrurile în serios. Adică mâncare adevărată la pachet, un plan de alimentare, odihnă şi hidratare pentru toată echipa implicată. Ce-am învățat din tura asta e că genul ăsta de activitate de suport e un test inclusiv pentru cei care nu fac efortul cel mare. – Alex

When you hear that someone will go on a bike ride from Bâlea Lake to Constanța you say ok, this is a craziness, but you don’t have the same emphaty and the same feeling when you are there with that person. But when you want to support your friend, you know that you are part of the game. You live every moment with him. When I saw the last 10 km on the map, I supposed those kilometres are the hardest for him. And for us, too, even if we were in the car. I was nervous and I wanted him to finish the ride, but in the same time I wanted him to be safe and not to push himself too, too, too hard. When he finished the ride I had tears in my eyes, goosebumps, and the best feeling in the world: I was part of my friend’s dream. Or craziness. I gave him a little hand and a big smile every time he stopped at the checkpoints, because I knew what important it is for us to have those little things in our hardest times. At long last, I’m so proud of him and I want to thank him for a new lesson: discipline means evolution. Without that, we can’t evolve, and this is one of the reasons I respect Ergo so much! – Antonia

-Iubita, vreau să fac Bâlea Lac-Marea Neagră cu bicicleta.
-Aha. Ok. Dar vezi că trebuie s-o faci peste 2 weekenduri, că pe urmă nu mai ai când, avem ocupate toate weekendurile.
-Ohh. Ai dreptate. [după câteva secunde de gândire] Ok!

Până în ziua startului am fost oarecum sceptică în privința acestei ture, deși, ca de fiecare dată când îți pui ceva în cap, mă înșel. Găsești tu cumva să faci să devină realitate. Deși acum doi ani ai jurat că nu mai faci așa ceva niciodată, după ce ai făcut București-Constanța cu bicicleta. Dar suntem oameni și uităm, mai ținem minte doar părțile bune. E normal.

Vineri seara am plecat din Brașov în București, l-am lăsat pe George să aibă grijă de tine până a doua zi, la prânz, când ne-am regrupat. Eu în mașina lui Alex, George tot cu duba, și tu pe bicicletă. Senzații majore, la 40 la oră! Sau mai puțin. Luasei startul în urmă cu vreo 20 de ore, din Bâlea, și te-am prins pe la Slobozia. Dacă aș fi știut să stau pe bicicletă prin trafic (sau dacă aș fi avut una), aș fi dat la pedale de lângă tine, dar așa…a trebuit să mă mulțumesc cu încurajările din mașina lui Alex. Am reușit să stau liniștită știind că ai și sistemul de safety de la Garmin (mulțumesc, Moise!).

Chiar și cu toate sistemele de siguranță și cu toată planificarea, tot mi se pare o nebunie și sper să nu mai faci așa ceva prea curând, că-mi ies extra fire albe de păr. Dar, la cum te știu, deja ai început s-o planifici pe următoarea și, evident, te voi susține și data viitoare. You crazy dude who wakes up at 5 every morning și pe care-l admir și iubesc enorm! – Cristina