Mazovian Gravel 2023, East Mazovia Edition, MG 250 (160 mile) Race
Day 2, June 18th, 2023
Jacek was still asleep when I left the ranch at 4:45 am. It was raining during the night. I put my thin windbreaker on but it was rather necessary against the morning cold (in no case a
chill! It was even warm if not the apparent wind of the e-bike, as it seemed to be windless!) The more I rode the more I realized what the real meaning of the "ultra" (as in ultramarathon) was. It was all about the difficulties staggering up as I was riding. Like, a forest road totally damaged by lumberjack vehicles and full of puddles. Or, a sandy road full of ruts, making it easy to crash. It looked as if those two guys Bartek and Marcin had a database of all most hopeless roads of East Mazovia and combined them into a race route plan!
I was explained that the MG250 was just a "demo version of MG500 for the less advanced"
Would you call that road "gravel"? There, I was eating my early breakfast consisting of two bananas and some nutrients. There was a drizzle in the air.
The village of Jeruzal was made famous by the "Ranczo" (The Ranch) sitcom (I have never seen that programme!) The store visible in the picture has been televised as a model countryside store, with local weirdos sitting on the benches, drinking 8% fruit "wine" called Mamrot ("Mumble") and discussing things. The store got a cult following, and Jeruzal gets many visitors (who would have never heard of that village or the store if not TV). I hear Ms. Krystyna Więcławska has a good business as any tourist must buy a bottle of Mamrot while in Jeruzal! I was thinking of buying a bottle of Mamrot myself! Alas! The store was opened from 8 am on Sundays while I arrived in Jeruzal at seven!
At least two (remote) villages were renamed to Jeruzal in 19th c. The local people thought the new name (Jerusal-em) would bring a lot of pilgrims I have already been to both Jeruzals! The guy on the bike, Łukasz, was my direct rival on the ride. Riding from Liw through the creek as well as U&Ws he effectively cancelled my strategic advantage! We started really racing... Pretending not to (Jacek sent me earlier the message: "There are still 15 riders in Liw. Fight!")
That's why it is called "ultra" (I could not take photos in really bad places as I was fighting for my dear life!)
After long and hard ride, I found myself in the area more familiar to me, on the Vistula right embankment. When I saw this
, I yelled: "These perverts! To tell us to ride on grass! What next?!"
Oh yes they could invent even more. Now, we had to carry our bikes up the steep and high staircase onto the Góra Kalwaria road bridge over the Vistula...
If you think the staircase was not steep or high, see it from the right perspective I was already atop with my pannier (carrying it upstairs felt like climbing Calvary with the cross...). Before I was ready to pick my Vado SL downstairs, a line of gravel cyclists (mostly from MG500) formed there! Let me not describe getting the Vado SL upstairs using the Walk Mode (the stairs were too steep to carry the VSL in my hand) or racing through an extremely narrow pedestrian walkway along the bridge, or zooming with traffic to the next exit...
Yes, those guys invented the "Mt Calvary Cobblestone Climb" as described in
Post #1,124! As I could make it and was overcharged with adrenalin, I started
really racing
I sprinted through Góra Kalwaria and started approaching a 10% curvy descent. I could see several people on bikes with drop-bars behind me, trying to catch up with me. No way! I sprinted even faster and descended at crazy speed. When I was already on the flat, I heard "ON YER LEFT!" and then several Time Trial bikes overtook me
The Góra Kalwaria Trail is reportedly the most ridden segment in the world (according to Strava). I was sprinting all the time (or pedalled as hard as I could in SL Turbo mode), and I was overtaking any gravel cyclist I met (all of them were already very tired!)
The roadies always take a detour between Dębówka and Cieciszew and then head towards Gassy. Our trail was gravel one (very narrow and technical) just along the river and straight to Gassy. When I was riding there, I exclaimed aloud: "Just the last fuggin' gravel road on the race! And possibly my last one ever!" -- and at that moment a gravel cyclist overtook me. He could hear my every word!
As we passed Gassy, we got onto a paved road towards the blue bridge of Jeziorka and we turned left there. Suddenly, several Time Trial bikes appeared on my left side, with the smiling riders merrily shouting at me: "Guy! You are great! Don't give up! Race together with us!" but I had to turn left...
onto the very last gravel road on the trip! And... There was a MG500 rider pedalling hard. As we rode side by side, I asked 'MG500?' -- 'Yes!' -- 'Then I don't race with you' -- I said -- 'I let you be first on the finish line' -- to which he replied -- 'My foot feels like burning. I do not race anymore today!' --
So I crossed the finish line...
...and pulled brake levers hard! I heard bravos and hand-clapping. A female photographer took several pictures of me, and I was laughing from the delight! (I hope to get those pictures!)
Drunk with happiness, I expressed the greatest compliments of the ride plan to Marcin the co-organizer! Yes, it was a real adventure, once you passed all the obstacles! It was no time for boredom during the race!
I was immediately decorated by a little boy, got a bottle of the special "Finisher's Beer" (whatever it was, it tasted like the nectar of the gods!), and a little girl approached me to offer food, excellent coffee and perhaps some mineral water? I felt like in heaven!
Then Jacek took the customary photo of me at the finish line (Polish: Meta).
I was the last competitor who got the applause as the awarding ceremony for MG500 started in several minutes after my arrival! See the Women's Masters. The winner Maria rode 509 km for 32 seconds short of 21 hours! The redhead with the braid is a popular female roadie champion known as the "Rust", and she represented the bronze medallist, and acted as a co-organizer. The tall man in blue is Marcin the co-organizer, and the dark man in black T-shirt is Bartek co-organizer. The latter is known for his motto: "To ride, you have to be riding" (that is "if you want to survive a gravel race, you have to persistently be working out on a bike"). A great motto!
Men Masters, MG500. The winner Grzegorz rode the 509 km in 17 hours 45 minutes gross! What a feat!
As you already know, I finished the 255 km race as #248 out of 283, so I was better than 35 other people who started in MG250
The "Jeruzal Man" Łukasz arrived 17 minutes behind, and another one was 31 minutes behind me. I lost to a man who was on the finish line just 5 minutes before me! I could have one cigarette less to be better than him!
263 km in 12 hours and 17 minutes of pedalling, 26 hours 48 minutes from start to finish.
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@Readytoride: Thank you very much for your concern! I must have experienced a slight concussion but was lucky again! And totally motivated to finish the race!
As for e-bikes: In my opinion, the current e-bike technology eliminates our steeds from ultramarathons. Either the e-bike (and the batteries/chargers) is too heavy for harsh terrain, or (in case of lightweight e-bikes with small Range Extenders), the charging time overnight would take as much of time as to place the rider in the last place! I could only make my feat thanks to two e-bikes and the SAG car...
Next year, Jacek buys a traditional gravel bike and rides in the MG 2024 (I pass). As for myself, I plan taking part in two 200 km events: Sudovia Gravel, and the Kaszebe Runda. The former (northeast Poland, Suwałki) is organized on beautiful gravel roads with many very steep inclines. The latter is a totally open formula (not a race) on asphalt roads of Kashubia (in Pomoria, near to Gdańsk). Both events will be good for my Vado 6.0 with three batteries as long as I replace the Vado tyres with my Schwalbe Smart Sam tyres.
Dear friends, thank you for your time and patience about my big reports!
That was an incredible effort, I'm glad you weren't hurt badly in the crash!
Then vision impaired and were out of it when you were stopped, sat down and questioned?? That's a concussion, dear fellow, and an ambulance trip to the hospital in my mind, not a green flag to continue!! Really, really glad you are alright.
. Definitely not what most of us would consider a fun ride.
Do you think I could process all those pictures if I still suffered the concussion I could have got last Saturday morning? 
Some people enjoy taking risks for fun. I'm not that type. I just love to have goals 
