Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Pedal to the Peaks: Ulrich Bartholmoes' Journey Through Ultra-Endurance Racing

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Pedal to the Peaks: Ulrich Bartholmoes' Journey Through Ultra-Endurance Racing · Zone2Speak Podcast

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And now for the episode. You're not sick on a cross-country.
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Yeah, it was just Rwanda.
0:35
No, I actually wasn't sick in Chile.
0:40
Just a little at the beginning.
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Because, well, I traveled from Santiago to Amelie Perucu by bike.
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And maybe that was a bit too big.
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How many kilometers are that? Because I went by car and that was 10 hours.
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Yeah, I think it was 1,000 or 1,200, something like this. So you did over 1,000 to do 1,000.
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Yeah, but the last bit, to be honest,
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I took a bus for the last, I don't know, 150 or 200 kilometers just because
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I wasn't feeling that well and wanted to have some more time to recover before the race.
1:22
So I took the bus for the last mile.
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Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Zone to Speak podcast. I'm your host, Juliana.
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Music.
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Eurik has redefined endurance racing on two wheels.
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In this episode, we will explore his journey, the mindset that keeps him going,
1:41
and what it takes to thrive in the toughest races.
1:46
So, settle in as we enter the zone with Uba and uncover the passion and resilience
1:52
behind his incredible achievements.
1:54
Welcome to the pod.
1:57
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. Absolutely.
2:00
My pleasure. Thanks for making the time.
2:03
So I wanted to ask you, because you were such an incredible athlete,
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and I just remember you coming to the scene and cleaning out.
2:14
You're winning everything.
2:15
You're in every race. So were you always into cycling?
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What drew you into cycling, Well, I started cycling as a small kid,
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mainly to commute to school.
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So I lived in a small town and my school was like in the next city,
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10 kilometers away. So I commuted by bike.
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This was not really focused on like sportive cycling, just literally for commuting.
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And at some point, because I grew up in a part of Germany, in the middle of
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Germany, where it's a bit hilly and we had some some downhill racetracks like in the neighborhood.
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So I came into mountain biking and that was actually the first kind of cycling
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that had a more sportive background.
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So I did and enjoyed this for a couple
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of years and then I moved
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to Leipzig and Berlin for studies and
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there it's only flat land so if you have like a proper mountain bike it's totally
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useless there and also as a student you need every euro you can find so I basically
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sold that bike and I had a bit of cash to buy groceries and stuff.
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So I stopped cycling for a long while.
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And after studies, I moved to Munich and started to work.
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And I always say everything has its time in life.
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And back then, my focus was way more on working and building a career than on cycling.
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So I stopped cycling for something like 10 years. and rediscovered cycling at
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a point in my life when I was 30 kilograms more than I am right now.
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So maybe I got a bit chubby or something.
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You were studying and then starting your career. Germany also has cold winters.
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Exactly, exactly. And yeah, then I rediscovered cycling now 10 years ago, something in 2013, 14.
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And it started with road cycling. So I got my very first road bike and it started
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like normal cycling, going for a ride every now and then.
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And then I discovered this kind of Gran Fondo-like races that there are plenty
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of them in Austria, Switzerland, Italy.
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And as i lived in munich that's like a
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good trip for a weekend discovered them and
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it was was good fun to do this one day races with
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i don't know 120 180 kilometers and uh that i also started riding more just
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like for training to to get fit and fitter at some point it's i don't know I
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don't know exactly when,
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but somehow it escalated a bit and I was riding, I don't know,
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10,000 kilometers a year and the next year it was 15 and then it was 20,000.
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Well, in 2019, I ended up with my very first ultra-long-distance race,
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which was 900 kilometers, something like this, the Trans-Perenice here in Spain.
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Well, and that was, to be honest, it was the beginning of the end.
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And then things just, my wife always says, things just got worse.
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And that's a tough one, right? It's a lot of kilometers. It feels like it just
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goes up. I mean, it's beautiful, but it's a tough one to start.
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Yeah, it was the only one nearby. So I only did it by accident.
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So it was not planned or something.
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But I was traveling Spain and Portugal and was looking for something like this
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one-day races that I did until then.
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But there is those kind of Gran Fondo-like races.
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They are not existing in Spain. So in Spain, you have a pretty active culture
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of this like criterium-like races, but nothing which you can simply enter by registration.
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You always have to be part of a federation or something.
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And there was not Gran Fondo scene or something.
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And the only thing which was happening somewhere nearby was this Trans-Fernese thing.
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And I never did something like this before, but it sounded interesting.
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And I was just curious to try it.
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And so I signed up and said, like, yeah, I mean, let's go for a ride.
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It might take a bit longer.
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And it was super good fun just to jump on and just try it with absolutely no
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idea, with no expectations, with nothing.
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And that's also what I recommend to people.
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If someone asks me how to start with this kind of ultra cycling,
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I always tell this story and say, like, grab your bike, grab a few things,
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load them on the bike and go for it.
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I mean, you can always stop and, I don't know, descend from the mountain,
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go to the next train station and take a train home. If you don't feel it,
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then there is always a way to escape.
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But in the other case, just go and try. Yeah, I completely agree.
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You can be just a whole, a full day as well, you know, leaving the morning,
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spend the day on the bike, stop to eat, come back home.
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That's the beginning. You never know what's going to happen.
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And it's so much fun. But so what in this experience of your first race in the
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Pyrenees, you think it was the milestone, if you will, that you were like, I like this.
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I want to do another ultra. well it's
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it's always the same i feel
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there are a lot of highs and
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lows during um such a long thing so it took me it took me two days to complete
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the route and i had moments that were by the way that's amazing two days first
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ultra crossing the pyrenees yeah definitely,
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Yeah, so I had moments that were incredibly amazing.
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You are in the Peronista landscape, it's so beautiful.
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You are there all day, you see the sunrise, the sunset, you just have a good time.
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This is on the one hand side. And on the other hand side, I remember in some
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climbs I suffered from the heat.
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It was end of June, beginning of July. So in the climbs at noon,
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the sun was just grilling me.
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That was definitely not fun. And also in the second night...
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There were thunderstorms and lightning hitting left
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and right and it was it was nothing
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where you say like oh that's a nice ride and then
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you arrive at the finish line and i don't
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know the last kilometers before the finish line
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you swear to yourself yeah it was
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it was an okay experience but i'm done with that thank you
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i don't need to need to do it again and then
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you cross the finish line and you get off the bike and
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you have a beer and you have a meal and you have
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some rest and some sleep the next
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day you get up and think like oh actually that's that's a cool thing and i think
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after trans peranese it took me probably like two or three days until i signed
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up for trans iberica which is three and a half thousand kilometer so triple
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three and a half times the length and i I thought like,
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oh, yeah, this would be a nice idea to do an even longer ride.
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And I think the human brain is super
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brilliant because it blurs all this thunderstorm and not so nice stuff.
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And it puts all the good experience, like how nice it was and how beautiful
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the landscapes were and how much you enjoyed it. It puts them on the podium
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and the rest is just wiped out.
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And then after a day or something, you just think like the best idea I ever
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had, I have to do another one.
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This mechanism is literally happening every single time I go for a race.
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There is always a moment where I swear I will stop.
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I will never, ever do this again.
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But I never remember it afterwards and repeat.
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Yeah, it's crazy how we have this survivor capability that we just remember
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the good and the lows go away, which is great.
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And this feeling of the finish and crossing the finish line and then the next
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day having that such a good feeling of this accomplishment. Yeah.
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So when you started, I guess you're, I want to say you're doing for fun,
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but I do hear that you are,
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I don't know if you started a training super structured or you were just like
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free flowing and then you got more serious and got into training because I know
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you are structured, you're very data driven.
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So I wanted to ask you about that. Like how is exactly your training and your daily routine?
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Well, it changed. It changed a lot over time. At the beginning,
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it was just write more and more and write more often.
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And then at some point, you realize it's just time consuming,
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but you don't get better or faster anymore.
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And then you need to change something.
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And then I started with intervals, but only like Googling what to do and then
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just try stuff. And for sure, it helps.
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But at some point, I learned a bit more about training, about myself and stuff like this.
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So for a long time, I think since two years or until 2022, I've been working.
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I was creating my own training plan and since two years, now I'm working going in the third season.
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I'm working with a coach, John Wakefield, a super good guy also with a very scientific approach.
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And we had a good conversation when we met the first time.
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And I was curious to see how I can improve with the structured training that
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is prescribed by someone who knows what he does.
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And he was curious to see how it is to coach an ultra endurance athlete.
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Because, I mean, two years ago, the whole scene and everything is evolving so fast.
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But a couple of years ago, there were most of the people were just like adventure
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cyclists and they didn't care about training plans and stuff like this. That's changing now.
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More and more people also do like structure training.
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And yeah since since two
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years i'm working with john and we have
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a good conversations on what is necessary
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to train in which period of the year and
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also depending on the on the races i do so
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training looks looks different if i prepare for
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a mountain bike race like i don't know colorado
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trail or if i prepare for transcontinental
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race on road so there are different different concepts depending on the length
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depending on the on the terrain stuff like this so there's no no easy answer
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um to the question but maybe to to bring it down to to something more simple um.
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The training for ultra long distance riding looks basically the same like for
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an athlete in professional road or gravel racing.
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So my daily training is also something between two and four hours, maybe an average.
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It also includes a lot of strength and stretching, stuff like this.
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So not only on the bike, but the training sessions are, it's not like I go for
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training to do like a 10-hour ride or something.
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That's not, that's nothing you train. You train, I don't know,
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two hours, three hours, four hours.
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So if I do really long rides, prescribed rides, the longest ones are five hours or something like this.
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So there is nothing like go and ride for 10 hours. It doesn't make sense.
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You don't get better or faster.
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Just by extending the hours, you get better and faster by the combination of
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different training methods and different sessions,
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different intervals.
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So that's where the magic happens, not in the go and ride for 20 hours and then you can do it.
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That's good to know. Yeah, I know John, he used to be Pogacar's coach as well, right?
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When Pogacar won Tour de France the first two times.
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Exactly. Yeah, he did my bike fit. So when you set off for a race,
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do you look at the map and know where you're going to stop,
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to eat, see, you do that type of research or you just glance at it and go for the adventure?
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It depends on the area in the world,
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how good the route is documented and what kind of data is available for research
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and also how popular the route is.
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So if there is data on Strava or any other platform or like follow my challenge
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from the last editions last year or something,
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where I can use like the replay mode to see where people stopped or something,
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then you can use this just to get an idea where you can stop.
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It always depends on certain factors like for example how remote the route is if there is only a.
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I don't know. Earlier this year, I raced the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco.
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And there are sections where you have absolutely no resupply,
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no water, no nothing for 100, 150 kilometers.
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And then you need to know the exact point where you need to stop to refill,
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because then there will be nothing for 10 hours or even more.
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So it's good to know that exact spot.
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But if you're, for example, on a road race through, I don't know, Austria.
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That you probably don't need to plan that much in total because you will pass
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a gas station or a supermarket or whatever every 30 minutes, one hour.
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So it it always depends on the on the kind of race and everything but yeah let's say it like this.
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The the preparation and the
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the process to think about where
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i will be when and having kind
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of a pace table this is what
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i consider as as fun in
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the build up to a race so i like to sit down and study the map and study data
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and do research and say like maybe i can make it to this and that point before
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it gets dark and maybe i can get the hotel here or there and so,
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Most of the time, I make plans, but I also have the capability to change plans and to improvise.
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I don't know, if something happens, you have a flat tire, a mechanical that
19:18
takes a bit longer to fix, then you need to be able to just adapt your plan to what happened.
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And i like to plan but for me
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it's also not an issue if the plan doesn't
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fit the reality anymore and i need to change it that's
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that's part of the game and that's fun as well yeah that's true and it's good
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to hear from you you know a big you know pro and a big champion because you
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do have to adapt because usually you know i i love racing ultra races but for
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me it's just the adventure It's just the bikepacking with route already made for me. Yeah.
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But I did try to plan before, you know, looked at the map and like,
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okay, I'm going to stop here. I'm going to stop there. I'm going to sleep here.
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But obviously things happened. And now I don't plan as much.
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I mean, I planned that, but just in my head, I'm not making reservations or
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anything because you can be
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tired and want to stop before or you can feel good and want to continue.
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Exactly. And, of course, there's the setbacks of mechanics or weather that you
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also need to be highly adaptable for this type of races.
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And talking about this year, would you like to share what was your approach to pick races?
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I started with Atlas Mountain Race in February.
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Then I did a few smaller things here in Spain.
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Did the track then did the tour divide and then there was colorado trail and
20:48
arizona trail on the uh on the on the schedule for this year so for the races
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which was quite filled up calendar,
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in the end i it it turned out that i wasn't wasn't motivated anymore or i was
21:06
not in the right-hand space in Colorado.
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It had different reasons. One of them.
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The outside conditions. Like Colorado is, and all the free races in the US,
21:25
there are different kinds of beasts.
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So Colorado is super remote. You pass only two bigger villages.
21:37
So you race something like four to five days, but you only have the chance to
21:42
resupply twice. So it's...
21:46
That's intense. it's a long way
21:49
from one place to the other the
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terrain is super super challenging and
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if you are not in the right half
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space mentally you basically already
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you are already I ignored
22:09
my inner voice before
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it a bit said like well just
22:16
go and just just do it and
22:20
then it turned out it was absolutely no surprise
22:23
then it turned out that i wasn't
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i was simply not feeling it and i had no fun while being out there even if the
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landscape and everything was incredible and beautiful but i was not enjoying
22:39
the process And so I questioned if I want to go for another three,
22:46
four days without enjoying it or simply stopping and having a good time in Colorado.
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And I decided to for the last one to stop and have a good time in Colorado.
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And then afterwards, because the Arizona trail race was the third part of my
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goal of the triple crown,
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I simply decided it don't make sense because my goal was triple crown.
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And with quitting on Colorado Trail, like the goal imploded kind of,
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for sure it would be, I could have gone to Arizona as well.
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But it's a long journey from Europe to Arizona.
23:37
And then again, the Arizona Trail, this is something like, I don't know, seven to 10 days.
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So it's not something you do in two. if you already have trouble completing.
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The other one, I just decided it doesn't make sense to force it this year.
23:58
And I decided to just take up a different way for the rest of the season.
24:05
And I did a lot of bikepacking trips that were absolutely not racing related.
24:10
But I bought a tent, I bought a gas cooker, and I just had a damn good time
24:17
on the bike. And it was fully loaded and it was way more heavy.
24:21
And way more comfortable than I'm used to use on races.
24:28
And it was an absolutely perfect season, which started somewhere in August and early September.
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I still did the backlands race, but also with a totally different approach.
24:48
The last years I was really pushing hard. And this year I was pushing not so
24:54
hard and mainly focusing on enjoying the route.
24:57
And I still became in the end seventh or eighth position. I don't even know.
25:05
So I absolutely had no idea where I was in the field.
25:10
I just kept going, wasn't sleeping on the route for two days.
25:14
So it was still kind of racing, not wasting time too much, but also not pushing limits too hard.
25:23
So I stopped, had a hot meal, had ice cream, stuff like this.
25:28
Normally, I don't do this on racing. I then just focus on keep going, keep going, keep going.
25:34
And I normally don't have something like sit-down meals. I just, oh, there's a pizza.
25:39
Yeah, I get a pizza for takeaway and then eat while racing. I had sit-down meals and just enjoyed it.
25:45
And it was just a different approach.
25:50
And I learned for myself that it feels good to use the mix and to use all the
25:59
different options, how you can approach a ride.
26:03
Obviously, I don't need to be
26:06
the first one and I don't need to be in the fastest one every single time.
26:12
It's also good just i
26:16
can go to a race even with the goal to not not
26:19
win it and just make it into top 20 or whatever and i still can enjoy and feel
26:25
good and so i changed my season a little to to this and yeah the mix is just
26:32
just a good thing good yeah we need to enjoy ourselves so i'm i'm glad to hear that, you know,
26:38
you didn't feel pressured from anybody,
26:41
including yourself, and just decided to enjoy the journey.
26:45
So kudos. And you said you're talking about the Triple Crown.
26:50
Would you try it again next year? Because like you said, it's a huge investment
26:56
mentally, physically, and also financially, you know, to, I mean,
27:00
to get to any race, it's an investment.
27:02
But since we are here in Europe to travel all the way to the US,
27:06
is this something that it's on the agenda oh it is somehow on the agenda but
27:11
for sure not next year i maybe need some.
27:17
Need some distance to the to the u.s to the u.s racing because there is simply
27:26
there is so much more and i saw the tour divide which is an absolutely beautiful
27:33
route i really love it and it and somehow.
27:38
It makes you addicted. You want to come back and back and back and again and
27:43
again and again. There's always something to discover.
27:46
But at the same point, I know there are so many places where I've never been.
27:54
And it's just about priorities. You cannot do all of them in a year,
28:01
maybe not even in a lifetime.
28:03
I don't know. and it's more
28:07
about priorities saying next year i
28:10
want to go to to a few places where i've
28:13
never been and then i don't
28:16
know what the year after will will look like i think i definitely at some point
28:24
want to go back to colorado complete the colorado trail i definitely want to
28:28
do on the Arizona Trail as well, but no specific glance when.
28:34
Sounds good that you, you know, eventually will get out there and get your triple crown.
28:39
I know you're, we have, I was going to say friend, but I have this question
28:44
for you on Justine Slavekas.
28:47
He says hi, by the way. Thank you. So I really enjoy you guys' friendship.
28:54
And I wanted to ask, is this frenemies or bromance?
28:59
Oh, that's definitely a weird kind of bromance.
29:05
I love it. I hope you guys keep on entertaining us and then challenging each
29:09
other and pushing each other. It's really cool to see.
29:12
Yeah, definitely. I mean, we met three or four years ago, the first time.
29:20
And Justina and me, there is no other person on this planet with whom I shared
29:26
so much races. and I think over the years we shared so many.
29:35
Incredible experiences and that's
29:38
that's that's super special and um that that
29:42
that builds a super close connection i mean i slept
29:46
with him in a porta potty in the in the in the great divide basin so and this
29:51
was not the only kind of adventure we shared and this is not the only kind of
29:57
special situation we shared i would say i i shared even more crazy situations
30:03
with him and then with my wife.
30:06
So there is definitely a very special relationship and we help each other getting
30:13
better every single time, pushing boundaries, pushing our limits.
30:19
And there is something away how
30:23
we know each other to figure out what's actually possible and what not.
30:28
And yeah, this is a very, very good relationship we maintain.
30:36
And there is really no part in it which I would say is somehow connected to an enemy kind of thing.
30:46
So that's definitely good. I love him.
30:52
Wonderful, wonderful. And I'm sure he loves you back. Like, it's really cool
30:56
to see, you know, like I said, you guys pushing each other to beyond your limits,
31:00
but also celebrating each other's accomplishment. Yeah.
31:06
So you have those races. There are about a thousand kilometers that you superhumans do in two days.
31:14
And there's the longer ones like the Tour Divide or Trans-Iberica,
31:19
Transcontinental, and so on.
31:21
There's 4,000, 4,000 plus kilometers. How do you manage this sleep?
31:27
Because on the two-day one, I think either you're not sleeping or just taking quick naps.
31:32
But then obviously you cannot go 10 days just napping, or can you?
31:36
Well, I never try. No, I don't think it's possible. But I mean,
31:41
you adapt your strategy.
31:43
You know, from a certain point, you know your body really well.
31:48
You know what you can do without sleep. and you also know how much sleep you
31:55
need, for example, on a 10-day race.
31:58
And to be honest, there is also a lot of trial and error in it.
32:05
So I do a lot of experiments while racing and figuring out if it works or not.
32:15
So if you bring like
32:20
me now five years plus of
32:23
experience in in this ultra long
32:26
distance racing you try you
32:29
have a lot time to try things and you
32:33
will feel the difference on doing about
32:38
10 day race on two two and
32:41
a half three hours per night average or doing
32:44
it on four to five hours on average you feel
32:47
the difference and that you maybe meet in the middle or something
32:50
but then that super super individual
32:53
that's nothing what you can copy from from
32:57
other people i know that i
33:01
don't know a two-day race i can do without sleep.
33:05
No problem other people struggle and that's
33:08
totally fine it it's nothing you can
33:11
from my perspective that's nothing you can train you
33:14
just have the capabilities or you
33:18
don't have them and then you can you build your
33:20
strategy around it yeah i agree there's
33:23
a lot of bioindividuality there on this leap
33:26
as well as the nutrition would you take me
33:29
over a little bit your thoughts on
33:32
what you eat and and your hydration
33:36
during this long distance yeah it's
33:39
basically a bit there depending on
33:42
the race i always try to to start with a good amount of food that i carry with
33:49
me this in parts it's sports nutrition in parts it's like normal food and so then.
34:00
When a fall eaten it, it totally depends on where you are and what you can get.
34:10
And you need to adapt to this as well.
34:13
For example, in Marneco, for Atlas Mountain Race, I focused on just getting packaged food.
34:23
Like everything which is manufactured on international standards and packed.
34:29
So to avoid food poisoning but other places like I don't know if I race here
34:35
in Spain I stop on a bar and just get,
34:40
get potatoes or get a bocadillo like a sandwich whatever it depends on the.
34:48
Region where you race it depends on how remote
34:51
it is and then I decide if I need to
34:54
carry Snickers or if I can eat
34:58
sandwiches or whatever you can get but to
35:03
make it simple I am on
35:06
a vegetarian sometimes vegan diet and normal life but while racing I just eat
35:14
what I can find and if it's like half a pork I will eat half a pork that's no
35:19
problem yeah I'm also vegetarian and when I'm on the road Or even if someone
35:24
invites me to their house, I eat what's served.
35:27
Yeah. Yeah, but especially on the race, you can't be too picky.
35:31
It'll be very hard to feel the body. I agree. What about your equipment and gear preference?
35:38
And I also wanted to ask if you have any non-essential item that is essential
35:44
to you that you like to take with you.
35:46
Yeah so in in terms of gear my my approach is pretty minimalistic and lightweight
35:54
so i have also with the experience and over the years i've developed like a set of of things.
36:05
I have a big checklist where all the items are on that i ever took on a race
36:11
and before i leave for a race.
36:15
I just go through the checklist and then I decide what do I need and what not.
36:21
That depends on the weather forecast, the area, if it's like high altitude,
36:28
if it's, I don't know, going to be hot or not.
36:33
I mean, I have three different types of gloves.
36:37
So if it's going to be really cold, I take the winter ones.
36:42
If it's just maybe a bit chilly during night, I have some gloves that are made
36:48
for rain and they don't really keep you warm.
36:53
But if it's just a bit chilly during night, they are.
36:57
I have experience on all the kit items and the kit is also something really
37:03
personal where you need to just figure out yourself what keeps you warm and what I mean.
37:11
What defines feeling warm for you might be different for me.
37:17
And when i'm feeling like totally comfy
37:20
in my in my down jacket you might
37:23
still freeze and want to add another layer
37:26
and so you need to figure out on your
37:29
own what's um what you need and i
37:33
definitely have a totally
37:37
useless item that you don't need for
37:40
racing but i carry it especially
37:44
on everything which is longer than four
37:47
days and that's um that's a shaver i
37:51
got it i shave my beard
37:54
and that's for me i don't know
37:57
it's it's it's it's not really disturbing
38:00
but at some point i feel that
38:03
the beard is rubbing the strap from the helmet
38:06
a little and that's kind of
38:09
annoying me i don't know why and that's why
38:13
i want to want to stay nice and
38:15
shaved and after four days or something.
38:18
There is there is time to to shave
38:22
and that's why i on the on the most
38:24
long races i i carry a shave
38:28
up with me even if i could survive without it amazing
38:32
i you know you gotta be comfortable and also
38:35
i do believe i think almost everyone has a non-essential essential that they
38:39
are carrying with them so yeah it's good to know that you are normal like all
38:44
of us any memorable highlight that stands out for you that you could share with
38:52
us from your racing history.
38:55
Well, there is not just one. There are like hundreds, I think,
39:00
because every race is special.
39:05
I have plenty of memories, but there is nothing.
39:11
There is not a single one that I prioritize for myself because there's always
39:18
a story behind that makes one moment special.
39:25
So there is not one it's hard
39:28
to pick right it's it's hard to pick i could
39:31
share a random one but there's not the the single one i can tell one true race
39:39
yes i i think there is actually at least one moment for a race that it's like
39:46
on top of mind but literally every race has this moment.
39:51
Yeah, I agree. Can you share one random or maybe tell us the story of how you
39:56
and Justine ended up on a bathroom, a porta party, I don't know,
40:00
in the middle of the Tour Divide?
40:03
Yeah, well, it happened last year.
40:07
We crossed the Great Divide Basin, which is a stretch of 150 kilometers of nothingness.
40:14
So there's no shop, there is no road, there is no tree. There is only like this
40:21
low vegetation kind of bushes.
40:25
And an endless gravel road, which is passing there. And there is absolutely
40:31
no sign of civilization.
40:33
And the specialty of this area is if it starts to rain, the soil gets really sticky.
40:41
And they call it peanut butter mud. And it clogs up your wheels and your whole bike.
40:49
And I never experienced it. Well, I experienced it actually two weeks before.
40:54
But there on then the the second
40:57
time so it it gets impossible to move
41:01
forward you cannot ride anymore because like your
41:04
whole drive train and the wheels are clogged up with mud
41:07
you cannot carry the bike because it gets
41:10
simply too heavy it's like about 20 kilograms or
41:13
something you can remove the mud with
41:15
a stick and then you move forward for like
41:19
half a meter and it's clocked up again
41:21
so there's absolutely no chance to you to
41:24
do anything and at at some
41:27
point it was somewhere in the evening we made
41:31
a progress of something like one kilometer per
41:34
hour and so i always say even
41:37
if you go down on your knees and start crawling you probably crawl faster than
41:43
one kilometer an hour so just to just to have the right relations how slow slow
41:49
can be and it was raining, it was a little cold.
41:54
It was seven, eight degrees, something like this. It was windy and we soon realized.
42:01
We were literally in the middle. So 70 kilometers to the one and 70 kilometers to the other.
42:06
And if you do one kilometer an hour and have 70 to go to civilization, it takes a while.
42:14
And we didn't have food for 70 hours for sure.
42:18
And so at some point we noticed we need to keep on going no matter how hard
42:26
it is. Because if we stop, we get into hyposalmia soon.
42:31
Because we all didn't have a proper sleeping kit.
42:35
We had emergency BB, but, well, it's not comfy.
42:40
So we decided to keep on going. And at some point, there was a random product.
42:46
So a plastic toilet, one by one square meter, mounted on a trailer in the middle of this basin.
42:53
Nobody knows why it was there. There was absolutely no reason, but it was there.
42:58
I was going to ask, how was in this emptiness one pot-a-party?
43:03
It absolutely doesn't make sense. And nobody has an explanation why it was there, but it was.
43:11
So it actually was the only shelter on the stretch of 150 kilometers.
43:18
So we decided to go into this pot-a-party and sit in there. Three guys, there was another guy.
43:25
Jens from Belgium. So we shared this pot-a-potty, the three of us,
43:30
and we not only waited till the night was over, but we had to wait till the
43:36
soil was a bit more dry and not sticky anymore.
43:39
So we spent something like 10 hours in this pot-a-potty, just waiting for times to get better.
43:49
Wow. 10 hours, three guys in a pot-a-potty. That's amazing.
43:54
That's an achievement itself. Yeah. This is, for example, something I don't want to do again.
44:02
So I will go for the next race and also the next race after it.
44:08
But I'm not motivated anymore to spend more time than necessary in a pot-a-potty.
44:15
Yeah, that's too much suffering.
44:18
So now we're on off-season and you may be taking it easy, thinking about the next season.
44:26
What are your future goals and ambitions?
44:29
Well, I actually ended off-season yesterday. So I started yesterday. I had day one.
44:35
Today was day two. And so I'm already officially in the season 2025.
44:42
And i will take still need
44:45
to take my time to to plan my season to
44:49
be honest i have loads of ideas but no
44:52
fixed plans i will do quite a
44:56
couple of things at home here in spain because
45:00
it's on the doorstep and it's just it's just nice to race and explore also your
45:08
on the area around home and then I have a couple of ideas that I just need to
45:15
put together on a calendar and see what's possible.
45:18
And I want to finish this probably till the end of the month or something.
45:25
But next year will be a mix of racing at home in Spain but also have some ideas
45:33
for trips to South America and want to do a mix between...
45:40
Like races just adventures and
45:43
something off-road something on road didn't
45:47
do tarmac races for a while so
45:51
i'm i'm motivated to also go back to to tarmac and good infrastructure where
45:56
you enjoy a gas station every now and then that's uh that's also amazing and
46:02
so i will i will create or i I want to create like a wild mix of road, off-road,
46:10
a bit of bikepacking, a bit of racing.
46:13
So a wild mix for next year and still put this together in the calendar.
46:18
Well, sounds like you're going to be very busy as usual.
46:22
And I'm glad to see South America in the radar. I am Brazilian,
46:27
even though I live here in Spain.
46:28
And South America was never really known as a cycling destination.
46:32
So I'm glad, you know, more and more people are going there and exploring because
46:35
it's also very beautiful and can also be challenging terrain.
46:39
Yeah, I was already in Chile two years ago.
46:44
It was fascinating to me how different it is compared to Europe.
46:50
Yeah, there are just a couple of more countries in the Andes and in the area to explore.
46:58
And that's, yeah, it's just fascinating. and there's a lot to see.
47:04
A lot to see, a lot to see. Hopefully you cross from your list all the places
47:10
and races you want to get to.
47:13
It's been lovely to meet you and chat with you. Thanks for sharing with us. Thank you for having me.
47:20
Absolutely, and hopefully we'll talk again at the end of the next season. Would be nice, yeah.
47:27
And that's all for today's episode. I want to thank the listeners for tuning
47:31
in. Your support means everything.
47:34
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47:37
Music.