Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / Cycling Beyond Limits: The BikingMan Brazil Experience

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Cycling Beyond Limits: The BikingMan Brazil Experience · Zone2Speak Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Zone2Speak podcast. We're your hosts, Debbie and Juliana.
• 0:09
  Music.
• 0:15
  How do I pronounce your name so I get it right? Pretty easy. Vinicius.
• 0:20
  Vinicius. Okay. Yes. I like it. Latin name. I usually say that I'm pure Brazilian
• 0:25
  because I don't have origins from outside that I know.
• 0:30
  Most of my great-great-grandparents came from I don't know where.
• 0:33
  And then that's why I say I'm Brazilian. I don't know about you, Leana. Do you have any?
• 0:39
  I do have different roots, but I like to say that I'm Brazilian because I am Brazilian.
• 0:46
  And I think I know we are a country that was colonized.
• 0:50
  So there is a lot of different nationalities that came into the mix.
• 0:54
  But I like to say that I'm Brazilian. But my great-grandmother on my mom's side
• 0:59
  was from Madeira in Portugal.
• 1:01
  And on my father's side, German Jew. So, big mix.
• 1:06
  Yeah, my wife has an Italy citizenship. Nice.
• 1:12
  All their grandparents came from Italy after the World Wars.
• 1:17
  And then we have a lot of people here with these origins from Europe. A lot. So, yeah. Yeah.
• 1:24
  I'm a completely different kind of mix.
• 1:29
  My mother was born in Puerto Rico in San Jose, and her family came over from
• 1:37
  the Canary Islands in Spain.
• 1:39
  So a lot of the maiden name there was Lain, so Spaniard, and then kind of migrated
• 1:47
  over to Puerto Rico and the family kind of just grew.
• 1:50
  And then my dad's side was originally from Poland and kind of migrated over
• 1:56
  here and went over to the Bahamas, actually. It's fine.
• 2:00
  In a way, I would love to have been able to speak Spanish. Well,
• 2:03
  it's really nice to have you here today.
• 2:05
  Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about you and hearing
• 2:10
  more about these ultra races.
• 2:12
  This was the first Viking man, the first ultra, correct? Oh, the fourth.
• 2:18
  Fourth. Fourth. Okay. All right.
• 2:21
  School me on this because remember, I'm not an ultra cyclist,
• 2:24
  but I really have loved learning about the ultra community and how vast and
• 2:31
  tight it really is. It's a true community.
• 2:35
  I see that. So much support. Everybody picks each other up and supports each
• 2:40
  other in that way, even though it's so self-supported.
• 2:43
  What I hear coming across the most is that camaraderie.
• 2:50
  Let's start. Let's go. Today, we have a special guest joining us,
• 2:54
  Vinicius, the race director of BikingMan Brazil, one of the most grueling and
• 2:59
  breathtaking ultra-endurance cycling events from the BikingMan brand.
• 3:04
  Vinicius has been instrumental in shaping the Brazilian leg of this global series,
• 3:09
  bringing athletes to experience the intense and diverse landscapes of Brazil,
• 3:15
  from mountains to coastlines.
• 3:17
  Not only Vinicius is a key figure in organizing the event, but he's also a passionate
• 3:22
  advocate for the support of ultra-endurance cycling with a deep connection to
• 3:28
  the Brazilian cycling community.
• 3:29
  He's also an avid and experienced cyclist, having raced some of the Biking Man
• 3:34
  Series Inca Divide in Peru and the famous Transcontinental Race across Europe.
• 3:40
  We are thrilled to have him on the show to share insights about the race.
• 3:45
  Vinicius, welcome to the podcast.
• 3:47
  Good one. I've been part of this ultra, it's not just the competition side.
• 3:53
  I started in 2011 with the non-competition called Randonneur,
• 3:59
  the Brevet, which is Brazil is very, very addicted to this one.
• 4:05
  You know probably you know you you heard of
• 4:08
  paris brass paris and this kind
• 4:11
  of of it's not a race but it's
• 4:14
  kind of adventure and and and and and challenge
• 4:17
  is is very very grew very fast over here and then it starts in 2011 and then
• 4:24
  before the transcontinental i did two to one thousand here before and then i
• 4:30
  think oh i can go to europe and cross europe without any any problem Naive.
• 4:38
  Yeah. And then I, as Juliana said, I became passionate of this and especially
• 4:43
  for the self-sufficient part, because it's not just the physical or the training.
• 4:49
  You need to study, you need to understand what you are doing,
• 4:52
  where you're going, your equipment, your feeling, and all the aspects to ride long distance.
• 5:00
  Yeah. And especially, especially how to deal with your mind.
• 5:05
  Because it's not the route, it's not the climbs or the mountains.
• 5:10
  All the time is your mind. And that mantra that is eat, solve your problems,
• 5:16
  sleep, is always mandatory. or take care of this first.
• 5:20
  After that, take any other decision.
• 5:23
  And this, yeah, I learned, I'm still learning how to do that.
• 5:27
  Yeah, and then after, you know, participating in this international race,
• 5:33
  as Juliana said, transcontinental, Inca divide, why not to have here?
• 5:37
  And then I met the, I became good friend of Axel from BikeMan.
• 5:42
  I could start something without any brand locally, But I like the idea to the
• 5:48
  championship with a set of rules or numbering and points.
• 5:54
  Yeah, because it's still a competition, but most of the time it's competition
• 5:59
  for yourself or it's not for others.
• 6:03
  You know, we have 100 participants in Brazil. I think only 10 or 15 were there for the position.
• 6:10
  Most of them is to be finishers. It's hard to be finished. It doesn't matter
• 6:14
  if it's hard or not, if it's flat or not. Each race has its own challenge.
• 6:19
  If it's flat, you have to keep battling 100% of the time.
• 6:23
  It's hard. If you have climbs, if you have gravel, if you're just tarmac, it doesn't matter.
• 6:30
  It's still a big challenge. And why not to have here? And then I started to have...
• 6:37
  The idea, it was to have in 2020, but, you know, the pandemic came,
• 6:44
  and then I had to postpone for 2021,
• 6:48
  and in 2021, we had the first one. And then now we are in the fourth year.
• 6:53
  It's growing. You said beautifully about the community, the engagement of community,
• 7:00
  the connection is unbelievable.
• 7:02
  I think I've been, you know, I rode competitions in mountain bike,
• 7:08
  especially in marathon.
• 7:10
  I never felt some connection like that in other type of cycling category or cycling subject.
• 7:18
  Someone told me that enduro is most closely to what we have today for this bikepacking
• 7:26
  community for ultra cycling.
• 7:27
  But I'm not that crazy
• 7:30
  to go down healing yet what do you think is the tie the tie in there with how
• 7:39
  much of a connection everybody kind of gains from each other emotion I think
• 7:45
  it's because you are putting so much of yourself into it full mind, body,
• 7:49
  it takes so much out of you.
• 7:53
  Know, it's smiling it's tears and sweat quiet, and then you're sharing that in a so natural way.
• 8:03
  And then when you think that you're over there, it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor.
• 8:07
  You are feeling, you are having the same experience.
• 8:11
  And then when you are in a place, and then it doesn't matter your origins,
• 8:16
  it doesn't matter how rich or how poor you are, the connection is the same, I think, feeling.
• 8:21
  I'm not comparing, but it's the same feeling when the soldiers in war,
• 8:25
  everybody is feeling the same they need to be close to each other.
• 8:32
  To go further that's true i was gonna say that it's
• 8:35
  like going through a survival experience that you
• 8:38
  create this bond that is so strong yeah you
• 8:41
  know especially with the cyclist that you're passing by that you
• 8:44
  are closer to in the distance you know because with a thousand kilometers people
• 8:47
  spread a little bit in different distances but you do create such a special
• 8:51
  bond it's just empathy pure survival is strong yes it is because you know what
• 8:58
  you're feeling and what they're going And there's somebody you can share that
• 9:02
  exact same experience with.
• 9:04
  And it's rare that you can do that with anybody else but that community.
• 9:07
  And you feed off of each other. Yeah, that's it. And then you depend for yourself
• 9:12
  and the people close to you.
• 9:15
  You know, there is many people are looking for you. There is the touch watching and so on.
• 9:21
  But it's, you know, you are there alone. And then you have to solve your questions,
• 9:27
  your problems, or even your mind tricking you, give up, stop,
• 9:33
  sleep, this is not for you.
• 9:34
  And then you use those motivation and then you became strong.
• 9:39
  I saw the transformation for 1000 events, you know, one week.
• 9:45
  The transformation that is, you know, ignite for so many people is unbelievable.
• 9:51
  Yeah my wife was a finisher last year it was
• 9:55
  a decision point for us to have our our kid
• 9:58
  you know it's it's it's unbelievable because if i can do this i probably i can
• 10:03
  be a mother i agree but you know
• 10:08
  it's you you just it can can trigger many many many uh uh you know this.
• 10:18
  Three tipping points of you to move for another stage. You know,
• 10:22
  your problems at work, okay, I can solve it.
• 10:25
  If I cannot solve it, okay, let's move on. Something like that.
• 10:30
  It's the same with the bike. If it's a mechanical and it's something out of
• 10:33
  your control, but it's something sometimes mind-wise or energy-wise,
• 10:39
  okay, the answer is more simple than we think.
• 10:43
  In order to bike, in order to keep moving, I need to eat a little bit more.
• 10:46
  I may need to take a little nap. I may need to rest a little more.
• 10:49
  And you kind of know what you need to do.
• 10:53
  And you have to learn on your feet all those clues and really listen to yourself
• 10:58
  and say, why is my mind playing with me at this moment? What can I do differently?
• 11:03
  It's so much, like you said, it's a complete mind trick.
• 11:08
  How was to bring the race to Brazil?
• 11:11
  How was to organize? I know you put so much into it. I've been to quite a few
• 11:15
  races and I see how much it means to you and your organization for me was stellar.
• 11:21
  Tell me about your experience. Let's start. I'm a mechanical engineer and then
• 11:25
  I have this engineer part of me, very strong.
• 11:29
  And then I like this organization or structure thing. And most of the time,
• 11:34
  my organization, I organize by feeling.
• 11:36
  Because right now I'm working in a very big construction company in the supply chain branch.
• 11:43
  And then logistics and all this stuff is part of my daily job.
• 11:48
  And to put some of this experience together with my bicycle addicted side together, that's why I became.
• 11:59
  And with the experience of BikeMan, because BikeMan right now,
• 12:04
  they have more than 40 events.
• 12:07
  Then for sure, I'm relying on this experience here. And with my experience here,
• 12:12
  they are improving theirs.
• 12:13
  This is the only race that is not organized by Bikeman itself.
• 12:19
  I'm pretty proud to be the only race director outside of the Bikeman organization in France.
• 12:26
  I gained their trust because of my experience here.
• 12:31
  And I, you know, in Brazil, because no one is used to do something like this,
• 12:39
  and then there is no difference.
• 12:41
  I had to create everything by scratch. here.
• 12:45
  But it's not huge. The first edition, it was, you know, 70, the second,
• 12:50
  the third, and now we have 100.
• 12:52
  And probably we have to fix or to have a limitation of the registration next
• 12:58
  year. Hope so. Let's see.
• 13:00
  It's nice to not keep it, to grow it too fast in a way because it helps you to learn and grow.
• 13:07
  And what are we doing? What else do we need to do?
• 13:11
  What can we do better? What can we do less of? So it does help to start in that way.
• 13:17
  Was that overwhelming at all to start? The first year we had to be.
• 13:23
  More reduced on the features of the event because of the 2021 is still under some restrictions.
• 13:31
  Yeah, we had to... For the pandemic. Yeah, but at the time, it wasn't bad over
• 13:37
  here in Brazil, but we still had some points, but it was okay.
• 13:43
  But much more tight to the organization.
• 13:47
  And then the next year, we had much more coverage. And as you said,
• 13:54
  each year we grew, keep growing, keep growing.
• 13:58
  And this year I have a very, very good partnership with Alice that boosts the media coverage.
• 14:05
  She managed flawlessly the media aspect of the event.
• 14:10
  Then we had Brazil is a different story about social media, completely different story.
• 14:17
  Tell me about this. You have no idea. Yeah. When you look for the Instagram
• 14:21
  numbers or the access of the dot watching, it's unbelievable.
• 14:26
  We had more than 250,000 views on the dot watching page in five days.
• 14:34
  It's a world record. I don't think TCR has something like that.
• 14:38
  Not comparing, but this is Brazil. Yeah, the transcontinental is huge.
• 14:43
  Yeah, but this is Brazil. So this is Brazil. Brazil is anything that you do
• 14:48
  in the media, online media, is a boom.
• 14:52
  And look, I had for the, during the arrival of the first one,
• 14:57
  we have three lives parallel on Instagram.
• 15:02
  I think some more than 3,000 viewers.
• 15:05
  It was midday, workday. And people are connected, looking, trying to see the first one.
• 15:14
  When you think about the yeah when you think about this and everybody's watching
• 15:19
  for the bad for the good we can talk about the bad but,
• 15:22
  For both, it's huge. And then this is something that we are improving for the
• 15:29
  European versions because Europeans, they are not connected like us.
• 15:34
  They consume much more structured content, beautiful pictures.
• 15:39
  Over here, they're like organic.
• 15:41
  If you have something that is generated in your phone, put in a story.
• 15:45
  The people will look for it. If you look for the stories on Instagram.
• 15:50
  It's unbelievable how many we have.
• 15:52
  But because people like to consume the entire race, entire, and they're looking
• 16:00
  for the riders to see their own stories.
• 16:03
  I think the most different aspect for the race here in Brazil is not about the race itself.
• 16:11
  It's about the connectivity or the, not connectivity itself,
• 16:15
  but it's the people like to see.
• 16:18
  I don't know why. They want to engage in the whole experience with you.
• 16:21
  I think when they engage, they can feel a little bit of our feeling.
• 16:26
  They can live a little bit. If they cannot go or if they're not willing to participate
• 16:32
  or not ready, they are living it and motivating to be there maybe next year or never.
• 16:39
  But it's, whoa, they're feeling the same as you. And that motivation,
• 16:44
  knowing that that's how the viewers in Brazil respond, can only motivate the
• 16:50
  participants each year.
• 16:52
  Yeah. I'm assuming because you're having so much support in that way.
• 16:57
  Yeah, I'm still trying to learn how to convert. Convert this engagement as registrations.
• 17:06
  Correct. One thing is you are willing to go, but when you see the challenge
• 17:11
  to be there, as I said, not the physical one, because most of the people focus
• 17:16
  on the physical. It's important.
• 17:18
  But they care about some small things, about personal care, something about
• 17:25
  the bag, something about the gears. years.
• 17:28
  Juliana followed the discussions about the equipment itself that we did because
• 17:33
  I don't want anyone to come here without the wrong equipment because it would be a fail. Yep.
• 17:40
  For sure, because, you know, over here we don't have the roads,
• 17:46
  it's not bad, but we don't care about the steep.
• 17:50
  The government doesn't care. If a mule or a fusca, a beetle can climb.
• 17:56
  I don't care. It's 20, 25, 30% for two kilometers. We have roads like this anywhere.
• 18:04
  And that is just, I think, is... It was insane. I mean, I've seen climbs in 1,000 kilometer races.
• 18:10
  There are 20, 30, 40 kilometers climb, but gradual.
• 18:15
  But Brazil, it's next level.
• 18:17
  Yes. I think Cunha, which is, I think, the first big climb, is 16 kilometers of a wall.
• 18:27
  Yeah. I don't know what's the lowest grade. Yeah. 11% average. 11% average.
• 18:34
  But, yeah, average. I think it's one of the hardest in the world, the paved one. Yeah.
• 18:40
  Yeah, but no one knows. Because no one, even the Brazilians,
• 18:43
  they don't know the climb.
• 18:44
  Is that one of the first climbs starting out of the gate? It's one of the first climbs starting out.
• 18:49
  It's around 400 plus kilometers. Oh, okay. You are warmed up.
• 18:53
  Yeah. You are warmed up by that.
• 18:56
  I'll say. Yeah. Yeah. And then.
• 18:59
  Yeah. But the idea of the route is to show the difference of Brazil.
• 19:04
  That's my plan when I designed the route. You start at, you know, 1500 meters.
• 19:10
  You go to the sea, to the sea level, zero. Climb.
• 19:14
  Long climbs. Short ones. steep, different type of mountains.
• 19:19
  We cross three chains of mountains here.
• 19:23
  We have the sea, the Atlantique mountain. We have the Mantiqueira,
• 19:26
  which is older than the Andes.
• 19:29
  That's why it's lower than the Andes, but it's much older.
• 19:33
  And you go up, go down, go up, go down, go to the other side and come back.
• 19:38
  And you reach almost 2,500 meters of altitude. No one knows about what we have.
• 19:45
  It's possible to reach 2,500 meters in Brazil? Yes.
• 19:49
  And it's not hard to get there. It's pretty close to Rio de Janeiro,
• 19:53
  for example. It's between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
• 19:55
  And the route itself is between one of the two biggest cities in South America,
• 20:01
  Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
• 20:02
  And some places are untouched areas.
• 20:06
  Still, national parks.
• 20:10
  It's beautiful. That's the idea, is to show a little bit of everything that we have in Brazil.
• 20:17
  Over here, we train as a cyclist in highways. We ride on highways during the race.
• 20:23
  It's dangerous.
• 20:25
  That's the way we trained. It's the way we ride. That's the way it is here.
• 20:30
  It's dangerous for us. It's part of the sport.
• 20:32
  Yeah, it's part of... Are you the one personally designing the route?
• 20:35
  Do you have a team that helps you design the route? And is it just you?
• 20:39
  Just me. Why? Because as a race director, I want to know exactly each corner.
• 20:46
  Okay. I can explain. If you have anything, someone, for example,
• 20:51
  someone sent me a picture yesterday about drafting.
• 20:55
  You know, drafting is allowed just for the start of the race.
• 20:59
  Because I was telling Juliana, if you cannot control why put roads,
• 21:05
  if it's not possible, then during the start, a bunch start like 100,
• 21:10
  it's not possible to control drafting.
• 21:13
  And then I have 100 kilometers allowed to draft.
• 21:17
  And then someone sent a picture, look at this picture. The people are drafting
• 21:20
  close to Paraty, it's 400 kilometers.
• 21:24
  And I, no, no, no. This is 50 kilometers in that place, because I know each
• 21:29
  part of the race by heart.
• 21:31
  And then this is pretty important for the race director, because if you have
• 21:34
  any issue, you can find a way to get there.
• 21:38
  And people keep asking me, oh, you have to move your race to any other part in Brazil.
• 21:44
  It's complex, because I don't know there. I don't know the details of the region.
• 21:48
  I don't know the best ways to get fast, because if you have some issue,
• 21:52
  you have to be there fast. Then you need to understand what is the best road
• 21:57
  for the car to reach that place.
• 21:59
  Or to, you know, you have the riders spread across the race for 500 kilometers.
• 22:09
  We have someone that won the race, we have a finisher that arrived 500 kilometers
• 22:14
  later. If you think about that.
• 22:17
  Right. It's tough logistics.
• 22:20
  Yeah. Completely. As a Brazilian, I would love to have more people coming internationally
• 22:24
  to this race because everything that we said, it's so beautiful,
• 22:31
  it's so diverse, but I also feel like.
• 22:35
  The Brazilian camaraderie is different. People are so welcoming.
• 22:40
  It's such a different vibe that you need to go there to experience.
• 22:45
  And even the organization had such a many touches that are so special.
• 22:51
  Like I think it was a checkpoint three. It did kind of like those.
• 22:56
  A checkpoint two. Checkpoint two. They're like messages. They had little messages
• 23:01
  you could pick from a jar and read a message.
• 23:05
  Randomly, so there's a lot of touches. And this is not, I didn't ask.
• 23:14
  This came from, especially for the volunteers there. I didn't ask.
• 23:18
  And it happened in each CP.
• 23:21
  They have their own mood.
• 23:24
  For example, the CP1, Renata is the manager for the past four years.
• 23:30
  It's unbelievable. The reception. You saw, Juliana, over there.
• 23:33
  Yes, unbelievable. Unbelievable.
• 23:34
  Immediately, what do you need? Sit down, get your food. Here's a bedroom for you to rest.
• 23:39
  I'm like, wow, this is luxury. But this is not an organization.
• 23:44
  This is their life to do it. But this is the Brazilian way.
• 23:48
  Same for CP2. The same for CP3.
• 23:51
  CP3, we have just a place for the control.
• 23:54
  We have some fruits or some biscuits just for comfortable food.
• 23:59
  Because someone arrived there in desperation at 3 a.m. I don't want anyone starving to die.
• 24:07
  That's why. It's just a simple thing. But the volunteers discussed with the bar owner.
• 24:13
  They had a gym for gymnastics there.
• 24:18
  And during the night, they have a place for people to sleep.
• 24:24
  Because they're, okay, what can we do to give some comfort for some of them?
• 24:28
  Okay. But it's not for official organization.
• 24:32
  This is, I think, there is something important from here. The unofficial part,
• 24:36
  the people, it's not just for one. It's for everybody.
• 24:40
  And then it's just caring for people in general. I came from the community,
• 24:44
  the local community, that suggests, oh, I have a place. They can sleep there. No problem.
• 24:49
  I have my home there. They need to get a shower.
• 24:54
  Okay, pay some, and then they can take a shower.
• 24:58
  Yeah, I'm a mechanic. Stop at my house anytime. I'll be here 24 hours for anyone that has a problem.
• 25:03
  Yeah. In a resilient way. You know, they're making money, but it's not just about the money.
• 25:09
  They want people to move further. They want people to finish.
• 25:14
  They understand that it's okay if I give this help.
• 25:18
  It's not mandatory. There is not organized by the race itself, but they will finish.
• 25:26
  And they feel happy if the people they supported finish. I think this is the Brazilian way to...
• 25:34
  Playing a small part in something. Yeah, yeah. And as a whole,
• 25:38
  small part is a big difference.
• 25:40
  We cannot make a mistake that this is support.
• 25:44
  Because this is available for everyone and this is not organized. it. It's organic.
• 25:51
  It's there. It's not prepared. It's still self-supported. It's volunteering and just giving.
• 25:59
  To the actual participants. Yeah, that's it.
• 26:03
  That's it. And I'm happy because the people feel the race and every time,
• 26:08
  oh, we will come next year.
• 26:11
  When will be? I never tell.
• 26:14
  I never told them.
• 26:17
  No, it's fine. But it's now, but no one told us. I will not tell.
• 26:24
  Oh, wow. it's just because I've seen a lot of rules come up now with other events
• 26:29
  and a lot of bylines that kind of come up as to like, what is support? What is not allowed?
• 26:36
  What is allowed? What can you and can't you do?
• 26:39
  In other races, is that frowned upon to even have outside support in that way
• 26:46
  from volunteers? You can't accept it. How does that work?
• 26:49
  No, no, we can. Over here, yes, you Yes, you can. It's different from other ones.
• 26:54
  I think the problem is if you order in advance in a specific way,
• 27:00
  what I say, for example, anyone can book a hotel in advance.
• 27:05
  Anyone. I cannot control that. It's digital. Take a phone and call.
• 27:10
  The route is shared in advance.
• 27:14
  It's there. They can do everything they want.
• 27:17
  Want but the rule is should be
• 27:20
  available for everyone doesn't matter
• 27:23
  if there's a hotel is a public is a is a corporate phone
• 27:27
  call it do your reservations if you
• 27:29
  did no one did before it was there
• 27:32
  okay i have to we have to leave our our digital society where it's available
• 27:38
  you can call you can send a whatsapp and do your booking okay i think that's
• 27:44
  the point my concern is If you are sending something specific for you,
• 27:50
  or if you have something that is not publicly available.
• 27:55
  For example, Airbnb is publicly available. Anyone can book using Airbnb, book any, or whatever.
• 28:04
  That, I think, is something that we are doing. I'm not disagreeing with other
• 28:09
  races. I'm just telling what we are doing here.
• 28:12
  It can be very technical there, like Juliana said. with the logistics of things,
• 28:16
  with dot watching and everything.
• 28:18
  There's only so much you can control.
• 28:22
  You can hope that everybody is participating within the rules.
• 28:26
  Always the onus is from the cyclist. If I don't know, the onus is from the cyclist side.
• 28:35
  I explained very clear. If you have something, tell the organization immediately.
• 28:40
  Send a message or call us. because if I know, if someone asks me,
• 28:45
  no, he did that, it's okay, it's under the rules, I'm aware. Move on.
• 28:52
  Because if someone, as I said, the social media is a killing machine.
• 28:57
  And someone starts to put something, something, something, and then grow big.
• 29:02
  And then I thought, I have to have one penalty or something for the rider because
• 29:09
  he did commit to the rules.
• 29:11
  But he told me before, that's fine. I'm aware.
• 29:16
  I can take the, we can correct the path of this.
• 29:20
  Because, you know, to follow the rule, the route is difficult.
• 29:24
  Many, many mistakes. fake and someone did
• 29:27
  a wrong correction and then i discuss okay so
• 29:31
  most of the time there is no need for any
• 29:34
  any penalty because the the route that
• 29:37
  that the rider took is much worse
• 29:40
  than or much longer i
• 29:43
  don't need to punish anyone because they already punished
• 29:46
  exactly they got punished themselves that's
• 29:51
  fine there there is a form of communication throughout it's
• 29:54
  it's up to the rider to to use that form of communication
• 29:57
  to let you know what's going on so is there
• 30:00
  with this there how do they
• 30:03
  do this is there a number a whatsapp that is what's up yeah okay and that goes
• 30:09
  directly to the race to you okay all right yeah so vini you are a huge women
• 30:17
  supporter we know that and this year you did something different that was really cool,
• 30:22
  which was give every woman 50% off to enter and be part of the race.
• 30:27
  So I haven't even seen that done anywhere to any type of race,
• 30:31
  not even ultras, beyond ultras.
• 30:34
  So that's really cool. Tell us a little bit more about how you envision trying
• 30:39
  to get more women into the race.
• 30:42
  You know, I think the participation for women is not about if they are not prepared or not.
• 30:48
  It's about the amount of women cycling. Right.
• 30:51
  If I want to have more women riding 1,000 kilometers, I need women riding 20,
• 30:57
  50, 100, being part of those events.
• 31:00
  Not just for sport or for health, but it's for participating in the other type
• 31:08
  of race, mountain biking, gravel, whatever.
• 31:10
  And then to speed up this is tricky.
• 31:14
  What can I do as a race organizer? I can give more information. That's not hard.
• 31:21
  I can promote training camps that we did to give more preparation and to be
• 31:28
  more comfortable to be there.
• 31:31
  And third, maybe a financial incentive with the 50%. Yeah, that's something that I can do.
• 31:38
  But I know that the registration is the only small amount of investment that
• 31:44
  you have to do to be part of this race.
• 31:45
  But it's something that I can do. And I think the most important of all.
• 31:50
  Give the same conditions for every person.
• 31:53
  It doesn't matter if it's man or woman. I don't want any advantage for anyone,
• 31:59
  especially woman, especially woman.
• 32:02
  That I think is what we are looking for is the same condition for everyone.
• 32:07
  And the race, we have the same condition for everyone. It doesn't matter if it's man or woman.
• 32:12
  And that's what I'm doing. And I believe on that. I cannot, I will not start
• 32:18
  organizing, you know, events for 100. I don't have time.
• 32:21
  And if I had time, I would start organizing something shorter,
• 32:25
  only for women, for them to get comfortable, get experience and move on. Because it's a need.
• 32:32
  Music.
• 32:37
  Pyramid is just the peak. And if I have to the base of the pyramid I have to find ways to grow that.
• 32:47
  And I believe when I have women, especially on a machistic society and the men
• 32:54
  think they are better they say, okay, well, if a woman can do I had to do it.
• 33:00
  If I have more women, the men vote.
• 33:03
  I don't like this thinking, but the The men usually think, if a woman can do
• 33:09
  it, but the woman is much better than the man.
• 33:12
  It's much better. The mental is much better. Oh, pretty sure.
• 33:16
  For endurance export, the physiologist is much better than men.
• 33:24
  I agree. You can give birth. There's nothing more harder than this for the body.
• 33:31
  The man is not even close to the same pain. pain can feel the same level of
• 33:37
  pain for a woman. It's enduring. Yeah.
• 33:40
  It has to do with the endurance too. I know Juliana mentioned several times
• 33:45
  when I asked her about, Hey, I want to get into some basic bike packing and
• 33:51
  learning about going the distance.
• 33:53
  What, what do you suggest I start with and how to ride and when to do a longer ride?
• 33:59
  It was all about, you need to be able to stay on the bike. Yeah.
• 34:04
  It's the endurance, but you need to be able to stay on the bike.
• 34:08
  Your body needs to be able to handle the bike, being on the bike for a very long amount of time.
• 34:15
  And like you said, for women, for some reason, we can endure these things.
• 34:21
  There's something in us that is like, okay, let's slow down.
• 34:24
  But this way we can stay on the bike longer rather than pushing ourselves too
• 34:29
  When you hear a woman can do something like that,
• 34:32
  rather than it being like the man's take of, oh, I got to do that.
• 34:37
  Like, I got to top that. For us, it's like, oh my God, I could do that too, in a different way.
• 34:46
  It gives us ability and self-worth beyond that.
• 34:51
  And that's all in the brain. I think you in a point where it's important to
• 34:57
  speak that it's the equality, you know, we all be fighting to be equals.
• 35:02
  And I think it's great that you don't want to give differential treatment from women to men.
• 35:07
  I know this race, there was a lot of talk about that. And I want to touch on that.
• 35:12
  But I also want to touch on the highlights as well. You know,
• 35:15
  you had a record finisher this year, which amazing for the course it is.
• 35:22
  But before delving into that, I just want to circle back to the women point
• 35:25
  that I think you are an example of a race director.
• 35:28
  And hopefully a lot of race directors take notes from you because I don't think
• 35:32
  it's anyone that takes their time to do training camps.
• 35:36
  And you even had virtual meetings on teaching the girls navigating the map to
• 35:43
  be part of the race. So kudos to you and hopefully other race directors also
• 35:47
  do that, not just to women, but to first-timers.
• 35:50
  I agree. It brings more people into the sport itself.
• 35:54
  Yeah. I don't want anyone to lose time because they don't know how to deal with the equipment.
• 35:59
  Because, you know, the knowledge is there. If I learn it or if I'm first learner,
• 36:06
  as I said, I'm an engineer, I'm a nerd of this. I love it.
• 36:10
  Why not to share a little bit of this? Because then the equipment will not be a problem.
• 36:19
  They can solve issues. They will be much more comfortable and more confident.
• 36:23
  If you know how to manage your GPS, you know how to manage your bags or to assemble
• 36:28
  your stuff, you don't have to use your mind or part of your mind to think about it.
• 36:36
  And then you use your mind to think about other stuff because you have a lot during the race.
• 36:41
  And that's the point. If it's possible, if I can share, I will share.
• 36:45
  If I have to spend more time to have more finishers, I will have.
• 36:49
  Because for me, I have two indicators of the race. First, the starters.
• 36:53
  I honor the starters. Because if you are there, The journey to start a race like that is huge.
• 37:01
  Vacation, family, financial, equipment, and all the things that surround to be there.
• 37:08
  To be a finisher is a consequence. Sometimes lucky, sometimes preparation.
• 37:12
  Lucky is a huge, huge aspect of this one.
• 37:16
  And we had 77 finishers this year in 99. If you look for every easy race around
• 37:25
  the world, it's pretty huge.
• 37:27
  The 555 in the last year, we are always getting 75% of finishers. Why?
• 37:33
  Preparation. Sharing information, sharing content. And it's not supporting during the race.
• 37:39
  And I'm pretty proud of the Brazilians because they are getting good on this.
• 37:45
  And think about the trampoline. if they finish by command they feel comfortable
• 37:50
  to go to the many many of the finishers this year is looking for races outside
• 37:55
  of Brazil and that's good for the other other organizers as well because I,
• 38:00
  sending let's think about it i'm sending good riders
• 38:03
  they don't have to to think about oh
• 38:06
  those those foreigners always a pain in the
• 38:09
  you know no you're giving them the preparation
• 38:12
  they need yeah yeah to move forward growing the community
• 38:15
  yeah correct community and they most of the people now
• 38:17
  i don't have anymore to be alone preparing the
• 38:21
  orders now i have the community preparing pairing themselves
• 38:24
  they set up meeting shops
• 38:27
  in bike shops to tell the story to teach
• 38:30
  i don't have to do that all the time anymore and
• 38:33
  then that's the good thing and sometimes more races like this across the country
• 38:37
  you know we are 200 million people a country the size of europe there is there
• 38:44
  is space for more with responsibility but there is and then i'm No.
• 38:51
  I'm looking for next year, coming two, three years, we will have another one.
• 38:55
  I don't know, 4,000, even bigger, but we will have. I have to accept that.
• 39:00
  Tell us about the highs and lows of this year. The highs and lows. The highs, the weather.
• 39:08
  Wonderful. You know, the people know me about the rainy men.
• 39:17
  If I'm in that place, they will rain. And then I told them, no,
• 39:21
  no, no. I've been in Transcotileiras, didn't rain.
• 39:24
  This year didn't rain. It's not with me. But the rain is challenging because
• 39:31
  we have a tropical rain. It's not just wet.
• 39:35
  In Acrozandes last year, it was just wet. No.
• 39:38
  The wet is fine. It's comfortable. But the tropical rain destroyed the gear.
• 39:45
  Destroyed. Destroyed the bicycle.
• 39:46
  And destroy your mood all the time
• 39:49
  because you are wet, the gears are not switching, not changing anymore.
• 39:55
  This is the high, I think, because when you wake up, it's not raining.
• 40:00
  It doesn't matter if it's late or not, you can move on.
• 40:06
  But we have the heat.
• 40:08
  But we live in a hot country, we can manage.
• 40:13
  But the the laws is about the
• 40:16
  the rescues we had yeah we have
• 40:19
  10 people in the hospitals because of the heat the
• 40:23
  hydration the hydration and then they not they
• 40:26
  stop eating because the stomach became sick you know the dehydration the heat
• 40:31
  stroke we had a rider hit by a car in the in the last six kilometers a drunk
• 40:39
  one anywhere in the world you can have drunk rider drunk drivers. And then we had,
• 40:45
  But the rider, it was fine.
• 40:49
  We arrived there with our car in less than 10 minutes.
• 40:52
  And they called the rescue center, the rescue service. And in five minutes,
• 40:57
  had an ambulance, went to the hospital, nothing.
• 41:00
  So good to hear that. Just a bruise on the shoulder.
• 41:04
  But he is a finisher. I will not get this out of him. He's a finisher.
• 41:11
  We did a proper celebration to him.
• 41:15
  Because he deserved it. Six weeks, six kilometers.
• 41:18
  Six kilometers to the finish, come on. No one can... Out of his control.
• 41:24
  Totally. And six kilometers? No, no, no. He did everything by the book.
• 41:28
  No, I cannot deny this right.
• 41:32
  He's a finisher. And we had an aggression of a woman. That is the low, low of the entire event.
• 41:39
  And this is my concern as a race director. director, the entire series since happened.
• 41:47
  It's not because it's Brazil. Many, many will think about that it's Brazil.
• 41:51
  And we had to talk about it because no one is talking about it.
• 41:55
  We discussed it in a way to protect the rider, the Thais, the female woman.
• 42:04
  She is very engaged Aged with the race, did it last year, went to our training camp. She was prepared.
• 42:12
  Yeah. And a crazy, a random crazy guy hit her. I don't know why.
• 42:19
  I don't know if it was to steal something or even worse.
• 42:25
  I don't know. We don't know. I was lucky and smart, oh, smart,
• 42:30
  to have a ginger spray and get out of him. and call me, call the organization.
• 42:38
  And when, in a record time, we were there asking her with an ambulance,
• 42:43
  with a car, and the result was just a pain in the head because the guy hit her in the head.
• 42:52
  But, you know, the psychological side is still there.
• 42:56
  It's not so easy for you to get, okay, you're now one week later,
• 43:00
  you are feeling fine. No, you're not feeling fine.
• 43:03
  You have your mind. There may be the physical aspect, but the mental aspect
• 43:08
  of what happens during that stays with you.
• 43:11
  And you don't feel that sometimes till after the effects have worn off.
• 43:17
  Yeah, we are now working to push the authorities to do something.
• 43:21
  Because the region, they're the same route for the Let Up Brazil.
• 43:27
  You know, the Let Up Tour, they are franchised, they have races across the world.
• 43:32
  And did the same route of the letup. It's safe. It's quiet.
• 43:37
  And the crazy guy were there and did this crazy stuff.
• 43:42
  What is happening, right? As I said, we're pushing the authorities to do something
• 43:45
  because this is not connected to the race.
• 43:48
  Could be anyone there. Even a woman walking at the late night going home.
• 43:55
  And then this guy just will be a bad time in a bad place. Right.
• 43:59
  Wrong place, wrong time. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
• 44:02
  Yeah. But I suffer. I'll be honest. I suffer. I wasn't feeling good during the
• 44:08
  celebration. Celebration.
• 44:10
  I missed so many things during the celebration because I wasn't comfort. I wasn't comfort.
• 44:15
  Yeah, that is because I feel, I feel her. I feel Thais. I feel the situation.
• 44:21
  And we discussed a lot how to vocalize that.
• 44:26
  Because anything that I will, could be against me.
• 44:30
  If you tell something, the social media will be against me. If I don't tell
• 44:34
  the social media, but it's not about social media. I care about her and I care about the law.
• 44:40
  If I say something that is not correct, if I say that is a homicide,
• 44:46
  a tentative homicide or raping, I don't know.
• 44:52
  Only the authorities can say that. Can classify exactly what it was.
• 44:57
  You can only speculate and say so much as if there may have been, there was an assault.
• 45:03
  You can't even say that. Yeah, you have to say there was an incident.
• 45:07
  I only say that there is an incident, not a crime. Many people know this is a crime.
• 45:12
  Okay, you are a lawyer. You can say. I'm an engineer. I cannot say.
• 45:16
  I just want to make sure that hopefully this does not discourage anyone from
• 45:21
  racing, especially women, because this is not a race issue. This is not a country issue.
• 45:28
  This is just there are crazy and bad people everywhere. And this can happen at any time, anywhere.
• 45:35
  And I don't think it was Brazil. I want to say that most of what people see
• 45:40
  in the news about Brazil, it's in the big cities and a little bit hyped up.
• 45:48
  But where the race is, it's rural, remote areas, beautiful areas.
• 45:54
  And I think it was just as safe as anywhere else.
• 45:58
  This is an unfortunate event with someone that we don't know the intentions.
• 46:02
  It's not someone that said, give me your bike or anything like that.
• 46:05
  So we don't know what the intentions of this person.
• 46:07
  But Brazil is a beautiful destination. And this is a great race to be part of
• 46:12
  as any other ultra. I know this happens in Europe as well and other locations. I raced in Africa.
• 46:20
  So you are a woman alone riding your bike, or even if you're just a woman alone
• 46:27
  anywhere, you can be a victim of this type of craziness or bad intentions.
• 46:32
  We have to review our society.
• 46:34
  We still have to discuss this because it's a society issue. When I think about
• 46:39
  other countries, even, you know, the developed ones, they have the same issue there, the harassment.
• 46:46
  And this one, as I said, I don't know what is the intention of the guy,
• 46:52
  but he did a bad thing. He needs to pay off this.
• 46:55
  I think what we have to now look to get this, oh, authorities,
• 47:01
  take a look. And then I spoke for a woman that came from that place that called me.
• 47:06
  Oh, this is not where I live, where I grew up.
• 47:10
  I want this guy in a jail because the people, the region is a tourist place
• 47:15
  and everybody will listen about that.
• 47:17
  They will stop coming here. The economy maybe will get some impact.
• 47:21
  They need to take precautions, you know. No, that's one event can affect so
• 47:27
  many other things and it can snowball into so many other bigger issues.
• 47:31
  Like you said, tourism, safety overall, because I'm just a crazy guy.
• 47:37
  It's not the region itself.
• 47:38
  It's just an isolated incident.
• 47:41
  Yeah, but I think I'm rethinking many of the aspects of the race,
• 47:46
  especially our our safety procedures.
• 47:50
  Procedures every incident that we had during the race we were very fast in be
• 47:55
  there even faster than the authorities they call it the authority for example
• 47:59
  the ambulance we arrived first.
• 48:01
  But it's, you know, it's self-sufficient, but we are looking for everyone during the race.
• 48:07
  But now I have to maybe think about double precautions.
• 48:12
  For example, for a woman, maybe double trackers. If one fails, I have another.
• 48:17
  But one thing that I will not change, the race is self-supported, equal for men and women.
• 48:25
  I will not put a motorcycle aside of a woman. I will not. If I have to do it, no race.
• 48:32
  Because I believe if I have to reshape the route to be more safe or out of the cities, I will do.
• 48:40
  But I will not change the basic rules of the ultra cycling self-supported.
• 48:45
  I believe. I agree. As a woman, I want to have the same conditions as a guy.
• 48:50
  It's true. I will not change the condition for one. Maybe I spoke with Juliana.
• 48:55
  Dana, maybe to do the start of the woman's before, four or five hours,
• 49:00
  because when they enter the night, the fast man will reach the mid-speed woman.
• 49:05
  And we will always have the slow man behind the slow woman.
• 49:12
  And then we'll have more men crossing, but not talking about men,
• 49:17
  people crossing each other.
• 49:19
  Right. Pairs, mixed pairs, woman pairs. And then we'll be, you know, that's the idea.
• 49:25
  It's kind of a safety in numbers in a certain sense.
• 49:28
  You're all looking after each other in that way.
• 49:31
  Yeah. There's somebody around me.
• 49:34
  100%. I think that's just a security feeling.
• 49:38
  To think about how to spread better the people during the race.
• 49:45
  Maybe doing that because I have, not because men are faster or men is,
• 49:49
  it's not this discussion. But much more men spread more if I have woman in front,
• 49:56
  men will reach and we have more men behind.
• 50:00
  That's the point. I think that's brilliant. It's not because of the faster or
• 50:03
  slower. Because the slow man is lower than the slow woman.
• 50:07
  It will be almost the same speed, but it's behind. And then we stop for refueling,
• 50:13
  to sleep. You always have someone behind.
• 50:16
  Yeah. And then that's the one way without changing the rules.
• 50:21
  You're not looking over an advantage.
• 50:24
  You're looking over a mindful way to do this. Yeah. But it benefits everybody as well.
• 50:31
  It's not singling anybody out, like you said, overall.
• 50:35
  Yeah, there's always room for improvement, but no room to change the basic rule of self-supporting.
• 50:41
  No, but when something like this does happen or we realize that women are being
• 50:48
  targeted a little bit more overall, if we do start to see this happening more and more,
• 50:54
  then it is smart on,
• 50:58
  behalf of a race director like yourself or any other race to look into that,
• 51:03
  to find other ways to do things, not just stay in an old mindset of we just
• 51:08
  have to do it this way. It is what it is, and they take the risk.
• 51:12
  It is your job to assess those risks.
• 51:17
  And even if it's self-supported, we're not looking to hurt anybody.
• 51:21
  So obviously we all want everybody within those regions to have a good experience overall.
• 51:29
  I mean, there's going to be, there's danger as well.
• 51:32
  Like you You said there's enough danger in the route itself and the weather.
• 51:38
  Over here, we have another. I can say that we have a good advantage around many other countries.
• 51:44
  Our health, our public health service, it's okay.
• 51:48
  100% of the people that went to the hospital went to the public service and
• 51:55
  was very good treated without any fee.
• 51:59
  It doesn't matter if it's Brazilian or not. We have a universal health system here.
• 52:05
  But anyone has to have a medical certificate, insurance.
• 52:11
  And it's not just insurance. It's health coverage insurance.
• 52:14
  And I have, as well as a racer, liability and health insurance to cover if the rider is not enough.
• 52:23
  But we are covered. That's not the problem. We are covered.
• 52:27
  I have my safe protocol. I have contents of each city.
• 52:30
  But I don't want to change because if I put someone in a motorcycle going up
• 52:37
  and down, the people will, how can I say that, will go further, will take risks.
• 52:46
  If something happens, they are behind me. Right there.
• 52:50
  Exactly. It's a comfort. Yeah. But if you have someone behind you,
• 52:57
  you will not take risks because someone will not rescue you. No.
• 53:00
  They're on the race themselves and they're just looking to keep going as well.
• 53:05
  Yeah. If you fall, they can look for you, can give you support,
• 53:10
  but just press the SOS button. That's what they do.
• 53:14
  They will not. if you are lucky to have a doctor we had this case one guy that
• 53:19
  was not feeling good a doctor was behind that's the better situation lucky lucky lucky one,
• 53:28
  so there are some rumors around that you might change the location,
• 53:34
  because this is the 4th edition with about the same loop so for the 5th edition
• 53:41
  I don't know if you want to give us a teaser Are you doing a new route?
• 53:46
  Completely. Yeah, completely new route next year. Why?
• 53:50
  Because we have other amazing places in Brazil, a continental country.
• 53:57
  And my wife is from that state. I traveled there many times.
• 54:03
  And the same idea is a mountain. The idea is to cross all passes of this mountain,
• 54:13
  seven passes, between 800 and 0, 800 and 0, like this.
• 54:19
  And you'll be in the south. It's different, totally different vegetation there.
• 54:24
  And it's amazing. We had this year the 555 there as a kickoff.
• 54:30
  The 555 is 555 hours of time limit.
• 54:34
  And now we will we will have why
• 54:37
  because just to move many are complete i
• 54:39
  don't want to i want to go to the different place okay
• 54:42
  let's do it let's do it and that and
• 54:46
  the different brazilian culture because it's more european one because over
• 54:50
  there is more the colonization of italy and germany is very strong and different
• 54:55
  but it's the same reception the same the volunteers you know I have my mother
• 55:00
  and father-in-law there. It's the best.
• 55:03
  It's a family affair. Yeah, it's the best counterpoint so far.
• 55:11
  And we have very good clients there as well. Very good.
• 55:16
  I like that you're keeping it fresh like that. Because you can always revisit
• 55:19
  other roots down the line and say, we're going back and doing a celebration of our roots.
• 55:25
  Yeah. And I like the idea, when you repeat, you can create challenges for record.
• 55:32
  Yeah. Sometimes, oh, I want to break, I want to push further.
• 55:37
  But if you change the entire, okay, I have to restudy. It's all new for everybody
• 55:41
  again. Yeah. The slate is clean.
• 55:44
  To have more people coming back.
• 55:47
  Right. That's the idea. More exciting as well, because it's something all new.
• 55:51
  And that's also another challenge for the mind, again. Yeah.
• 55:57
  More work. More work.
• 56:00
  Always. To do the recall, to assess the area, to create the control points.
• 56:06
  But that's the good part.
• 56:07
  The recall and the ride. You're all smiles. miles because in
• 56:10
  case we don't release this on video just to let the
• 56:13
  listeners know he's smiling so he's very
• 56:16
  excited about it everybody's through pain right
• 56:19
  he loves for sure that's why i have bike man in brazil is not a walk in the
• 56:24
  park every journey is painful in some way yeah it is it's true is there anything
• 56:32
  else that you wanted to share or bring up more in depth no i would like
• 56:39
  to invite anyone listen here to to come
• 56:42
  here or at least to to look
• 56:46
  look about brazil because i live here
• 56:49
  i i i rode in many
• 56:52
  many countries i like to ride in in other countries but i love to ride here
• 56:57
  and i i live it here and i oh i don't know nothing about my country because
• 57:04
  they still have so many places to ride over here and with potential to have
• 57:10
  something like Baikinman.
• 57:11
  But it's worth it. Worth it. Yeah, as Juliana said, we have,
• 57:16
  for example, we had the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
• 57:21
  Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful city with big problems.
• 57:27
  But the route over there, the city route for the Olympics because it's,
• 57:32
  I think, one of the most beautiful ever.
• 57:34
  I rode that circuit two or three times. I'm still impressed of how beautiful it is.
• 57:41
  That's why Brazil is impressive. The people are kind.
• 57:45
  The food is good. It's cheap.
• 57:47
  For the European and U.S. currency.
• 57:52
  And that's the point. Try. Try. Come here and try. We had a very good experience
• 57:57
  from Juliana, from Miguel, from Walid, from South Arabia.
• 58:02
  He came here and enjoyed it. Enjoyed it. He's mesmerized by the beauty of the mountains itself.
• 58:10
  Because those places are not famous.
• 58:13
  Rio de Janeiro is famous. But far from there, it's not.
• 58:17
  And there's so much more to see unexperienced.
• 58:22
  I would love to go there. I'd actually love to just be one of these volunteers.
• 58:26
  Oh, you would love to be. I think that would bring so much joy to me.
• 58:31
  We will try to go for the next edition.
• 58:34
  I haven't been to the South. So for me, there's no better way to get to know a place but on your bike.
• 58:42
  So the ultras for me are just an adventure.
• 58:44
  So I love this one and I hope we can go back to be on the south on the new route.
• 58:50
  I think it is on the hills, okay Vini?
• 58:53
  Oh yeah. No, over there is not that hilly. It's hilly, but it's not that steep. Don't torture me.
• 58:59
  No, it's not steep. No, no, it's not steep. It's yeah, no, no.
• 59:05
  Over there is not it's not oh, Mantiqueira is harder than there. Much harder.
• 59:11
  I think I think I just had something similar in Transcordilleras.
• 59:18
  Similar. It's not harder. Not yet.
• 59:21
  Yeah. As I said, they created those to carry gold during the colonization.
• 59:27
  Those roads for mules, for donkeys, it's not for cars.
• 59:31
  And then they just open up, widen up the road, and then, okay,
• 59:36
  cars, go there. But during the raining season, just Beatles and 4x4. Oh, no.
• 59:47
  For sure thankful for no rain this year. It was a little bit hot and dry,
• 59:51
  but I'll take that over the rain and mud any day.
• 59:55
  Yeah, for the South, I don't promise no rain over there. It's unpredictable.
• 1:00:01
  Preparation. There's no dry season at the South. But it's not raining the entire week.
• 1:00:08
  Can't have it all rain. With the rain, it gets more emotional.
• 1:00:12
  That's nice. That's true. For you, you love it.
• 1:00:17
  I know, smiling more. Torture. Good torture, though.
• 1:00:22
  Yeah, but thanks for the time, for the space. Yeah. Yes, it was wonderful getting to talk to you.
• 1:00:28
  No, thank you. Really seem to be the right person to organize this.
• 1:00:34
  No, thank you. No, but keep doing this job. Yeah, giving the voice for those
• 1:00:41
  who are trying to create something like this. Yeah. Thank you.
• 1:00:45
  Thank you a lot for this space.
• 1:00:47
  Thank you so much. We really appreciate you.
• 1:00:49
  Thank you, Vini. I hope we can talk again soon. Yes, please.
• 1:00:54
  Ciao. Ciao. As part of the Biking Man Brazil episode, we also would like to
• 1:01:00
  share with you a few testimonials of some of the riders.
• 1:01:03
  With us is Vinicius Castellan. He's one of the strongest riders and he finished top 10 or top 15.
• 1:01:10
  We don't have the results, official results right now, but here he is with us
• 1:01:14
  to share his experience.
• 1:01:17
  Hi Juliana, it's a pleasure to be here participating in your podcast.
• 1:01:21
  My name is Vinicius, I've participated of five Vikingman races.
• 1:01:29
  I always believed that pen is a vehicle for man's maturation.
• 1:01:35
  We are always running away from pen or seeking pleasure. And like a man,
• 1:01:40
  we can have both of these things.
• 1:01:43
  The pen of climbing a mountain with a 15% incline, followed by the pleasure
• 1:01:50
  of reaching the top and seeing a wonderful landscape.
• 1:01:54
  The pain in our muscles from a three-hour climb, followed by the pleasure of
• 1:02:00
  the wine on our face on the way down.
• 1:02:03
  The pain of hunger and thirst is rewarded by the pleasure of simple food or water for water.
• 1:02:12
  This dichotomy between pain and pleasure, which is repeated more than a hundred
• 1:02:18
  times in Viking Man raises our dopamine to astronomical levels.
• 1:02:24
  It may even seem like an addiction to those who don't cycle.
• 1:02:29
  It may even seem like sad masochism.
• 1:02:33
  But I understand it was a good addiction, which only makes us more grateful
• 1:02:39
  for the opportunity we have in being able to participate in a race like this.
• 1:02:48
  Thank you, Juliana, again for the opportunity to share a little of my experience
• 1:02:54
  of participating in a Vikingman race.
• 1:02:58
  Thank you, Vinicius, for sharing that. Beautiful words, beautifully said.
• 1:03:04
  And now Laura is joining us. She was the first female finisher.
• 1:03:09
  Congratulations on your win. Tell us about what you did differently this time.
• 1:03:14
  Last edition, you had to DNF, which is did not finish.
• 1:03:19
  And this year you went straight to champion. Tell us more.
• 1:03:24
  Hello, everyone. I'm Laura. I'm 39.
• 1:03:27
  I'm from Brazil and I'm married and mother of Maria, my gorgeous daughter.
• 1:03:33
  I attended the Bike Main Brazil in 2024. and I'm going to tell you about my
• 1:03:40
  experience in this amazing ride.
• 1:03:43
  We were lucky this year because it wasn't raining, which is very common this
• 1:03:48
  season in the place of the ride.
• 1:03:50
  But we had to struggle with the very hot weather, so we need to pay attention
• 1:03:55
  in hydration and also ratios.
• 1:04:00
  My first contact with this ride was last year, in 2023.
• 1:04:06
  And I gave up at the kilometer 570 because of the awful rushes I had.
• 1:04:16
  So this was a great challenge for me this year.
• 1:04:20
  So for this year, I did a better preparation about bike trainings,
• 1:04:25
  workout and properly diet, all to achieve my best shape.
• 1:04:30
  And it made a huge difference for me. I had a better performance than I expected to have.
• 1:04:37
  And it made me feel more confident. And I could enjoy the journey and the beautiful
• 1:04:42
  views and enjoy other riders to talk about life and made new friends.
• 1:04:49
  And the hardest moment for me was when I needed to decide to be a champion or not.
• 1:04:56
  So I decided to be. And in that moment, I needed to keep riding for 25 hours without sleeping.
• 1:05:04
  It was very hard, but amazing as well, because I was with my close friends.
• 1:05:10
  So we needed to ride all night.
• 1:05:15
  And it was an epic journey for us. Because winning Bikeman Brazil was the most
• 1:05:21
  incredible thing I have ever done in my life.
• 1:05:25
  I wish all people could find themselves by doing something that makes them happy as I am today.
• 1:05:33
  Thanks, Laura, and congratulations again. Next, we spoke with Lily.
• 1:05:38
  She had a lot of problems navigating, took a wrong turn, had to come back.
• 1:05:42
  But nonetheless, she finished and took third place.
• 1:05:47
  Tell us a little bit about your journey. My strategy was to cycle every day
• 1:05:51
  until around 2 in the morning.
• 1:05:53
  Then I would stop at an inn, take a shower and sleep until my usual wake-up time, which is 5.30 a.m.
• 1:06:01
  And I would start the route again around 6.30 a.m.
• 1:06:04
  So I kind of treated my body as if it had slept through the night.
• 1:06:10
  I only had problems when I broke this rule on the third night.
• 1:06:13
  I stopped at 7.30pm and set off at 2 in the morning.
• 1:06:19
  Along the way, I ended up taking the wrong route and my garment froze.
• 1:06:24
  Even though I was on the wrong path, it was saying that I was right,
• 1:06:28
  and I kept going until I reached the top of a tough mountain.
• 1:06:33
  When I realized I had climbed the wrong mountain, I had to go back to the point
• 1:06:38
  where I had taken the wrong turn to restart on the correct route,
• 1:06:44
  which was only possible by 8.30am,
• 1:06:48
  so I lost a lot of hours with this problem.
• 1:06:53
  Thank you, Lili. Your perseverance is really inspiring to us all.
• 1:06:59
  Now we have an exceptional testimonial from Léo Pedalando Pelo Mundo,
• 1:07:06
  which translates to Léo riding around the world.
• 1:07:09
  His testimonial is in Portuguese, and I will try to translate it a little bit for you.
• 1:07:16
  Léo has done all the BikingMan Brazil editions,
• 1:07:20
  and he talks to us about how this was so special because he's always on his
• 1:07:28
  bike doing a lot of big events like Crossing America, Alaska to Chile.
• 1:07:33
  And this time he was well-rested, and the weather also collaborated,
• 1:07:37
  and it was great, not just because of the weather, but because he didn't have to pack heavy clothes,
• 1:07:44
  and he went lighter and he was able to finish on his best time ever in 75 hours
• 1:07:50
  and mainly was very gratifying to meet new people and see old friends.
• 1:07:56
  He hoped to meet us in other events and see new people, new food and new views.
• 1:08:01
  So here is Léo's testimonial for you.
• 1:08:05
  Hey Ju, how are you, dear? Léo here. is talking.
• 1:08:09
  Well, I'm going to report here for you my experience in this 2024 edition of Bikeman.
• 1:08:17
  I did all the editions, the four editions here in Brazil, and this edition of
• 1:08:23
  2024 was special, even though I had already had contact with the other three
• 1:08:28
  before, I already knew the route and everything else,
• 1:08:31
  but this was special for the following reason, all the other editions I was
• 1:08:37
  coming from a great crossroad,
• 1:08:38
  so I was never 100%, and in this edition was the edition that I was most tired,
• 1:08:44
  I had participated in the Race Across America in the middle of the year,
• 1:08:49
  but I already had a lot of time to rest.
• 1:08:52
  And it was also an edition that I was very... Due to the time not having a forecast
• 1:08:58
  of rain, I didn't take so many clothes for the cold.
• 1:09:02
  So I didn't need to take so many bags. The bag from the canote there was not necessary to take.
• 1:09:09
  So it was also an edition that I used the hydration bag. I don't have the habit
• 1:09:14
  of doing this and I started using it.
• 1:09:17
  And what else? My relationship with the bike too, the first time I did the bikeman
• 1:09:21
  with a 12-speed ratio, right?
• 1:09:26
  There was the GRX cassette, right?
• 1:09:30
  10 Kogs and a bigger catraca than 51, so 12 speeds.
• 1:09:36
  And there were a lot of people too, right? the edition that if I'm not mistaken
• 1:09:41
  had the largest number of subscribers.
• 1:09:43
  And in fact it didn't rain, right?
• 1:09:46
  I did my best time at BikeMan since I started having this race here in Brazil.
• 1:09:54
  And the best, right? Participate in an event where there are so many people
• 1:09:58
  known, others not known, but who are there for the same purpose, right?
• 1:10:04
  Enjoy a race, a meeting.
• 1:10:10
  Of experiences, to talk, so for me that was very gratifying.
• 1:10:15
  So that's it, it was very good to see her, we had met there in Crozândia,
• 1:10:21
  in Chile, it was very good to meet your husband too, we walked a lot of time together,
• 1:10:26
  and that's it, it was another experience that yielded good fruits for me,
• 1:10:33
  ok? One more finish of BikeMan.
• 1:10:37
  And we're there, right? Who knows, maybe I'll find you in other events too, right?
• 1:10:43
  Enjoy other events, other things, other places, other landscapes,
• 1:10:48
  other people, other cuisines.
• 1:10:50
  I think it's important to do this diversification there, okay?
• 1:10:55
  But that's it. My participation in BikeMan was enjoyable, it was satisfactory.
• 1:11:00
  E fiquei muito feliz de participar mais uma vez aí da quarta edição do Bikeman
• 1:11:04
  Brasil. Tá bom? Um abraço, fico Deus e nos vemos.
• 1:11:09
  And that's a wrap, everyone. Thank you so much for listening.
• 1:11:12
  I hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 1:11:15
  That's all for today's episode. We want to thank you, our listeners,
• 1:11:19
  for tuning in. Your support means everything to us.
• 1:11:22
  If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing, leaving a review.
• 1:11:26
  Music.