Day 1, Sežana, Slovenia to (almost) Dom Zavižan, Croatia

The race started at a reasonable 8am local time - no super early (or late) starts here. After having a decent breakfast at the hotel, my first task was to retrieve my one and only pair of bib shorts from the bag I had handed to the organisers the night before for transport to the finish. Whoops! Thankfully, the bags hadn't left yet, and mine was at the top of the pile. Disaster (and sore arse) averted! We're off!

The next thing to go wrong was my tracker. I was sure I had charged up the batteries, but 5km into the event, and the red lights were already flashing. It was time to fit the spares and hope they lasted until the end. Things could only get better, right?

After trying to keep a cool head and not get carried away with riding too hard or panicking with every second lost whilst stopped, I got into the swing of things. I rode at my own pace and tried to cover as much distance as possible without it turning into a sufferfest. A brief rainstorm came and went, which dropped the temperature by a good 10 degrees and set the kind of weather we would see all week: warm-ish, damp-ish. Pretty much spot on for an event like this.

The rest of the day passed without incident, and as I made my way towards Dom Zavižan (a mountain hut), I realised that a) it was getting much cooler the higher we went, and b) there was likely to be no room at the inn by the time I got there (around 1:30 am or so - I later learned that I was right, it was full). There was a covered picnic area about 30 minutes from the top with my name on it (along with a couple of others who had arrived there before and after me). Time to sleep...

228km, 4,740m, 14h38m moving time

Day 2, picnic area to Mazin, Croatia (Checkpoint 1)

After a pretty crap night's sleep (maybe 3 hours), the alarm didn't need to go off to wake me. It was around 5am. 40 minutes of faffing about later, I set off to complete the last 250m of the climb up to Dom Zavižan and into the Velibit Nature Park. There was a thick layer of cloud obscuring some great views (so I'm told). It certainly restricted the temperatures that morning and made me wonder if leaving the leg + arm warmers at home was really such a wise decision.

One of the challenges of the race is the limited access to resupply points, including even water. Due to the karstic landscape, there isn't a lot of surface water around (any rainfall just heads underground). Having failed to top up the water supplies before entering the park, I was on rations until I could find some. Thankfully, a few hours into the day's ride I found a well next to a different (closed) mountain hut. Time to deploy the water filter and decant some fresh water into my bidon and bladders.

I made it to Gospić (320km from the start) for lunch (pizza) and resupply (Snickers, Coke mostly). There was then a matter of 107km to go to the first checkpoint.

Aside: I hadn't planned on riding this far/fast: I was looking up the Sunday opening hours of the Gospić Lidl just a few days before the start.. I had made it by Saturday lunchtime. Game on!

The afternoon was hot—suncream required! After riding out of Gospić I hadn't seen any other riders for a few hours when Manuel (a young German guy) raced up from behind. We exchanged a few words (”Where did you sleep last night? When did you start today?”—standard ultrarace chat!). It turned out that Manuel was employing the tactic of riding fast, but not long (only 12 hours a day). He'd stopped a good 30km and 5 hours prior to me on day 1 and was riding with the leading bunch for most of the day.

After our short chat, he sped off ahead. I saw him just a few k's later fixing a torn sidewall. The game of leap-frog continued as he then caught me and we ended up riding into CP1 together at around 20h30.

When we arrived, there were some serious-looking racers preparing to set off into the night. I realized then that the race was going pretty well for me: We'd caught up with the "best of the rest" (the podium chasers were long gone, but the top 10 was here). I had arrived at CP1 in 26th place overall.

199km, 3,250m, 12h20m moving time

Day 3, Mazin to Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The checkpoint offered a shower, a hot meal and the promise of a bed for the night. Sadly the latter wasn't available as the beds were all occupied. There was a garage/shed out back though, so after said meal and shower I laid out my sleeping mat on a sun-lounger and bedded down in there. Sadly after about 20 minutes it became apparent that my mat had a puncture... Thankfully the sun-lounger wasn't too uncomfortable, and despite not thinking I got much sleep, I did rise to find a couple more riders sleeping next to me than there were when I went to bed.

Since I had stopped relatively early, I got up at around 4 am, had some breakfast and was riding by 5. The morning mist was hanging in the valley, but soon burned off: it was going to be a scorcher today.

The first 85 km of the day was made up of "proper" mountain biking: steep climbs, technical, rocky descents, it was fun & fast. By the time I rolled into Knin for lunch I was struggling to wipe the grin off my face.

Since I had a sleeping mat to fix, I got a take-away bakery + mini-market lunch, including some refreshing 2 percent radler. I found a shady spot to stop and spent the next hour trying (and failing, it turns out) to fix my mat. I found at least 6 punctures in it — I had to cut down the patches and be a bit stingy with the glue.

As the afternoon rolled on, the temperatures began to rise into the 30s. A route detour was announced by the organisers due to some tree felling work meant we had a slightly longer route on a 35 km section of state road with no shade. A roadside restaurant near the end attracted a few riders in for food, water and some respite from the sun.

Whilst eating, I decided to book myself a hotel room in Livno, another 3 hours or so up the road. I figured it was better to check my repairs overnight not sleeping on the mat!

The final 60 km of the day was mostly on tarmac, climbing up and over to Bosnia, the third country of the race. After the first few km down from the pass, there was a 10 km plain to cross before reaching Livno. The sun was just setting, which meant the call to prayer was ringing out from the mosques — a beautiful reminder that we had left the EU and were embarking on the next stage of the adventure.

The hotel I booked was attached to a petrol station about 100 m off the route. The guy on reception could not have been friendlier: Asking me what I was doing, assuring me that the bike was safe in their store room, and even leaving me the key for said store room so that I could check out at 5 am the next morning without needing to wake anyone. I asked about food options when I arrived and was told that since it was now summer, and 10 pm, the restaurant was closed. He told me how the local workforce all decamp to the Dalmatian coast in Croatia for the summer due to higher wages, leaving a skeleton staff behind. No matter, he offered to order me a pizza delivery instead whilst I showered and changed into my "evening attire". Pizza (and a radler) for dinner, and in bed by 10 pm. Sorted.

207 km, 2,947 m, 12h40m moving time

Day 4, Livno to Nevesinje via Mostar

Another day, another 4am alarm. 3x snooze buttons later I got up, found my mat was flat (good call on the hotel!). I packed up and got going. The guy from the night before had warned that the weather had been nice in the mornings, then torrential rain from 2pm, so I wanted to get a shift on.

The ride started with a lumpy gravel climb of some 600m or so onto a high plateau with wild horses and not a lot else. Not least a lack of shelter as the aforementioned storm was already fast encroaching. I felt for the people getting a good soaking back in Croatia as I pedalled on and away at a decent pace for fear of a similar fate.

Luckily, the route was heading directly away from the storm, and was pretty fast. I got down into the next town of Šuica in the dry and found an ultra-racer's dream shop: a small but well-stocked supermarket, open, with a café next door. Sadly the dangers of smoking don't seem to bother the Bosnians, so it was a coffee to go rather than sit in the stinking smoke-filled café.

Caffeinated and re-stocked, I set out for the long 115km stretch without resupply to Mostar. The heavens opened shortly thereafter, but it wasn't a bother. I just thought of the 2022 race which had a 40 degree heatwave instead. I paused at a covered roadside picnic bench and put the waterproofs on before heading into the hinterland towards the Blidinje Nature Park.

The off-road climb started out near a large open rubbish dump. A few poor folk were scratching around the piles of waste in the dampness trying to find anything of value to sell on. Another group of wild horses crossed the track a few metres in front of me, one of which was dragging a bucket around that it had had the misfortune to step into and get stuck. An equine version of those sea turtles who get entangled in plastic rings.

As I worked my way up the climb trying not to exert too much energy so as not to boil in my waterproofs, I found myself thinking how damned lucky I was to be there. There was absolutely no way I could feel sorry for myself for riding up a bleak mountainside in the rain. I had chosen to be there after all. If I wanted out, I could just press the "SOS" button on my tracker and be beamed back to civilisation. I must've been a bit tired and emotional because every time I thought about how great things were, I struggled to hold back the tears! I'm so glad I had the mountain to myself.

A few hours in and the had rain stopped and someone turned up the thermostat. A hot, muggy, busy, bustling Mostar was waiting at the bottom of a huge descent. It was such a shock after the damp solitude of the earlier part of the day. At the entrance to the city I bumped into Andraž and Ziga, the smiling Slovenian duo battling it out with Sofie and Marion for the pairs race. We had a kebab together (#athletes) before parting ways again. They had to do some running repairs of their poor unsuitable gravel bikes (it really is an MTB race!), though nothing would save the snapped bars one of them was riding with.

With 45km and 1,200m to go until the next stop, Nevesinje, I decided to book a hotel again. €20/night is money well spent for a bed and shower. A swift exit from the heat (and bad drivers) of Mostar, and we were climbing again. I caught up with Andrea, an Italian guy on the climb. It was around 7pm by now and he'd been riding since 3am that morning (we had the usual chat!), so was understandably tired. We descended down into Nevesinje on the road in the dark, coming across a few packs of angry dogs. The one-legged shepherd assured us they were friendly, I took no chances... walking calmly and slowly away.

I caught up with a few other riders in Nevesinje, checked into my accommodation and went to find some dinner. At 10pm, it's a wonder that anything was open. Unfortunately, my fatigued brain could not think what to do when I found no bread on sale in the local shop. I ended up with a very poor selection of snacks (inc. a radler of course!). I also failed to buy anything for the following day, forgetting that a 5am leave means no shops will be open...

The irony of these races is that whilst you can not possibly consume as many calories as you burn (around 8,000 each day easily), your mind is also so tired that you don't make the best food choices when you most need to.

198 km, 3070m, 14h moving time

Day 5, Nevesinje to Popov Most (Checkpoint 2)

Another 4am alarm & 3x snooze button presses meant it was 05:30 by the time I actually started pedalling. I had limited food on board, and banked on Ulog, a village 30km away to save the day. There was a bit of rain in the air as I left, but it soon cleared. A gentle gravel climb of some 400m took me up and over some wild grazing land towards the village. As I neared the top of the climb I saw 3 huge dogs in a field about 400m away looking after a flock of sheep. They started racing towards me and didn't look so friendly. A quick check of the Garmin route profile said I had a 4km descent, it was stand or flee time, I chose to flee. Racing down I kept looking back, at first I saw 2 of the dogs stop, but 1 of them was not giving up so easily. As I got further away I could see the last of them stop on the track where I had first seen them a few moments earlier. I was safe, buzzing with adrenaline, but safe.

As I rode into Ulog, a tiny village, I spotted a small bar with what looked like a beer garden attached and a lot of people milling about. It was about 8am by then, so, in search of supplies, I wandered over. It turned out to be a group of scientists from Save the Blue Heart of Europe - A campaign for the protection of Balkan Rivers. They were surveying the local river in an effort to add more scientific evidence to stop the development of hydro power plants. One of the team was a keen mountain biker who was following the race offered food and drinks to the riders passing buy. There was coffee, bacon, eggs, bread and jam on offer. I, and some other riders could not say no, especially as the village of Ulog didn't have any other shops at all. After a decent feed, I headed off with a couple of jam sandwiches in the bag to replace the Snickers I failed to buy the night before. They literally saved my day.

The next 100km or so had only a water fountain for resupply and a lot of climbing in remote terrain. A hard fought 1,700m pass was followed by a "descent" punctuated by a series of punishing climbs before finally giving way to a fast gravel road that took us down to Miljevina.

After another late afternoon lunch regrouping with a bakery stop and mini market, it was time to set off for CP2. A further 45km away with a solid 800m climb and some further false flat descending. The afternoon feed was most welcome, and gave me some fresh energy to get over the climb. This was helped by the it being smooth gravel, not too steep and next to a cooling stream. I was further spurred on after spotting a wolf as it leaped out of the stream onto the opposite bank before sloping off into the trees. I spent the next few minutes riding just that bit faster up the hill whilst keeping an eye out behind. I knew my additional speed would not have been any use should the wolf have wanted to catch me, but I didn't fancy hanging around to find out.

Dusk had fallen just before the descent. Thankfully it was a relatively clear night, so you could just about make out the beauty around. CP2 was just shy of 1,000km into the race, I reached it at around 21:30 and in 14th place. The pasta on offer was superb...(any food tastes better when you're severely calorie deprived, but this really was good pasta!)

I hadn't booked accommodation, so went in search of a hotel nearby. Crashing a party to ask for help, I had stumbled on a small hotel — the owners were celebrating a new child. The guy could not have been more helpful, apologised for being a little bit dunk (understandable) but he did have rooms for €20. I said yes, paid up, congratulated him on the newborn, checked-in, showered and slept.

181km, 3,113m, 13h27m moving time

Day 6, Popov Most to Kolašin, Montenegro

I had heard from another racer that the town up the road from Popov Most had an amazing petrol station for breakfast, so I set off in search of food and coffee. It did not disappoint: after a couple of cappuccinos, OJ and an omelette on the terrace, I stocked up on energy bars and set off up the Tara river towards the border with Montenegro.

The first half of the day was super chilled. A fairly easy climb from the river valley brought us into the Durmitor National Park. It reminded me of a slightly scruffy version of Switzerland. Being a national park, the roads were a little bit busier than we were used to with tourists and cars. The mainly tarmac route was interspersed with easy going gravel tracks. It allowed me to even contemplate getting to the finish in one go (delusional!). There were storm clouds around which had me pedalling a little harder to get over the two big passes of the day in the hope of getting down to lunch before a soaking.

Lunch (pizza!) in Žabljak—a touristy ski resort town—demarcated the two distinct halves of the day. The morning's serenity and smooth easy going terrain quickly gave way to double track as we climbed towards the high, empty plateau above Kolašin. The heavens finally opened causing me to seek shelter under some trees to don the waterproofs once again. I was waiting for the rain to ease off when Sofia and Marion pushed on past with not even a rain jacket on between them. Shamed into moving off, I was soon pedalling up in the downpour as the thunder boomed around.

Once we made it to the high plateau we had around 60km of steady ups and downs. It was hard going both mentally and physically. My Garmin had failed to load the route in fully that morning, so I had no real idea how much more climbing there was, or when it was coming. It was then that the two Slovenians and Manuel caught me again. They brought with them some much needed enthusiasm to make it across the tops and down to town. Another fun descent in the dark (off-road this time) followed. One of the Slovenians punctured and so Manuel and myself ended up at the bottom together looking for a place to stay and some food. Kolašin was about 7 km off route, but there wasn't much choice if we wanted to get stocked up and a bed. A run-down hotel on the outskirts of town agreed to let us in ("Let me check with my wife.... OK come back in 30 minutes!"). We stocked up on more junk food in the local petrol station and returned to find the Slovenian guys in the hotel already. Another super friendly owner who couldn't do enough for us. He was particularly proud of his new e-bike, and the speeds he could reach on it both up and down.

193km, 3,450m, 13h43m moving time

Day 7, Kolašin to the finish at Kotor Bay.

Another 4 am alarm, another 3 (maybe 4?) snooze buttons later… I set off at 5:15 and headed back to the garage for coffee and Snickers bars before rejoining the route. All being well, I would reach the finish line that afternoon.

Morning mist once again gave way to sunshine as I started up the 800m gravel climb back up to the plateau. Once up, the route only had a couple of small rises in the first descent before plunging back to the valley below.

The second climb of the day started out nice and steady on asphalt before slowly deteriorating into double track and then a boulder-strewn mountain track.  Ziga and Andraz passed me on a smooth section having left the hotel an hour or so after me. I caught the German girls up somewhere amongst the boulders. They'd stuck with their plan of riding a few hours longer than the guys each day to make up for the fact that they couldn't ride as fast. It was great to have such a front-row seat in the battle for the pairs race and the different tactics each had used: a real-life tortoise vs hare.

It started to rain just as we were reaching the high point of the day and a soaking duly followed. I left the Slovenians fixing (yet another) flat, not wishing to hang about as the storm gathered force.

As I descended down towards Nikšić, the thunder was really cracking behind me. I would later learn that it turned into a really nasty storm for those just a few hours behind, Manuel included — he had a lie in that morning.

Nikšić is another big city (well, any city is big when you're so used to the solitude of the mountains). It represented the final resupply point in the race, just 65 km from the finish. I got there in good time for lunch and made my final stock up at a petrol station on the edge of town (fizzy cola bottles, coke, m+ms and chocolate milk, again #athlete !). I knew the last leg was mostly tarmac with only a few hundred metres of climbing, and so settled into a decent rhythm I could hold for the few hours it would take.

As I got closer, I couldn't help but pick up the pace. By the time I was on the final climb, I felt like I was flying (sugar high?). No need to conserve energy for tomorrow I thought. The climb topped out and I started to lose height before rounding a corner to be greeted with the most spectacular view of Kotor Bay, some 600 m or so below. I paused to take a few last photos and messaged Sara, who'd come to meet me at the finish, to say that I wouldn't be long. I let go of the brakes and hardly made another pedal stroke — just like that, it was all over. I made it.

167km, 3,032m, 11h06m moving time

Results

I placed 11th solo, (10th solo male) in just under 6d, 10h. Waaay faster than I expected or even dreamed of. I didn't compromise on the fun factor either: At no point was I "suffering", this was pure type 1 fun for me.

The winner, Max Gaumnitz, finished in a truly impressive 4d, 14h. The winning female, Markéta Marvanová, came in 4th overall just under a day after Max.

As for the pairs race: the Slovenian duo passed me just after Nikšič, taking full advantage of the smooth finale to finish about 15 minutes before me and around 1 hour ahead of the girls.

Chapeaux to all!

Full results here.

I took my Nordest Britango for the ride this time. Favouring it over the trail bike that I raced the Hope 1000 on last year as I wanted a more stable pedalling platform and a lock-out fork (shock and fork on my Norco are both open all the time).

It performed (almost) flawlessly: No punctures, no brake pads changed etc. The only maintenance I had to do was clean and lube the chain each day. The fork was binding a bit in the final few days I think due to the general dirt and abuse. They need a service for sure.

Key bits of the build for me:

• Brooks C15 Carved saddle — like a few mm of suspension for your bum.
• Spirgrips inner-bar-ends — for an extra hand position or two.
• Maxxis Crossmark 29x2.25 rear tire, tubeless of course, with a Rimpact original tire liner to ward off pinch flats — No idea if it was required, but that's the point! Tire was mostly chosen because it was attached to the bike over the winter, wasn't losing pressure & I was being lazy...
• Vittoria e-Barzo 29x2.35 front ( the "e" just means it's their tougher TNT casing, you know, for e-bikes.. they should really use a similar branding to differentiate TNT from TLR.. neither says 'tough' vs 'light' to me). This was the same tire that I took around the Hope 1000 last year with zero issues.
• Hope Tech4/E4 brakes with 203mm front / 180mm rear rotor. The bike weighs as much as an e-bike when loaded up, so why scrimp on braking power to save a few grams?
• Hope Pro4 hubs with Newmen SL A.30 ally rims, 32h.
• Sram GX/XO/Descendant groupset. 30t OneUp chainring, 10-50t cassette.
• Garmin Rally XC power meter pedals (battery died on day 2.. whoops!)

I had a brand new Wit Slingers custom frame pack made in the spring which worked really well. It carried a 2litre bladder for extra water capacity, hardly used. First aid kit (unused), 2x spare tubes (unused), toolkit (barely used), sun cream (used!), wash kit (used!), 25,000mha battery (unused, thanks to hotels!), charger etc and spare food.

For sleeping, I took an Outdoor Research Helium bivy (not used at all), a 10 degree sleeping bag (used twice) and a Nemo sleeping mat (used twice, though flat for one of those!). Hotels were too cheap to bother sleeping outside and the distances between them worked well for my pace.

In the Oveja Negra saddle pack was my down jacket (unused), "evening attire" (long sleve merino top, boxer shorts). Spare light weight liner shorts, a spare pair of socks (worn on the final day, may as well!) plus my Giro GV500 jacket and DHB Flashlight overtrousers and a Pearl Izumi windproof gilet.

Top tube bag was mostly for snacks and a small battery for the Garmin Edge 530.

I decided to ride dressed as a mountain biker for this event: I rode in a pair of 7mesh bib shorts (spare liner shorts were substituted when these were still damp from washing), a Patagonia merino tee, some lightweight Sweet Protection outer shorts and Patagonia merino socks. Specialized Recon 3.0 shoes and some windproof Giro gloves when it was a bit cold, otherwise bare hands.

I also had a bum bag (hip pack, fanny pack) with a 1.5l bladder and snack carrying capacity. I took a 0.6l Katadin / BeFree water filter and 1l bidon on the down tube. This meant I could carry up to 5 litres of water with me if the temperatures had soared and filtered any suspect water sources. In reality I rarely had more than 3 litres on board at any one time.

For extra food (and radler) carrying capacity I took a Quechua folding backpack.

For the few hours each day riding in the dark I had a Magicshine RN3000 light up front and (until I lost it) a matching rear light, with a backup for both (Petzl head torch + spare rear light, phew!)

Oneup pump with oneup tool/tubeless repair jabber etc... I used the allen key a few times.. otherwise unused — thankfully.

Despite a large amount of stuff unused, I'm not sure I'd pack any different. I maybe could have saved a few hundred grams by bringing just an emergency bivy instead of the one I did bring...