Cycling

I was awake long before the alarm clock. But to have your eyes open is one thing and getting out of the sleeping bag is another. It took me half an hour of convincing to get the job done. It wasn’t easy to pack all my things, including the rescue blanket which changed from a small square to a huge piece of trash. The cold helped me with the speed.

Even though I slept 1200 metres above the sea level, I wasn’t cold. It was better than in a valley next to a river. I had four walls, with little holes, and it gave me enough isolation from the outside. I had a bird family that was protecting me from the danger outside. Or at least, I believed they were.

I signed up for Carpatia Divide at the end of April. There wasn’t much information, because it was the first year of the event. For some time I was actually thinking it’s some kind of scam for too-enthusiastic bikers. From what I understood, there was a precedent race called Transparatia, which was more or less ordinary mountain bike stage race. But CD was going to be a classic bikepacking adventure in a remote location and without any kind of support – as I like it.