Race report: Calatorie intre Cer si Pamant

The time to write again has finally came back. And what a came back did it had. After a month of race pausing due to different reasons, I took my bike to pedal at one of the most spectacular race, one that scares you and, at the same time, one that attracts you, and which`s name is "Calatorie intre cer si pamant" (translated: Journey between the sky and the ground). If you have no idea about this competition, and, supposing that you read this blog and not the Romanian version, you do not, the resume stands something like this: One 15kms loop, which takes you trough a salt-mine, a forest and a city hall(yup, without getting a penalization), that has to be done as much as you can for 2 hours. So, in other words, 15kms where you go from a cold and wet weather in the underground to the warm sunshine on the top of the hill, just to end it by high-fiving the mayor in his own building. It`s dumb to quess who is going to win, as the winner will be not the most powerful rider, but the most adaptable one. Or, at least, the one who wants to be the first one to clean his bike because, as we all know, salty water and bearings are a forbidden love, even more forbidden than Romeo and Julieta`s one. But, until i have to wash my bike, i have to travel about 245kms from Targu Mures, wait a few hours for the registration and to pedal 2 hours. The traveling distance has been halfed because we started our trip Saturday and we stayed over at my teammate, Monica Cojocaru. But the sleep-over has not ended without adventures as, after eating a few pieces of god-made food, called "sarmale" in my native, the guilty of eating them made me spin my pedal for 30 minutes in the proximity of Miecurea Ciuc city. The one and only mistake i made was that i did not searched for the address where i was hosted for the night, making me searching for that place for almost 30 minutes after i finished my riding. Luckily, Polar company has thought about idiots like and have decided that there should be something to show your starting point of you training, which, trust me, saved me from a lot of anatomy and theology against myself. Once i got back i drank a dark carbo-drink called Silva and called it a day. Into the following day, at around 7 o`clock, i woke up, so see the fog outside being cut by somebody like in the Scooby-Doo movies. Although i`m just kidding about it, the fog was there, and it was dense, but karma took it`s place and showed us the beauty of my country.

Anyway, the remaining 100kms were easily done and i find myself at the registration point where, because my mother did not gave bith to me early enough and made me still being a minor, although a bearded one, i manage to create some problems. After showing my UCI legitimation, making 2 major persons responsible for me and sending some e-mails, this junior rider was allowed to race. The start was supposed to be at 12 a.m., but at around 11:20-11:30, we are being called at the start line for the tehnic meeting, a meeting that took about 10-20 minutes. With 20 minutes to go, i met a friend who was as happy as me to warm up a bit more. But, after 3 pedals, we quickly discover that i have a flat. I want to say that this friend, Paul Georgescu, is a bad-luck talisman because, after the start has been given, when we went on the road and should have took left, we took right, losing our top positions we sprinted for in the first 100m.

Not that it count very much when it comes to the final clasament, butpassing riders in the peloton is not my hobby. But we`ve got over it too and we get into the mine where the darkness hit my eyes and sang to me "Hello darkness my old friend" as the light i had was basically shit. The underground downhill was wet, muddy, salty and full of tight corners. In this conditions, i had to remind the mine who`s the boss by sliding and giving it as a reminder a bit of skin. Anyway, it was not a so-hard fall, so i get quickly back on my bike and continued my race that was giving me an opportunity when it transformed from downhill to uphill, a blind one, but still an uphill. So, by basically reminding me that pain is temporary, i get to Paul before them mine ended and went with him for 7-800m, before losing him on the asphalt climb.

He just didn`t had the force to pedal as strong as i did, so, after seeing that he is left behind, i started pushing even further my hear rate into the stone climb. Getting on the top of the hill was hard, but my motivation was higher than ever when a volunteer strongly yelled " The first one is coming!". I look back and i see that i have a big distance before my rivals so i continue as fast as i can to the single-track that was waiting for me. A beautiful single-track, with ots of grip, berms, and lots of fun and speed. Getting into the distance meant pedaling for a not so nice straight piece of road and going in the city-hall by the handicapped ramp, where i manage to bend my front disk. The queaky noise was annoying, but all i could have done was to deal with it. Again on the sat-mine downhill things are starting to get boring, so i start singing to overcome my loneliness, but not for long as the left clip started untightening and making me stop in the middle of the stone-climb. I usually have the "hole-sensor", but this time it was almost impossible to shove my hex-keys into it. Almost impossible because after a bit the clip was already tightened and i was on my way to receive my glory. The third and the last lap was, surprisingly, the same as the precedents ones, only that i had to concentrate my energy into yelling at people to move away. The energy tank was quickly drained up, but here the energy gel came in handy and gave me the extra push to finish my race and to rich into the city to hear " And the winner, Frunza Mihai, has just finished ". Even thought i was happy, the only think i had in my head was about the way i used karma cause they didn`t let me register to win the race. Anyway, this is something special and will remain something special being the first mtb race where i step on the top of the podium. The trophy was as good as the race, being made from 3.45 kgs of salt, that should last about 3-4 months at the rate i`m inserting sodium into my body. But this was the race, the race report and my perspective. Continuing, i have some surprises prepared for the next year, so stay tuned. Until the next time, Ceaustoc!