One day, during the Familiada, Mr. Charles Strasburger will ask what the Cyklo Gdynia race is associated with. The person who will answer rainwill be the first in history to score 100 points, giving one answer. Because the Cyclone of Gdynia is a crowd of people and it is raining - these are the rules.

But from the beginning. In the race I start for the third time - 3 years ago I came 5 in the category and 44 open (here's entry from 2015that looks very similar to this). A year later, 11 in the category and 43 open. Then the date coincided with Tatry Tour and the choice was simple. This year I did not plan to go, but some unfortunate combination of events made me stand at the start and made the worst performance in my Kashub history. Oddly enough, because I prepared myself perfectly:

Universal, winning training plan

In my professional training macrocycle I was super-rested. I have not yet had any road race this year. Normally, I'd already have 10.

In my even more professional training microcycle I was also rested. In the week preceding the race on the bike I was once.

The day before the race we went the right turnout, as the best ones do. Tight 7 kilometers around our block, during which we completely soaked our shoes, guaranteed the proper preparation of legs.

Regeneration and coal storage were at the World Touring level. I spent Thursday and Friday in some expensive spa in Masuria with a Swedish table. Do you know how much you have to eat from such a table so that the payer is not losing ?! Just in case, on Saturday, we still get a meal of the winners in the poppy.

... only that the mentioned SPA was a company event, and whoever happens at such events knows that Hangover are amateurs. The psyche, in which probably some immortality mode was left, was ready for mad pursuits at descents.

In a word: Cyklo Gdynia 2017 could not go wrong.

But she went, which confirms the theory that to drive fast, you have to drive fast - not enough 10000km patched this year.

Saturday, the day Gdynia stood.

Gdynia is going quickly and pleasantly from Warsaw - however, the problem appeared on the spot. The Gdynia cyclist was joined this year with the Polish Cycling Championships. On the one hand, it's fun because we're going along the route on which the best in the country will race, on the other ... as it turned out - not necessarily, because:

The Polish Championship is of course the most important cycling event in Poland, but that does not mean that all the best cyclists in Poland will do everything to win it. In a week the Tour de France starts, which is a thousand times more important. Nobody's normal, he will not risk falling out of Toure for an eagle shirt. Is it wrong? I do not know, but it's normal. Money and fame is from the Tour and classics, not the national championships.

The organization of such a large, multi-day event in the center of Gdynia is a bold decision. I remember the opinions circulating on the internet in previous years, when the streets were closed for much shorter periods (only amateurs ride). They were normal, similar to those after each marathon, something like: knock out these bicycle pedals, I was going with my sick grandmother to the hospital and I could not cross - they almost killed my grandma! Only that the marathon is usually a few hours closed street, after which someone runs all the time. The road race is closed streets, after which a small group passes from time to time. The average person sees a street that is completely unused for 95% of the time. I'm not surprised by these people.

"A colleague from the estate likes to ride a bike
I believe it takes me from time to time
Then I go - pass * have people on a walk "

~ Caliber 44

Because racing through the city is great. Main streets, people, doping, bends, secured intersections - we are like professionals and everyone can see us ... but we are not at all. For one fan who is standing by the road and waving (he was lucky, because he happened to be walking in the neighborhood) there are 8 nervous in the car and 4 residents who do not know how to get out of the house. And the argument that: they are sitting at home and drinking beer, so they will not understand that is not an argument. At the weekend, just by this car (or bus) from this house is leaving, and cheering the pros on such a route, even for us - cycling fans - is as interesting as watching ... I do not even have a comparison ;-) Promoting cycling in such a way that you enter someone's home, turn on your television for a 4-hour relationship from the 7th stage of Giro and make you look, it's not the right strategy.

Racing in city centers is great when you organize them as criteria, e.g. Kinga's memorialthat also annoy the lokals, but much less and do not paralyze the streets.

I know that I do not speak like a real cyclist now, but sometimes it's worth to look at things objectively. In Sobótka, a few-kilometer-long loop disturbed only a few, and there were plenty of supporters at the finishing line. And the loops looked better. I will say it straight from the point of view of the supporter: I preferred to watch cyclists on the loops.

That day greeted us with a downpour. In this wind from the shit of ... June (?). You ran away from me with my left side.

~ Kazik Staszewski, probably about one of the Cyclowo Gdynia races

The day, or actually the night before our race, takes place IX Gdynia Night Bicycle Ride, also from Skwer Kościuszki. It's probably a Critical Mass, only at night not to disturb people. It's like the inhabitants of Gdynia were still short. As expected, in the air hangs more or less the same amount of water as in the sea. We spend the evening, saying goodbye to our bearings, skin on the hips and feeling in the fingers. The more we refresh the weather application, the more it rains.

In the morning we are awakened by the blue sky (in fact it is noise from the street, but the first thing I see is the seaside blue outside the window). A great disappointment, what are we going to do with any possible failure?

At the start we go earlier, to watch the elite start and talk to friends. Cyklo Gdynia is one of those races, at the beginning of which you meet as many friends as at the roundabout on Sunday at the house. You can name the postress and distort the competition's confidence: that it will be slippery, that 500 beaters, that it's dangerous, that it's fire, that it's freezing and freezing etc. This is a classic pre-start strategy.

Then we wait for the elite, because it starts 20 minutes later than we thought, we are looking for a start, we wonder what is the side, we enter the sector, we leave the sector, we enter another sector and there. Surely if a man read a race book or listen to a commentator instead of talking, it would be a bit easier. But reading such things is like using instructions for furniture from IKEA - it's for the weak.

One race, several races

We start the sector - again I will sound like a loser and a marauder, but:
The age sectors that start every two minutes are a mistake. In the case of M2, M3, M4 and parts of M5, random starters can be divided equally well. The assumption that M2 is faster than M3 and so on is more than wrong. Especially in the case of a race that takes place once in a row. Would it not be better to allocate places depending on the results in previous years (the first 50 open - I sector, 50-100 open - II sector, etc. + the possibility of moving to the application). More work, but security, comfort and organization - a thousand times better.

The first surprise: we are already traveling 5 kilometers, and no one has fallen over - quite a success.
The second surprise: for 6km drops my water bottle, for which I kindly apologize to those in the back. Strange, because the elite baskets always kept Podiums very well, and I always get really nervous about people who lose their water bottles. Well, if it's raining, I will survive without a water bottle - the problem is that it is not raining yet, even though the clouds are gathering.

Whoever does not go forward, he goes backwards

I'm going somewhere in the middle - in big races whoever goes inside, he loses. Just like the one who does not overtake. It reminds me very quickly, because someone somewhere lets go, someone makes a gap and I see that the tuft is slowly leaving on the horizon. Before common, honest work of all my group (he, he, he) catch them, I'm already inflated. Belly tells me that I will either sit down politely on the wheel or wait for the M4 to follow us. I sit down on someone, someone in the front of the forest, it's a break, we stay in a dozen or so people, the race is lost. Along the way, I pass Michał P. (name of the editors), who improves the seatpost on the roadside. Michał is convinced, so I know that it will come ... once.

We go in a small group, cooperation is on average. Michał, we give some changes, we finally leave and we get another group, bigger, so with cooperation even worse. I succeed only because in the tides of weakness it slows down to help me. In the end, he also leaves this group, I stay in it, because it can not succeed. When it disappears behind the horizon, I remember that it could, because the more people in such a group, the slower it goes. Now it's a chapel. To complete happiness - it starts to rain. Finally, what is this Cyklo Gdynia without rain.

From time to time, someone turns over in a sharp bend. Most often on the white death zones (called the pedestrian crossing). Dumpers are in the same places every year.

My group catches up with M4, bringing everyone we've broken before. It also brings us to other groups that were ahead of us. All smaller escapes were in vain. Sector starts are excellent.

60km: Hold me a bike, I'm going to pee

Moments later, we meet a crowd of cyclists standing behind us, behind the car with the inscription end of the race. I think: someone died on the route, or some massacre collision. It turns out that no - we caught up with the professionals who started a few minutes ahead of us. The situation, which, like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expected. It's all those years when the End of the Race stressed Panda after her - I can finally play on him. This time I will go with him, guessing him. We stand, then go a bit, then stand, then we drive up again.

They catch up with us in the back of the woman and basically the rest of the race. The atmosphere is getting parodial. A telephone rings for someone - he explains that he can not now because he is on a bike with his friends. Someone is flying through the steering wheel at 15km / h. In the end, the race starts again. Only now is 60 kilometers, and there are 500 people in the group - there will be a pogrom on wet asphalt. However, it is not as wet as it could if it wanted to. It has stopped raining and you can say that we waited while standing until the road is dry.

My neutralization did not change much in my life. Maybe she added a few dozen places, maybe she took it away ... but many people were severely affected by it. This is not why you get an advantage in escaping, then to reset it and go with people wypoczętymi in the peloton.

A lot of people are losing motivation, moving slowly and going easy. At a time when we fight for survival somewhere in the middle of the crowd, gas goes in front and tens of people go by and we will never see each other again. Most of us are not even aware of it. So we are traveling, the race is already lost, so I work more than I should. Under Nowy Dwór (probably the largest driveway on the route) several people leave. I look back - the peloton has a loss of 200 meters. A quick decision - I'm chasing the corpse of those who are 100 meters ahead of me or waiting. The decision is obviously bad, because the peloton is not going anymore, and the people in the front are on the line.

Thanks to ecoriding, you can arrive 103 instead of 107.

As usual, the group does not go. On a long straight line, 7 people are taught so much that the wheels fly in the air.

Here is a small insert: Jan contacted me, who was also in this group. It turns out that some people have suffered a little more seriously. In general, many people suffered in this race ... as well as the equipment. Jan left his phone number to the friend he came in and looks for the guy who came up with him - the numbers on the back are helpful here. If it turns out that the guy has an OC, the case is settled, if not - it will be awkward. Because the problems are solved by gentlemen: you have an accident - it's hard, everyone does something stupid sometimes. You stay with the aggrieved party, leave him a phone number, arrange everything from the OC insurance, which works on the races. You repair your bike from your own pocket (or AC), you pay for it from the insurance company and you do not make enemies for the rest of your life. I appeal therefore: BUY OC INSURANCE, WHICH OPERATES ON RACINGS!

Returning to the merits: The group is thinning, but nothing changes. We get to Gdynia. I can see in the front, on the horizon of Michał, so I'm going to the corpse, I'm leaving - the finish line is almost at hand. We are going in a different direction, I forget that this year the route is different. I click on the meter and I see that it is still 13km. The group is catching up with us again and we are not going again. 5km before the finish line Michał throws megawatts, I use energy for credit (i.e. this Monday, which should come in handy at work), I follow him. We catch a few individuals. I'm immodestly saying that we're going like horses. On the line, we make a sprint for such a honorable, 100th place. We pass tables 500m, 300m, 100m - we pass the finish line, go down to the side to congratulate ourselves on the huge work.

Who does not listen, he does twice

A moment after us the group comes in, it passes us without slowing down. Someone is shouting that it was not a meta. A mango tear of sweat appears on the forehead. Well, it must have been said more than once, but when you see the 100m signs and pass the balloon under which the elite finished yesterday, you do not think about such details. The calories used for thinking are better to transfer into the legs. I'm going back on the track, I'm sticking the next 100 meters to the finish line and I'm going home, oiling the medal and the meal.

It was a beautiful day - almost everyone ends up being angry: he asks because the weather; amateurs, because organization; inhabitants of Gdynia, because everything is blocked; organizers, because they did not foresee such a course of events.

As the losers say: maybe I have not won, but what I have worked on is mine. The Cyclo Gdynia 2017 goes down in history.

The sun goes out, the lamp is made, we move into the city, the rain begins ....

In the evening comes an SMS reminiscent of this weak performance and taking into account the open space. Czaicie - open place counted for groups that started separately in a road race. It all reminded me of a post I made a long time ago and I think I have to hang it on the wall: What I do not like in mass races.

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