{"id":34044,"date":"2024-01-15T08:10:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T08:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hopcycling.pl\/?p=34044"},"modified":"2024-12-06T11:09:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T11:09:37","slug":"prawie-rapha-prawie-festive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopcycling.pl\/en\/prawie-rapha-prawie-festive\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Rapha almost Festive almost 500"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The thing about the whole Festive 500 is that in most* minds it's just a memory in the style of "once upon a time there was...". Although maybe it should be said more like "once upon a time I was...". <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*not mostly \u2013 that's my boomer perception of the world<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of cycling 500km between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve in 2010 probably seemed much more abstract than it does today. I found the first mentions on my blog about the completed Festive 500 in 2014: Christmas with Festive 500<\/a>. I started it with a beautiful quote: "Oh mother tell your children Not to do what I have done",<\/em> so it was definitely really cool. I did it a year later and it was definitely just as cool. And in next year too<\/a>. To give you some perspective, in 2014, 29 Poles completed the challenge. This is probably because Strava wasn't as popular back then - the pinnacle of technology was the Garmin 500, which we connected to our computer with a mini USB cable. That's not bad, because I used to carry a small, black box in my trouser leg that was a GPS logger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, 10 years ago our cycling looked different. Looking at the photos of us riding cross-country with Kacper through the Slovak Tatras, on ice, in clothes from Aliexpress, in the dark, with position lights, all I can think is: "What idiots. But that was cool. Never again". Those were the times when there was snow in December... or at least slush. When bike brakes were used to warm up your fingers by pressing them intensively. Cantilever brakes had this thing about them that in good conditions they slowed you down, and in bad conditions they did nothing but resist. Maybe that's for the best, because why brake on ice? The fact that we didn't necessarily fit tires wider than 33mm didn't help with winter riding either. It used to be, but now it's not. I was sure then that if I didn't change my hobby I would never meet a girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I missed the moment when the challenge included a contest for the best story related to covering those 500 kilometers. We live in a time when everything has already been done and I don't know what might be interesting for the recipient. This is probably why the blog is slowly dying. I suspect that even riding the whole thing at once, on a unicycle, wouldn't have had a huge impact. I'm writing these words on January 12th - there's a snowstorm outside, and 4 brave people are riding their bikes from Hel to G\u0142od\u00f3wka as part of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity... <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, several wars and pandemics later, 2023 came. I thought \u2013 "yes, yes, this is the moment. My ego is so fucking bloated right now. A situation where I'm the center of attention like a tourist attraction!<\/em>. If not now, then when? I'll finally do the material! Only the 500 bike ride didn't really fit into my plan. I haven't been on a bike with big wheels since August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 1: Christmas Eve.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday, so you have all day to log some miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning (around 10:00) I am woken up by Racuch's gaze. In his eyes I see the sentence: "you should be riding a bike by now, and in the meantime I haven't peed yet":
(this is of course not true, over the last 3 years this dog has probably never once wanted to wake up and go out of his own free will)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here, about 2 hours later, in the middle of nowhere, Racuch's face changes to: "I wish you good luck and lots of fun with this bike.<\/em>„.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We return from our walk around noon. By the time we manage to eat breakfast, thaw out, watch something on Netflix and scroll through Instagram for a while, it's 2 p.m. I calculate in my head - by the time I get dressed, get out, and hit a road that's drivable, it'll be 30 minutes until dusk. Here I'd like to tell you what a large part of M\u0119cika\u0142 looks like in the dark. The cat's eyes are the streetlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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