Ultracycling

It is indeed wet, did the trans balkan this year, and was surprised to find out that Kotor is the wettest city of Europe. I don't have too many experiences with the mountains, but Dinaric Alps are definately something to remember.

Shameless plug to the reel we made this week

Who needs a train if it only takes couple of hours to ride to there? 😁

Maybe that's it. I never thought of that. I run my own business that sells via a website and it seems crazy to me to have a site that you don't control.
Lost dot certainly have the ability to edit theirs, they do change it often enough. But maybe they batch the changes and get an IT guy in for a quarterly refresh!

That looks lovely!

It's always been dry when I've been around there - I guess I've just been lucky!

theaccursed.cc and accursed.cc are available...

Anyway, if you want a nice off-road gravel event, come to Catalunya in June. https://www.lesperitdelbikepacking.org/

I find the travel to and from these events the absolute worst part of the whole thing. I've only ever had bad experiences flying with a bike so I'll rule them out almost completely pre race. I drove to Bosnia this year for B-Hard, realised about 12 hours in that it was far too much. Ultimately, I think living in central Europe would be the best option.

I drove to Bosnia

Fuck, that's pretty crazy! Driving there is one thing but knowing you've got the schlep back afterwards must have been hard.

I've driven to Berlin and back twice in the last year and thought that was bad enough. The main reason we drove was so I could easily take my bike.

Definitely living somewhere like Munich or Zurich gives you loads more good options. And you'll probably be familiar with half the roads too.

Is this a lite version? I did look at your hard core one and it sounded great, but the fact that my off-road skills are somewhat limited meant I spared myself the embarrassment, but something a bit easier might work. I need to have some family discussions to see what time I can get next year...

It's a whole new event, whole new route. 50/50 tarmac gravel, using back road tarmac and mostly smooth gravel. I wouldn't say it's a lite version, but it's meant to be fun, if a little challenging. Hence the billing as a gravel adventure.

We need to find some euros coming over

They can park the van on my drive when they come back to bag some AAA points.

Cool, I'll certainly add it to my wish list.

Ha, yeah funnily enough the return was actually better for some reason. I split the the journey out and the return over 2 days but probably did too much the first day. Always feel driving takes out so much more of you mentally compared to cycling. I think if you had someone else with you its totally fine though. I met a couple of brothers from the Netherlands who essentially did the same journey and said between the two of them was fine really.

somewhere like Munich or Zurich

Yeah deffo

I feel like there's a site that lists out all the available upcoming events alongside entry cutoffs, I have UTFS to no avail.

Anyone remember the URL?

There's no one site that I've found. Best ones I know of are:
ridefar.info/races/list/ - Chris White's site, but he hasn't updated it for 2024 yet
Dotwatcher.cc - Surprisingly poorly designed interface
bikepacking.com/events/

But would love to know of anything better.

I just stick events I'm interested in in my calendar and then move them when I miss a year.

If I could be arsed I'd create a separate google calendar and then this could be shared.

But I can't be arsed. Where's all the bored/unemployed when you need them eh?

Ah yes I think I've used Chris White's before now.

I feel like I saw a big Google Sheet someone did one year. I'll post anything else I find in here.

Apidura have one too: https://www.apidura.com/bikepacking-events/

This looks amazing

I had this in my calendar but without a link. It mentioned Dolomites

https://www.transalprando.com/en/

Was 2023 but it might be worth an email to see if running again

Oh nice, that does look decent if I can make the dates work (and assuming it is running)

Is anyone signed up to anything for next year? I'm looking for something in April or May but the options so far aren't getting me that pumped...

Race around the Netherlands was something I've considered a few times but slightly put off by the potential temperatures/weather at that time of the year. Easy to get to though. I know a few people on here have done it.

KROMVOJOJ looks kinda interesting, I feel possibly too much climbing for me. Not that easy to get to, long drive.

Is All points north happening again next year? I scratched last year so feel I have some unfinished business but also not that excited to ride around the UK too.

Anything obvious I'm missing?

I'd be surprised if APN wasn't back next year.

I enjoyed it and I reckon I'll go back if I can get a place, but obviously it can only be worse weather and conditions than 2023...

Mittelgebirge?
https://mittelgebirgeclassique.cc
It's in may, entries open tomorrow and it sold out straight away last year.
A bit easier to get to than most.

it can only be worse weather

Oh that's 100% guaranteed now.

Yeah did see this but think Germany is super boring for riding