Michal Ozogan
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The Week of Hope

Článek je k dispozici i v češtině 🇨🇿.

I had only five days to put together everything I needed. Even though I was preparing for this departure for six months, I had surprisingly a lot of things to do. During my last race, my main headlight broke, and the replacement arrived on Friday. It was a close call.

I was awaiting a few pieces of gear—mainly a replacement for my sleeping pad, which should be really handy in cold weather.

You can imagine how I looked trying to put all those things in a bike box the evening before the flight. I was hoping I didn’t forget anything as I didn’t have time to check it item by item.

When I finally put a tape on the box, I was relieved. It was done. There was nothing more I could do. Just wait. And in that moment, I felt a tingling in my throat. Before I fell asleep, I coughed a few times. That was an awful sign.

🚵 The chain is missing

In the end, only two of us from our little group have made a final decision to go for the Divide—Me and Tomas Fabian. We booked a very early flight, and I had to get up at about 3 a.m. My throat was significantly more soar, so I packed some menthol drops and cough medicine to treat it. I had a bad feeling about it, but I believed it was going to be fine.

When we were at the airport, I couldn’t mentally process, that it was really happening. The scale of adventure, we were about to do, wasn’t comparable to anything I have ever done. Yes, I did a few races in foreign countries, but routes didn’t go through these vast and remote areas. It’s a different world.

It was the first time I had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and my longest flight ever. It was smooth until we reached Greenland. At that moment I had a realisation that I might not have taken a bike chain with me. I made the whole spreadsheet of every tiny screw I need to bring with me, but in the chaos of the last day, I left the chain home. Fortunately, I will have plenty of time to solve it.

We wanted to be in Canada long before the start of the Tour Divide. I had never moved through so many time zones, and I didn’t know how my body would react It’s not only a time zone. There’s different food and climate and I will gain 1000 metres in altitude to my normal life.

🌆 Czechmore

We were lucky that there is a huge Czech community in Canmore. We became guests of Luboš (a Tour Divide veteran) and Kamila. They were very welcoming, and our stay was better than in a five-star hotel. And because they did it for free, they have become my first official sponsors!

For me, it wasn’t just staying at someone’s home. It wasn’t just exploring the Czech Canadian culture. They lived there so differently than me and it was inspiring. They had views of trees and mountains. When I look out of the window back in my home, I see only prefab houses and hear creaming of random folks.

I realized that I missed a real holiday. I always strive to get a bite of something. And when I get it, I’m looking for more. It never really stops, I never thought if it’s good or bad. I always do something.

There was this magical time when I already was in Canada, and I hadn’t started the race yet. Everything I could do to be prepared I already did. There was nothing to do and I could just sit and … do nothing. So, I did it. And it was so relieving. The best holiday in my life. And it made me think…

Throughout my life, I have always had this “no more bullshit” moment when I destroy another barrier. A long time ago in my students’ years, everyone was drinking more or less alcohol. There was immense social pressure that everybody should do it.

I could do it too hoping I will fit in or decline it and feel bad about it. It took me years to realize that I can just say no and don’t care about what other thinks. Or that I can decline an invitation to the party just by saying “I don’t want to go”. And I don’t have to make some amusing excuses.

During bikepacking events, I’m fully in “no bullshit mode” as I don’t care about anything. And after each and every race I keep some of these feelings and bring them back to real life. It was clear that after I came back, my life would change.

😷 The Cough

The only thing pulling my mood to the dark side was my respiratory illness. I made a mistake. I should have been more cautious. I should have gone straight to bed and stayed there until the cough healed. But in my experience, a mild cold has never been a problem. It wasn’t that bad after all.

The next day after arrival we went on a long ride. In the end, I didn’t feel very well but it’s because it was a little bit longer than I expected and I didn’t have enough calories. Or at least that’s what I thought.

The next day I felt worse but still went for a short ride. In the evening my nose had become machine gun, but I was still feeling confident it would be OK. All my efforts went for healing. I was smashing tea and pills into my throat, and I have done only leisure activities. I even used an infra-sauna that should be able to kill viruses and bacteria. Who has that before a bikepacking event?

One of my biggest fears was that I could spread it to Tomas, so I tried to be as little infectious as possible. Fortunately, it was effective, and I don’t have to answer to my conscience now.

My good faith that it would be OK quickly diminished. I didn’t feel that bad. I had no fever and I wasn’t coughing that much during the day. I had problems mainly in the afternoon, evening and night. My Garmin showed me stats so terrible that I turned them off. In this stage, there is no need to worry about the data anymore.

I probably should have visited a doctor to give me some antibiotics but I didn’t do it. I’m not used to this stuff. I don’t recall when I last needed them. It must have been a decade. There could have been many reasons why I wasn’t getting better. I might have been overtrained, stressed (which is the same), jetlagged or not accustomed to a change of environment.

👹 How I Fucked it up

It wasn’t the end of my misfortune. I went by bike to the shop to buy some food for the race. I also took a big stock of cough drops. I couldn’t fit all the food into my small backpack, and I had to hold a big box of cookies in my hand. On a town trail, I felt an urgent need to clear my nose by a mighty blow. My left hand was holding cookies, my right hand was covering a nostril, and I didn’t handle the situation very well. I crashed into a tree.

I felt a pain in my ribs and my handlebar moved in the stem. My aerobars got a big hit, and I was lucky I didn’t break anything.

Fixing the bike is always easier. I couldn’t fix my ribs, but the pain wasn’t that bad. My focus stayed on bigger problems.

The day before the start I felt just a little bit better. My voice was still cracked, and it was clear that I couldn’t make it in my original goal time of 15 days. I felt inappropriate that I was going to start with the fast part of the field.

It was hard to face the truth. Everyone was so excited about the race. Sharing information that Tomas and I will be on a route across the entire United States plus some more. A lot of people were involved. I was reluctant to even share a link to the tracker. Usually, I’m looking forward to starting because that’s the moment when adventure begins. This time I was afraid of it.

To lower expectations, I shared information about the tracker with a notice that I was ill and my biggest goal was to finish. I wasn’t here to race anymore.

🙄 Was There Another Way?

I thought about quitting the race entirely. I could rest for a few more days and start as an Individual Time Trial. I wouldn’t be the first or the last who would do that. Was it my ego that prevented me from doing it? I was worried about the forecast. In a few days, there should have come a big cold front with snow. A lot of snow. I was worried If I stayed too long all passes would become impassable and I won’t be able to make it in time to catch my flight. I had to do 210 kilometres per day since day one. And every resting day would make it harder.

From the organizers, you will receive only two messages:

  • If you sent a Letter of Intent, they would send you a response about one week before the race. There will be a link to the gpx file to register your tracker.
  • One day before the start they will send you a starting wave.

I was in the first wave. Tomas, even though he entered the same finish time, was in the second one. It felt inappropriate. But I didn’t want to complicate things so 6:55 was my time.

Luboš and Kamila were so kind that they decided to take us to the start line to Banff. My state of mind and body haven’t changed much since yesterday. I was nervous. It was happening. I just couldn’t comprehend the scale of this adventure.

We arrived at Banff about 15 minutes before the start. I was a little bit in a hurry as I needed to put the last few items in my bags. I even thought that I had forgotten my toothbrush (I found it the first night). I was reluctant to join the first wave as it was full of skilled riders, and I felt I didn’t belong there.

When the time came, there were a few nervous looks and we started. It was nothing special. Just a group of people went on a ride. I had a last chance to wave Luboš and Kamila. The adventure of my life had begun.

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Tour Divide 2024

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