Parlé Gravel Adventure Race
A few weeks after we rode through Parlé, I told Mikołaj that I now felt like an ultra, because although we had previously ridden in bursts of 200-300 kilometers, they always ended closer to dusk than dawn, and this time it was completely different, this time we knew when we signed up for this event that we would be riding all day and all night and we probably wouldn't be able to finish it before dawn.
But first things first.
I won't describe the route kilometer by kilometer because you can check it by downloading the GPX from the organizer's website, this event is about something else, the most important thing is the last part of its name, "Adventure", and we had countless adventures along the way.
The idea was to get on the bike on Saturday morning and ride until we see the Baltic Sea in front of us, without sleeping along the way, only with breaks for meals, and let me tell you, this route is perfect for this, 404 km on which you won't be bored, and which will treat you to beautiful views that will make you rub your eyes with delight.
You'll find everything here, the perfect gravel roads of the Noteć Forest, which you'll later recall after Borne Sulinowo, smooth and wide, where the only sounds are the roar of speeding wheels and the cracking of pebbles. Asphalt, perfectly smooth on West Pomeranian bike paths, but also the worse for wear on a crumbling military training ground road where, to this day, I don't know what it was made of—concrete slabs or potholed asphalt, or perhaps a combination of both? There were also dangerous places that demanded concentration, especially when navigating them in the dark, like the slippery wooden bridges in Drawski Karjoobrazowy Park near Połczyn-Zdrój, or crossing thickets like in the Amazon, where walking was a challenge, let alone cycling. And all this at the very end, where you picture a warm bed in your mind's eye and the taste of a warm meal on your tongue. It also involves crossing a stream, or in my case, wading through it, because after my chain fell off in the middle of the crossing, I had to get off the bike and finish the dirt on foot.
There are more places that will stay in your memory, because you will probably remember for the rest of your life the sight of the orange ferry that will take you across the Noteć River or the amazing section in Góraj, which winds through the surrounding forests and hills.
We also had a few unexpected encounters, some of them downright chilling. How else can you describe an encounter with a WOLF (!) in the middle of the night in a village long since asleep, with only the henhouse making an odd noise? Fortunately for us, after a moment of consternation, everyone went their separate ways, the wolf returned to the forest, and we continued on the trail. If you're starting to tire of riding in the dark, your heart will race with the dogs from the farms you pass. Besides barking, they'll also test your power output by chasing you for the next minute at top speed.
And if you stop praising the route you are taking for a moment, you might be able to meet, like we did, an osprey in Notecka or a badger in the forest behind Czaplinek.
While riding this route, we were lucky that in the Drawsko Lake District, where the terrain is hilly, the forests are dense and the fire roads are gravel roads interspersed with concrete slabs, the rain had already stopped and we experienced a wonderful golden hour, only to soon immerse ourselves in the darkest forest and narrow paths winding between the trees.
Did we manage to arrive before dawn? Sunrise greeted us on the beach in Ustronie Morskie, and we still had a few kilometers to go along the promenade in Kołobrzeg to the finish line.
The magic of this expedition was also added by the fact that we received T-shirts, but only those who decided to cover the long distance, we were unique, we had the same "uniforms" as if we were setting off on an expedition to discover the undiscovered, and completing this route in this T-shirt makes me remember what happened to me on the route every time I put it on.
This isn't an event organized by the bigwigs of the Polish gravel world, and for me, that's its greatest asset. This event has a family-oriented feel; you'll pass everyone along the route, including participants and organizers who will be waiting for you along the way to hand you a bottle of cold water, who will greet you with a warm meal at the finish line after a long day, and who will surround you with family-like care, realizing what a huge challenge you've just endured. Everyone here is on first-name terms because you've been through it together, and that brings you closer together.
I am writing this almost a year after completing this route and almost a month before I complete it again, and let this be the best recommendation, because it is a complete route that makes you want to come back, and that is not a common occurrence anymore.
Wojtek Grzesiek, organizer of local events and active gravel member of the GraveLove Poznań community.
PGAR by Inoni vol. 2
This year, we're organizing the second edition, which will take place on May 24th. The route has undergone minor modifications to make it even safer and more engaging. For this edition, if you'd like a T-shirt, you'll need to place an additional order. The package will include a unique scarf – a gravel scarf, of course, bearing the INONI logo.
Link to registrationThis race is an adventure that will allow you to break many barriers. You'll cover a distance of 400 km, not on asphalt, but along beautiful trails.
