An understatement, to say the least, as Martijn van Strien found out when taking on the mother of all mountain rides - the infamous Hellenic Mountain Race. In the latest series of Chasing Alternative Paths, Martijn, AKA @fernwee.cc, videographer and gravel-riding devotee, took his trusted camera to document the Hellenic-adventure from start to finish. Gear checked. Spirit levels high. Yet as the race unfolded, things didn't go according to plan…
Some races just make you wince at just the thought of them. The sheer scale makes mere mortals tighten up in all the wrong places. Nah not for me. Pull the other one. No way. F-THAT! - just some of the natural responses you'd expect if sharing the fact that you'd be riding up and down mountains for 938 kilometres with over 29,000 metres of vertical ascent. That's scaling the height of Everest multiplied three times over with change to spare. Oh, and totally unsupported, except for three checkpoints. Few people in the world dare to take on a beast like The Hellenic Mountain Race. Martijn van Strien is one of those people.
To have the levels of brass just to turn up at the start line is a feat in itself, let alone actually finishing the thing. As any ultra rider like Martijn will testify, not all heavy crashes are physical. Mental anguish can hurt just as hard and cut just as deep. To reach the top, sometimes you must strike out at the bottom. Despite your best efforts, you're not the only one in the driving seat. Mother Nature and your inner voice - lairy backseat passengers seize the opportunity to take the wheel. The engine stops ticking over. The legs stop firing. Everything grinds to a halt. The inevitable doubt creeps in. "I think it takes a particular type of person to take on a challenge like this on their own. And maybe I'm not that type of person..."
Martijn was humble enough to share his video diary of what unfolded out there among the Grecian wilderness in a raw unfiltered document of the highs, the lows and the ultimate scratch-out. As well as recording the race, he also shared his post-race reflections back in the comfort of home base in Rotterdam, Holland. As the footage illustrates, the levels of confusion, energy and drive might fluctuate, but the love of riding is steadfast. As the dust of his race-exit settled, Martijn contemplated many more events left on the to-do list:
"For the rest of the year I have quite a lot of these long-distance challenges planned… I'm going to figure out a way to take this on together with other people", as he continues: "Riding is better together. This is what this experience taught me. And who knows, maybe one day if I'm feeling better, I'll take on a solo challenge like this again."
Never-say-die followers of the alternative path like Martijn are just as inspiring in the depths of defeat as they are in the throws of victory. Pain is temporary; class is permanent. The spirit to keep looking forward to the next challenge is all-conquering. Check out Martijn's video diary right here to share in the drama as it happened. The message is clear - the races may finish with success, sometimes with disappointment, but the drive to keep showing up and giving it a red hot crack never ends.
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