Poland

“ReadyForBiking” or Bike Orient, Burzenin – report on orienteering rally

Burzenin – flowing with honey and milk, the small town below Sieradz witnessed our battle with heat, thirst and omnipresent sand.

This was one of the few rallies where we were not able to plan the entire route in advance, and went to the first points hoping to “see” what would happen next…. Stay tuned for a detailed report!

Bike Orient Burzenin 2015

The rally took place on August 15 in Burzenin Municipality (starting exactly from the nearby village of Strumiany) on the territory of the Inter-River Warta and Widawka Landscape Park. Two rivers, so it would not be without crossing them by bike :) This time we did not spend the night in the area, we rode first thing in the morning from Lodz.

The weather forecasts, unfortunately, were not optimistic. The heat has been struggling Poland for more than two weeks now, and in addition, first thing in the morning we still heard on the radio that the weekend just the highest temperatures will be in the center of Poland (36st C!) :)

Nevertheless, there was a spark of hope when we entered Sieradz and it was wet there! Even though the clouds had already passed it still gave a bit of a chill, but only at first….

Unfortunately, at 9:30 a.m. there was no trace of the rainy clouds and, hidden in the shadows of the trees, we waited for the distribution of maps and the signal to start the rally. Never before have we taken so long to think about a route. As a rule, it was fairly easy to periodize which way you were going to go, and here the plan was especially important because rivers could not be crossed everywhere. Hence, the choice of one side made it necessary to consistently stick to the points on one side, because going to the other side involved making up many kilometers.

We decided to go to the nearest point – PK 6 – the remains of a fortified settlement, which was easy to find, and then set off towards PK 5 on the banks of the Warta River. As we expected, it was not possible to cross the river here (or maybe it was, if someone checked it let us know :) ), so we decided to make two points on the left and fly south. The first PK 19 was a hole, and the second PK 10 was the edge of the forest. The roads here were rougher, lots of sand, so we drove around a bit. We made up a few kilometers, but at least the roads were paved, although there was also some sand and driving through fields.

The next point was PK 11, another point on the river and our only hope to cross it. We reached the point fairly easily, but unfortunately we started to run out of water supplies (we had 2.5l of water plus an isotonic with us). This item was a salvation and the most fun the organizers could give us! We crossed the river with our bicycles, although we would have been happiest to jump into our swimsuits and bathing suits and stay there for longer :)

The super refreshment gave us strength and energy to continue on our way, but we were already looking out more and more for the stores that were supposed to be open, which were not at all. Our route did not include a PK with a buffet, nor an additional one with water, so we had to save ourselves in other ways….

The next easy point PK 20 – a limestone pit visible from afar went quickly, although the road along the sandy gravel was not an easy one. Along the way, more stores passed turned out to be closed as well :(

We quickly flew to the next PK 16 pit (or rather, a mass of pits) with a checkpoint. Here the crisis had already begun… We had nothing left to drink and decided that if the next store was closed we would change the route and go to Vidava (there is the best chance to get something) or we would pester people we met along the way for a refill of water.

Unfortunately, another store in the nearest Dabrowa Vidavskaya was closed, so we sat down in the shade to determine an alternative route. Fortunately, a local saw us and called out to the store owner, who opened the store especially for us and sold us the world’s best orangeade! Oh my! How delicious that orangeade was! :) Other drinks too, but it was the orangeade that made us get our wings :)

So we did without a visit to Vidava, but ahead of us was the most difficult part of the map – riding through the forest. We were left with 4 points, 3 of which were in the forest, and if we had trouble finding any we had no other alternative.

The first, PK 8 at the end of the road, was not difficult to find, although there was a lot of sand. Driving towards the next more difficult one, we got a little confused by the map (which by now was very mega accurate) and took the horse trail, which you know how it ends ;) Eventually, we hit the gravel road after expressly entering the forest and heading on azimuth. Here the ride was a fairy tale compared to earlier roads, only to have to find a good bounce in the direction of the nature reserve and follow the embankment to connect with another embankment.

We found both embankments (again, it was not without strong sand here), but the PK 4 point was not there. Here we searched a bit, because the lantern was not as close to the intersection as we expected. Fortunately, we somehow managed to find a hidden lantern. The last banana and the other two points went really smoothly. Pulpit PK 18 – hit by an accidental shortcut, and then quickly to the asphalt road and the last point PK 12 – the top of the hill (like the traditional cherry on the cake :) ).

The route was quite easy, especially compared to the previous edition:) Unfortunately, the weather was not good this time…. The heat gave a hard time. In total, we drank about 3-3.5 liters per person while covering 56 km! It was optimal to cover 50 km, so the result was quite decent. With this result, Kamila managed to get the 3rd place on the podium!

Luck of misfortune, when we were already on the way back home we noticed that Kama on the front wheel had a flak…. It’s a good thing we could take care of it already in peace at home. If we had such a situation on the route it would be hard to wrestle with the bike in such weather….