A few days ago I returned from a great cycling event that takes place every year in Sredna Gora in Bulgarian village Mutenitsa.
The organizer is the Plovdiv cycling club - "Kriva Spitsa". This year, the event is being held for the 16th time in a row. By this point, several of my friends had participated, and after the many positive reviews and comments, with @nanast we decided to participate this year.
I had not been to this area and the opportunity to visit and explore it especially by bike was very tempting.
The idea of the race is for everyone to do as many laps as they want on the course for 24 hours. Everyone could participate alone or in the relay with a friend or up to 4 friends.
My idea was to do one cycling race with Nana and one more at sunrise.
I wanted to explore the route in daylight and mark a place from where I could enjoy the sunrise.
We arrived the day before the race to settle in and set up tents.
The next day the tents became more and more.
There were people of different ages and many children, some of whom participated in the event.
There was going to be a technical inspection of the bicycle and a check for the presence of personal equipment such as: helmet, headlights, tools and others.
Then came the handing out of the start cards and t-shirts.
The route was very interesting and extremely varied. We passed through meadows, forests, rocks, stones, rivers, puddles, dam.
At the highest point of the route there was a checkpoint. There they had prepared water, grapes and sweet things.
There was a descent and crossing over even more interesting terrain.
A dam could be seen in the distance and although I went slightly off route I went to enjoy the view for a while.
Next was a section with beautiful rock formations.
The dam on the other side.
Early in the morning I made my second lap. I was cycling with headlights and enjoyed the sleeping nature and night sounds.
I wanted to reach the highest point to enjoy the sunrise.
When I arrived, 2 other participants were enjoying the colors. Gradually it became lighter and the colors around brighter. You can see a timelapse from the morning here.
On the way down I was tempted to take a closer look at the beautiful stones around the river.
The beautiful flowers I encountered everywhere along the route.
I stopped at the dam again but on the other side.
Here are the beautiful rocks, but from a slightly different angle.
Near the finish line.
There were participants who cycled non-stop for 24 hours.
The route was 11.1 km and the participant with the most laps completed 27 laps in a time of 23:39:42.
Here are the smallest participants of the final.
Traditionally, after the race, the participants eat ice cream from grandmother Zoya in the village of Kaloyanovo. And we didn't miss it!
Thank you for stopping by!
