12/31/2023
TCR recap D12-13
Final stretch 🇬🇷🏁
Another hot day in Greece, after crossing and another TCR rider at a bakery in a village early in the morning. I pass by a few villages in the mountains looking to cool myself off with frozen treats, keep hydration and salt levels high to not fall from fatigue. I have such a nice view on the Polyfytos reservoir lake. I get to Kilkis where I try to find a frontal light quickly before dark, since I had trouble charging mine lately, without success.
Leaving Kilkis behind, I could see a first storm ⛈️ since Slovenia ahead of me. I was 🤞 that I wouldn't get too wet. Luckily the worst part of rain hit me where I could get some shelter from a tree. After approximately 10min I was back riding. I could see bright flashes around me. As I was climbing the final Parcours, the storm was probably around the mountain and I got somehow lucky. I was riding in the dark only on the dynamo and emergency settings of the frontal. Going up I barely had light, and going down it was shaking a lot with the bumpy rocks, this is when the frontal light is usually very helpful to point a bright light directly where I want to see with my head 🔦 Unfortunately as I was descending, with probably a little too much confidence, my front wheel got stuck in a crack that I didn't see on the right. My bike tilted forward and I flew straight over the handlebars with a front flip landing 🛬 on my back. After 30s self assessing that I was O.K. 😵💫 I got back on my feet, put the bike back in order and continued my way out of this endless roller coaster 🎢
I slept a quick 30 min power nap on the side of the road next to Kerkini lake. I had a nice view as the sun came up, but I think I slept on an ant's nest! As I was going downhill pretty fast, enjoying the last long descent before the finish, I got stung by a wasp on the nose. The adrenaline kicked in!
I finally reached Thessaloniki, the TCR organizers really wanted us to do some sightseeing (and burn the last few muscle fibers we had left). A few steep walks and minutes of sightseeing later, I was there, the FINISH by the sea after 13 days and 14 hours across Europe!