The Himalayas, the roof of the world under which the Buddhist-inspired culture blossoms
in the middle of a hostile desert. While for many it is a place of meditation and spirituality,
for cyclists it poses challenges found nowhere else in the world.
This is the story of one such challenge.
Heading north from the city of Le, you embark on the road to Kadum La. At over 5,300 meters,
the pass features the highest road in the Himalayas and one of the highest in the whole world.
Since its opening in 1988, it has become the focal point for adventurers like Christoph
Kluger, an Austrian athlete who set the cycling record on Kadum La in 2012.
Years later, Shkoda invited cyclists from all over the world to try and beat the record.
Only four of them were brave enough to attempt it.
Former pro-cyclist Bartosz Uzarski, lifelong cycling fanatic Andreas Kilaro and Queen of
the Mountains on Strava, Evelyn Skog. Instead of the fourth rider, a phone call came. Valenti
Sanjuan had been hospitalized after finishing 10 Ironmans in 10 days. Nobody knows what
condition he'll be in when he arrives.
To avoid acute altitude sickness, it's crucial to rest during the first 24 hours. But for
the riders, even rest means exploring.
By the end of the day, the riders are already eager to get on their bikes.
Riding a bike means a lot to me. It's kind of my private space. Before I started riding,
I was a runner and I really loved running. But the problem with running is that I can't
run as much as I want to because I get injured all the time. And my husband told me, why
don't you try my bike?
I started to ride a bike, like a road bike, maybe five, six years ago. Before I was riding
a fixer gear bike and way before I was riding a BMX. So it's just part of my life.
If you are a pro, you are a pro 24 hours per day. There is no excuse to spend many days
out of home, far away from the family. It's also kind of sacrifice because for the head,
it's really hard, especially when you have small kids. All my life, all my family life,
it's around cycling.
Some shots from my office in Poland.
Thanks to their hypoxic training at home, the riders are acclimatizing much faster
than average tourists. On the second day, they head out for a Sunday ride along the
River Indus to see what it means to ride a bike in the Himalayas.
I'm looking forward to pushing the pedals. I really don't know how my body is reacting
to that. I mean, I've never done it. I don't have the opportunity. In Italy, we don't have
such a high climb, such a high road.
The crucial challenge of high altitude cycling is the extremely thin air. With every breath,
you only take about 50% of the oxygen you get at sea level. That means half of the energy
for your muscles, lower stress resistance of the nervous system, and limitations in
processing food.
At low altitudes, you would start breathing deeper to take in more oxygen. In the Himalayas,
there just isn't enough oxygen to catch your breath.
You get your breath pretty quickly, even though the pulse stays low. So it's hard to manage
and find a balance between what we should do and what's recommended. I feel everybody
has to listen to the body.
So my training is, I need to do a bit of intervals on the hills. It depends by the gradient of
the climb. I mean, the places are amazing. The roads are perfect. So yeah, that's no
best spot here.
During the training session, Andreas Schillerow decides to push himself to the limit, pedaling
to the top of the pass at an altitude of 5,300 meters, completely breaking up his schedule.
Two kilometers to the top of Varylaha.
It has dire consequences.
Despite Andreas' incident, a training session on the Kadung La Pass is scheduled for the
next day.
One of the goals of the training is to get a grasp of the final 10 kilometers. At an
altitude of about 4,500 meters, the road changes to gravel trail, and heavy trucks often get
stuck trying to pass each other.
After a two-hour ride with no time to catch their breath, the finish is going to bleed
the rider's dry. And they need to be ready for it. In case of altitude sickness, there
is an emergency facility on the way up. But the only real treatment is to come back down
to lay, and nobody wants to do that.
The road to the Kadung La is ok until last 8 kilometers maybe. First we have really good
tarmac and everything is ok. Nice twisty roads, no problem.
4,300 meters. 160 heartbeat. And 20.7km to go. Why not?
And my legs are a bit like...
Then it starts to be really difficult for the... with the briefing, no oxygen. And last
10 kilometers it's terrible hard. It's really, really hard. I couldn't keep my speed.
Even if I would like to drink, it's not possible. Because then I have to change my brief rhythm.
And then it starts much more difficult with gravel road, road under construction.
Hard with 148 it's not possible to go deeper. Legs completely empty.
Once I had to stop completely, take deep breath and then I could continue the race,
because I have to ready these squeezy fingers, legs, losing the concentration.
Malaya cycling.
Behind the next curve is the end.
But there's another curve, and another, and another, and another.
And towards the end you feel like this never ends.
And it just continues forever and ever.
So it's mentally taxing.
For these people probably it's something strange.
That the men on the bike is climbing so high.
But we love cycling. We like challenges.
How do you feel?
Shit.
I don't feel anything at all in my legs. It's all here.
And here. Here and here.
And we spin it from that side.
While the rest of the riders are slowly getting used to the high altitude,
Valenti San Juan finally arrives,
catching the first flight from Spain after his release from hospital.
I arrived here with no training.
I did an Ironman in 10 days.
So I arrived here with no legs, with some injuries in my stomach,
but with a lot of illusion.
To meet the guys, to meet the mountain and to have this experience.
Oh, what the fuck?
I'm still alive.
The riders want to avoid heavy traffic on the pass,
so they wake up at dawn.
The morning is much colder than usual.
We decided we will do it today.
We heard some rumors that there is snow in the top.
Is it recording? Ready for the challenge?
To beat the current record, the riders have to start from the very same spot
as Christoph Kluge during his record attempt in 2012.
Always busy, gate of lay.
Along with them, there is a whole convoy getting ready.
Škoda service cars, an ambulance, a film crew.
The Kardung La has not seen an event of this scale in a long time.
And another thing will be different today.
Sunday is sunny and today you can look.
We go there, looks like it's raining.
And I have a headache, so everything is perfect.
I'm a little bit nervous.
It's just seconds to the start now.
The riders are getting in the zone.
After weeks of physical and mental training,
a few hours of riding will decide everything.
Will any of them become the fastest cyclist to ever climb Kardung La?
The race has started and now we have to try to do our best.
The goal for the riders is to arrive at the top of the pass before the Škoda Karok.
The car will be keeping the exact pace of the record,
following the GPS coordinates of Kluger's ride from start to finish.
Right after the start, Bartosz Shazarski breaks away from the other cyclists and the pace car.
Hard beat, 165.
Average speed so far, 20.3.
A little bit too fast, but I need to try to gain time in this altitude
because over 14.6,000 I feel really, really bad.
Andrea Skilero takes a risk and tries to chase Bartosz.
He doesn't just want to break the record.
He wants to win the race, but so far Bartosz is much faster.
It's going to be a real tough, hard fatigue race.
Meanwhile, ever Linskog and Valenti Sanjuan are keeping pace with the Škoda Karok.
I'm trying to follow Eva.
Eva faces difficulties from the very beginning of the race.
I don't feel perfect, a little bit dizzy, but okay.
And she still has more than 35 kilometers to climb.
It's a long way to go.
Valenti is struggling with every single push, but he is not giving up.
Three minutes in front of the record. Too hard for me.
Over the first 15 kilometers, the distance between the riders slowly increased.
Bartosz is completely impregnable.
It is becoming clearer by the minute that Bartosz is riding a solo race against the clock.
4,600 meters altitude, around 14-15 km to go.
Ciao and wish me good luck.
About halfway up the road, the mountain pulls another trick just to mix things up.
And here, it's just knowing us crazy. It's just knowing us crazy!
One minute 43 seconds ahead.
Even though I lost almost two minutes, taking all my jacket. That sucks.
Under these conditions, the riders are rapidly losing both oxygen and bodywarp.
And La is fighting back.
And for Valenti, it's just too much to take.
Oxygen in the car. Check it please.
Valenti's oxygen saturation has dropped rapidly, and he needs to stop.
The rest of the riders are approaching the final part of the climb. Hardly any road, hardly any oxygen.
Hardly any energy left, and the clock mercilessly keeps on ticking.
Just two kilometers from the top, still far ahead of the record, Bartosz has lost his GPS signal.
In the dense fog, with no way to track his position, his lead on Andrea could easily shrink.
But Bartosz is not the only one struggling through the endless switchbacks up to the pass.
Just waiting for the pace car to come and catch me.
What a misery. What a struggle.
My goal was really high, I say all or nothing.
It was really exciting.
My goal for me was to do as fast as possible, at least until next summer, nobody beats me.
With Bartosz already at the top, there's only honor left to gain.
Andrea Schillerow is climbing towards a bitter finish.
He would beat Kluge's original record, but Bartosz was faster than him.
He will be alive.
For Evelinskog, it was all about arriving at the top before the pace car, and she can still achieve that.
Despite initial difficulties and the heavy snow, Evelinskog manages to set a new women's record.
In the end, I didn't know if I was ahead or behind, so I just think it was really close.
Can I continue now? I will need the bar.
Valenti Sanjuan has refused to leave the race. He came to beat the mountain, and he will do that whatever it takes.
I'm suffering like hell, but having one of the most painful and beautiful at the same time experience of my whole fucking breaking life.
If you want to go home to the dark and freeze, of course I am.
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So proud of you. So proud of you. You know I thought I dropped you ten times.
And you came back and you came back and you came back and you came back.
And I'm like am I never going to get rid of this guy? You're so tough.
I think we did it. I'm super happy.
I'm like destroyed. I did it as fast as I can.
As strong as I can. And I'm super happy on that.
So yeah!
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Maybe it seems the cyclists have no limits. The truth is they just have big enough dreams.
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