Well, the event I had been looking forward to all year - the biggest MTB marathon in Serbia, the Fanatic Fruška gora marathon - is over for another year. I love this event, maybe because it is the first “race” I took part in, maybe because it is open to everyone, slightly flouting the Serbian cycling federation rules and allowing all-comers to take part, even over the longest distance of 80km, and making it a great fun event with over 200 riders taking part this year (a record).

It was the event I had worked up to all winter and spring, but until just a few days before I still had no idea whether I would ride the Small (30km), Medium (54km) or Great (81km) routes. My reasoning went: I know the Small route like the back of my hand, and looking at my time in practice I could actually finish top 10 easily, even top 5. The Medium was a bit of an unknown quantity - I had only ridden it once, very slowly, so wasn’t sure how well I could do. It didn’t seem too tough though, and I could possibly top-ten that one too. Finally though, I couldn’t resist it: this IS supposed to be a marathon after all!

So I went for a repeat of 2007, when I last attempted the 81km Great marathon, and when I finished in a time of 6:56, as compared to the winner Boris Popović (national champ) who was back in time for lunch, in 4:03 (yes, that’s almost 3 hours difference!)

The Great Marathon

This race is not to be taken lightly, and hopefully this map shows why:

80 km (50m) is a piece of cake to ride, but couple that with 2500m of climbing (for the Brits that’s Snowdon and Ben Nevis put together, approximately) and suddenly the distance is the least of your worries. The route takes you up and down Fruška Gora multiple times, so you are very conscious with every descent that an evil ascent awaits you! In particular, look at the final two or three climbs - just as you think you are getting close to the end, the worst ascents (and they are a nightmare) are yet to be ridden! So you DO need to be fit - and we are talking about real endurance fitness, and though I have trained a great deal this year (and even ridden the route once in practice with mixed results) it still wasn’t for the faint-hearted. The sole aim was to finish, and to possibly improve on my time, maybe even go sub-6:00.

Start

The weather this year was a vast improvement on last year when torrential rain turned the mountain into a mud-fest, everyone’s times were off by at least 25% and the winner (Boris again) came in with a trashed helmet and missing saddle, having crashed somewhere and apparently lain unconscious for some time before picking himself up and still finishing first, though with no recollection of what had happened.

It was dry in the forest, a hot sunny day, with a great crowd of riders keen to get going. I knew I was fast on the first 30km as I know this section well (practically with my eyes closed), and since we who were riding the Great route got to take pole position, I made sure I got a quick start so I wouldn’t get bogged down in the crowd on the first ascent. Not that a few minutes would make that much difference over the long distance - I’m not racing the guys who are riding 30 and 54km after all, but I figured every minute would count later on and it would be good to get the first 30km out of the way (been there, done it!) So I got away among the first 15 or so at a fairly high rate of energy consumption, just to get the early advantage, and then the plan was to back off.

Down then up

The first descent, mostly on wide-track forest floor, with some loose gravel too, flashed by (one rider slid out on the gravel - someone ALWAYS does at that spot. Local knowledge, can’t beat it…) and before I knew it, I was out at Paragovo, waving to Mum and Dad who’d come by to watch, and crossing the road (apparently closed VERY late by the police, literally after the leader had already come into view). Then began the first major ascent, a very steep, only just climbable section through the woods, though very familiar to me as I ride it at least once a week. My early fast start paid off, there were not too many riders ahead and I wasn’t forced to dismount.

Coming out onto Glavica I spy Dejan, probably the best hobby (i.e. non-club) rider, threading his chain through the rear derailleur. Not sure what that was about but I leave him behind and embark on the next climb, which has another very steep section, with a lot of loose wood and logs, which this time I just couldn’t ride. But no worries, there’ll be plenty more pushing ahead, no sense in killing myself here.

All the while I have Miki Grujičić in my sights, a 45-year-old guy, a local bike mechanic, who always rides the Great marathon and never ceases to impress with a VERY respectable time. If I can just keep up with him…

Then down

This ascent continues up into the woods for 20 minutes or so until we reach the first watering point, close to the ridge of the Fruška Gora, and then begins a rapid descent through some nicely bermed tracks, out into the open at Direk and then down a little technical section into some woods where you can put the pedal to the metal again all the way down to Stražilovo, a local picnic spot. Grujičić disappears from my sights, pulling away from me within seconds of the beginning of the descent, and I never see him again..!

Up again

At Stražilovo I spot Nemanja, who got there well ahead of me but apparently crashed trying to change his gloves on the descent (?!) and put himself out of the race. His club friends Ed and Damir (both also riding the great marathon) stop to see if he is OK. I leave them behind and begin the ascent up to Brankov Grob - a monument to Branko Radičević, a famous Serbian poet. The path up to this goes up some steep, rooty, winding hairpin bends, with the occasional steps, and riding this never ceases to draw the awe of pedestrians who are struggling to up walk there, and can’t quite believe anyone could cycle up!

Down again (getting the picture so far?!)

From the monument on there is a milder climb up to the main ridge road, the so-called Partizanski put, onto the tarmac and then, after signing off at the first checkpoint, back into the woods and down another fun descent (very fast if you know it) to the monastery of Grgeteg, whereupon begins, you guessed it, another ascent, possibly the hardest so far, especially for the less fit riders who are only going the 30km (or those who thought the 54km sounded like a good idea, but didn’t really know what awaited them!) - this tends to be the point where they start wondering why they did this! A particularly steep section forced a dismount (haven’t managed to ride it yet this year, though it is doable) and then it was back on the bike and more struggling until the climb levelled out slightly and took a more gradual gradient back up to the ridge road and the TV tower.

All this while there is not much movement in the positions - I more or less retain something around 20th place (including all the riders in the other races) and don’t overtake anybody much, nor does anyone overtake me, surprising since the guys riding the shorter distances should have been forcing a higher pace. I guess I got a good start, and I’m not TOO shabby, after all!

Then comes a fast tarmac section down to Iriški Venac, a major intersection, where I am surprised to see my parents again, who inform me that Boris came through some 20 minutes before me, haring down the hill like the madman he is. I sign off at the checkpoint, grab some food (not going to get caught out this time and bonk halfway through) and carry on along the tarmac, still very few other riders around, and part company from the Small marathon (they are nearly home and dry).

Down to Vrdnik

A turn off the tarmac after a few km, and a fast descent through the woods, though now this is less familiar territory to me. Through the spa town of Vrdnik on tarmac and back out, up along the road to the monastery of Jazak, where now the Medium and Great marathons also part company, at around the 35km mark.

This is where on previous occasions I have started to really struggle and others will testify that this is where the Great marathon really starts. Boris is now at least half an hour ahead of me (how does he DO that?!) but I am still around 8th or 9th in the field for the Great marathon, which is fine by me.

Up to Letenka

Up, up, through some heavily rutted tracks, I catch up with a young guy called Nikola who is taking a “rest” in a field by the track, at least so he says, and we ride together for a while, up to a spot called Pinkijev spomenik, a monument to a communist hero, though I confess I have failed to spot the actual monument whenever I have come this way. We cross the road and duck back into the forest onto a nice section of single-track, perhaps the most fun part of the whole route. I keep up with Nikola’s fancy youthful cornering until we reach a sharp technical descent. I have ridden this before without dismounting, but this time the curse of the brake pads seems to catch up with me and my discs appear to fade, forcing me into an emergency stop into a bush and a dismount.

At some point here I am also caught up with by Dejan, the guy who was reattaching his chain right at the start, and Damir and Ed - gotta face facts, I got off to a better start than they did, but these guys’ve just got a bit more in them when comes down to it, and all three were to finish some 15-20 minutes ahead of me in the end.

Nasty crash

Eventually reaching Letenka I stop for more food and drink at the checkpoint, manned by Ivan Davosir, the main man behind the Fanatic bike company, team and marathon event. I am surprised to be caught up by Gamzzy, one of the Elite riders, and all-round nice guy - I had no idea he had been behind me all the time. He complains of being a little ill through a lack of sleep, and he does look a bit dodgy. We set off on the next descent, me slightly ahead, when I come across a shocking sight - the young guy I had ridden with earlier, Nikola, on the ground, twisted up with his bike, scraped and cut up and bleeding all over the place. Somehow his brakes had locked up (hydraulics, dialled in way too tight as it turned out) and he had lost it on a perfectly innocent, almost flat section. I stop to help him out, together with Gamzzy and the another guy who were not far behind me, move him off the path, call Davosir who is just up the hill with his dirt bike to hand, as it happens, and then when we are sure help is coming and Nikola isn’t too badly hurt, just banged up (that was the end of the marathon for him), we head on down, me outstripping the beleaguered Gamzzy who would normally leave me cold on the descent. The “rest” had done me good, it seemed! Still, I could feel myself being just a little more careful after that accident - the sight of blood usually does that.

Guess what?

Down to a little plateau called Testera (checkpoint 6) where a little group formed of Ed, Damir, myself, Gamzzy and his companion (who I am sure had a name, but I didn’t know him!). That was more of us than last time I took part, when I was the first rider through there in a full 45 minutes and there was no-one else to be seen - in fact I did not see ANYONE else after the first 30km! We rested for a few minutes, before leaving in pretty much the order we had arrived, though Gamzzy had sat down by this point and was intimating that he might have to call it quits (which indeed he did in the end).

You have to realise that at this point you are 54km into the race, 25km to go, about 4 hours in, and yet you know that a) the race leaders are already close to home b) the WORST section is yet to come!

From Testera you embark on the single biggest ascent so far, almost 400m of climbing, much of it unrideable (well, by me at least) - hiking trails which were never meant to be ridden by bike. By this time every muscle is screaming out and getting off and pushing doesn’t make it any easier. This part is meant to be survived, nothing more!

Up to Crveni Čot and… back down again

Eventually (the intervening agony cannot really be adequately described), having lost all other riders from view long ago, I espy the mighty cables which anchor the Crveni Čot communications tower to the ground, hit the highest point on Fruška Gora (539m), sign off another checkpoint and head… back down again, this time including a very tricky technical descent which I have not yet mastered and which I am forced to walk. All the way down to the Beočin monastery (yes, there are a lot of monasteries on Fruška Gora!) and then, horror of horrors, ANOTHER ascent!

Up to Brankovac

This ascent is probably the second worst - if you have been doing anything like a normal pace until now, you probably have virtually NO strength left for this 300m (pushing 45 degrees in some places) ascent and it’s a case of pure survival. On previous occasions it has usually been at this point (if not on the previous ascent) that I have promised myself never EVER to do this again. Much of it is unrideable by all but the fittest (and some of it not even by them, I suspect), and my legs, arms, shoulders… hmmm… everything come to think of it, is agony by now. Amazingly though, perhaps due to the test run I did a couple of weeks ago, or maybe because I know the route better now and know that it DOES end eventually, I survive the climb with some remaining reserves of mental and physical energy.

Brankovac signals the beginning of several kilometres of tarmac up to Zmajevac, and on a little further, until a turn-off into the woods indicates the beginning of the last descent, a little deceptive in places, probably where Boris bashed his noggin last year, into the village of Stari Ledinci.

Home run

From Ledinci there is one last, sadistic climb, with much pushing (even when you are NOT on your 80th kilometre!) which doesn’t look much on the map but believe me I was close to grinding to a halt at several points and it was only sheer bloody-minded determination to finish the race that kept me going. Down some tricky steps to the little lake just below Popovica and then a grind up a hill that we had sledded down last winter (pictured right - seems like yesterday), out onto the Popovica car park and a sprint against no-one but myself to the finish line to end:

13th/24

with a time of

6:18!

Reflections

The Fruška Gora Veliki maraton is a serious undertaking. It is fiendishly demanding and it is not surprising that according to official Serbian XCM rules, and probably international ones too, entry should only be allowed to Elite category riders. The fact that the leader finished in 4:24 (20 minutes off his own record time), almost two hours before me, should tell you something! By the way, Grujičić finished 8th, in 5:30 - if only I had kept up with him!

It doesn’t tell the whole story though - there were riders who finished in more than 8 hours (8:53 in the case of two of them!) and there were good riders who did not finish at all. I managed to shave my time down from 3 hours behind the leader to two, so that’s kind of an achievement too!

I was perhaps surprised I did not make a slightly better time, as this was only (hmm, did I just say that?!) 40 minutes quicker than my first attempt, which itself was far from ideal - I was in much better form this time, much more confident on the descents, did much less resting, much less pushing, took in much more energy on the way and did not get a puncture as I did before. I would still definitely like to see a 5 on the timer next time, even if it’s only 5:59!

The fact is that Fruška Gora is not conquered easily - it takes exponential increases in fitness just to make small improvements. A faster descent here, a brisker climb there just aren’t enough! In fact it takes successive years of training to build up to something like this.

Next year I hope to be back, and at least shave a little more time off, but whatever happens I will look forward to this great event and I encourage anyone who thinks they know what MTB XC marathons are about to come along to Novi Sad next May and show us how it’s done. Because to be honest, I am still not entirely sure myself!

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Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by markowe
Filed under: MTB Serbia (All)