According to the organizer, you were not the winner, do you feel like a winner yourself?
I feel like a winner. I think that the reaction of the public, who closely followed him on Instagram, for example, is a clear proof that I never slept somewhere in a caravan and similar invented fairy tales, which unfortunately arose during the race. I’m looking for envy behind everything, because the organizer couldn’t stand the fact that I have a very large fan base, which is loud and kind of drowned out his hype of the race, and he was a little embarrassed at the finish line. He made a nice mess when he greeted me as a winner at the finish line, gave me a finisher’s t-shirt, congratulated me on a great time because I came to the finish line with a lead of five hundred kilometers and then asked me when I was flying home. Now I know why he asked me that. He waited until I was home and then created the unclassified category, which he then moved me to.
Is it really one person behind the decision?
That’s right, unfortunately the race is a business venture of one person who decides absolutely everything and unfortunately also the order at the finish line.
Will you run the race again?
I will certainly never run a race organized by this organizer, and I would hardly recommend it to other competitors either. It is a great injustice, but thanks to this life test, I realize what is really important. I returned home after a month of very hard cycling, associated with many risks, relatively healthy and most importantly, when he sees his girls at home, I know very well what is important in life.
So what happened in a race that is 7,400 kilometers long and has the distinction of being unsupported?
A friend who takes pictures of me during the races stopped at a few places and took a picture of me. We are not in contact, of course I drive according to the rules and I would never think of telling him to give me a roll with salami from the car. I ran out of water twice in Finland, but I didn’t think anything of it. There were no wells anywhere, so I just took water from the river. In the rules I signed before the start, there was no mention that there should not be someone along the course taking pictures of the competitor’s movement. Before the start, the organizer and I agreed on the clear limits of the rules, but after two days of riding, one German competitor couldn’t bear that I wasn’t good enough and started making judgments on social networks that I was living with the photographer and that he was carrying my things. He made up this fairy tale and on that impulse the organizer Andy banned us from taking pictures. He sent us that information just when we were in Switzerland, their data was turned off, and he insisted that he would only communicate via email. He just informed me by email that I was disqualified, my wife read the message and wrote back to him that I was not on the date and that Táda was ending his photography. The organizer Andy said that ok, let me drive to the finish line and it will be solved there. I wanted to deal with it now and Andy said to forget the incident and enjoy the race.
Do you think that your popularity with the fans went down the organizer’s neck?
I will explain the interest by saying that ninety percent of the crowd are people from Nová Paka. I have huge support from them and I am an amateur racer with professional fans. I greatly appreciate what they do for me and I try to repay them by trying to share and record my stories well. Andy, the organizer, must have been envious of my favor, because it probably never happened that so many fans reached the finish line in Tarifa.
Interest in driving from among fans, but it also brings publicity to the race itself. On the contrary, that should make him happy, or not?
Exactly, but unfortunately, after his senseless step, he brings publicity from a completely different point of view. Even Swiss fans who are against Andy write to me.
What is the greatest experience for you from completing the challenge North Cape – Tarifa?
The greatest experience I have is connected with the welcome at the airport and also at the event that took place the day before yesterday in Nové Paca, where a lot of surprises awaited me. Finally, I jumped off the stage and into the crowd. However, I also have deeply engraved moments that were on the opposite side of the spectrum, when I was badly beaten up during a race and could hardly hold the handlebars for two days. It also made my back hurt as I was overexerting one side of my body. The accident happened 1300 kilometers before the finish line and I consoled myself by the fact that luckily I didn’t break any bones. But I had to have my wounds treated at the hospital.
At that moment, did it bother you more that the blood flowed or, above all, that you were wasting your time?
I didn’t care about the time, because I already had a much bigger lead. It was the kind of wreck that a person, when driving x thousands of kilometers per year, only meets once or twice every once in a while. It happened at a stupid time in a stupid place.
Does a person perceive how many kilometers are left to the destination or does it not matter at all?
I’ve learned to live with it, in the early stages of a race you have to tell yourself how many kilometers you’ve covered instead of worrying about how many miles you have left. Rather, mentally praising myself and rewarding myself for what I have already accomplished. Then at the stage when I had the crash on my bike, you have to say to yourself: “it’s only five hundred or two thousand”, which is already great. There is already a need to fixate on the goal, but it must be done at the right moment, when it motivates you to reach it.
Dan, this is a race from the north of Norway to the south of Spain. How much have you studied the route and do you check if you are driving correctly?
We will receive the exact route from the organizer, which we will set in our GPS and drive according to it. I follow the purple line on the display and the arrows that show me where to turn. The navigation is relatively easy, the problem comes, for example, in cities, where there are more turning options, you might have to drive a bit there. We also have a sporttracker that broadcasts our location every five minutes, which is visible to the organizer and everyone watching on the website. That’s also why I met a lot of Czechs who were on vacation somewhere or have been living in France or Spain for a long time.
Video of polman youtube
Were you happy that it also traveled through the Czech Republic?
I considered participating in the race a lot, but the fact that the route would lead through the Czechia tipped the scales in my favor.
What was it?
Although my wife couldn’t even bring me the cake she had prepared for me. In addition, many people know that I like beer, so everyone refused an open can of Pilsner and I refused. I drove according to the rules, so in the end I also bought a beer in a tin, but at a gas station. It was a bit strange because the organizer Andy kept warning me to moderate the fans.
How does the food work at this race?
Ninety percent of the time I used gas stations, so I packed a lot of food in my bags, and then you eat a lot even while driving. I ate tons of bagels, toast, and when I think about it, it makes me sick. One of the few good things that settled the stomach was beer.
How much sleep did you get on average?
I haven’t been able to calculate it exactly yet, but I think it was no more than three hours a day.
What does such a dream even look like?
Before leaving, I threw out the sleeping bag and mat from the packed things, and in the end I only kept an emergency bivouac bag. This will ensure that you don’t die, but you can’t talk about comfort. In the mountains, where it was colder, I wasn’t quite well-equipped there and was knocking the scythe. I slept alternately, sometimes outside, in the south of Spain you sleep for example at a bus stop, other times I used guesthouses and hotels. I was scheduled to arrive at the hotel at around one o’clock in the morning, but due to the difficult terrain, I didn’t arrive until five in the morning. I slept in hotels so that I could recharge everything. Lights, navigation, power bank, mobile and also electronic gear shifting on the bike. Even before the race, I had a clearly defined itinerary, to which I devoted at least thirty hours of preparation, where I would stop and sleep.
What part of the race route was the most beautiful?
I was excited about Norway and the northern part of Finland, where it was beautiful. Then, until the Czech Republic, it was flatter and drab. I would also point out Estonia, where I was pleased not only with the architecture but also with the behavior of the drivers, that country has a huge shot at the goal and, in my opinion, is at a much higher level than Finland.
Even after 24 days of driving, were you able to perceive how people behave and what you see in that country?
On the contrary, the perception of feelings and subliminal things increases during this activity and the person is far more sensitive than normal. In terms of nature, my mouth dropped when passing through France, when we passed through various canyons, and that is why I say that when nature was giving out beauty, France was very far ahead in that front and had its hands well extended. I used to believe that we are a small Europe, but after this event I changed my mind. Europe is beautiful, vast, and before you cross it from North to South, it’s a crazy ride.
Why do you even engage in extreme challenges?
I do it because it’s a discipline that always gets you some crazy stories. I wouldn’t guess that the craziness will last three days after the finish, but I do it for the stories and I enjoy interacting with the fans who share the story with me. People enjoyed it, and thanks to the fact that each of my participations is widely followed, I always announce a fundraiser. This time it runs until the end of the month on my website, where there is a link to a transparent account and anyone can donate. The proceeds will go to two children who are fighting an insidious disease and at the same time to the Sportem proti barierám association, which are wheelchair users in our region.
