Wisła 1200: The Day the Ride Needed a Repair

Rain and mud made the Otwock section hard enough. A broken spoke then turned Warsaw into an unexpected repair stop before the ride could continue north.

Day 4 started in rain.

We had slept near Maciejowice, in the small hut we’d found instead of pushing further the evening before. The owner had brought breakfast the night before, so we could leave when we wanted. That worked. We ate, packed and started around 6:35.

By now we had a simple daily rhythm: wake up around 5:30, leave around 6:30, ride until about 20:30, eat, wash, prepare for the next day and sleep around 22:00.

During the day there was not much routine beyond solving the next practical thing.

That morning, the rain was already falling.

Andrzej made the first useful joke of the day:

It’s good, it’s raining vertically.

It was exactly the kind of joke that helps when you are already wet. Rain wasn’t good, of course, but vertical rain meant there was no strong side wind. On a long ride, you take that kind of good news where you can find it.

The previous evening we had known that Day 4 could be difficult. The route ahead included the section the organiser called Otwocka Amazonia. The name was made up for the ride, not an official place name, but it was enough to suggest mud, branches and slow progress.

Before that, we still had to get through the morning.

After about 30 kilometres, we reached Bar u Zosi.

The stop was useful for simple reasons. We could dry a little, eat something warm, drink coffee and clean some mud off the bikes with a hose. The “cyclist set” that morning was tomato soup, coffee and cola. It wasn’t a planned menu. It was just what made sense.

We also knew there wouldn’t be many good stops before Warsaw. Bar u Zosi was one. Ostrówek would be another. After that, we would be close to the Otwock area, and we didn’t want to leave the route too much. The plan was to keep moving until Warsaw if we could.

Somewhere in that part of the day came another joke about “comfort.”

We were thinking ahead. If we reached Wyszogród, there would be roughly 420 kilometres left to the finish. That meant three days of about 140 kilometres. Compared with the first 200-kilometre days, that sounded like comfort.

But after three days of riding, with tired legs and half the route still ahead, it didn’t really feel comfortable anymore.

Still, the calculation mattered. We were no longer judging distance as a single ride. We were dividing the whole route into days that would keep the finish possible.

For a while, we rode with another rider.

That created a small misunderstanding. The three of us were riding together and the pace kept rising. We thought he wanted to go faster. He thought the same about us. Apparently nobody actually wanted to go that fast, but everybody kept pushing because they thought the others were pushing.

On a long ride, that happens. Nobody says anything, and suddenly everyone is working harder than necessary.

The next planned stop was Ostrówek.

It was the first proper shop stop of the day, so we used it for supplies. I also asked the shop assistant if she could boil some water for coffee. She agreed, made instant coffee in her own cups for me and Andrzej.

It was a small thing, but small things matter on a wet day. A shop, a roof and a hot drink can reset the next section.

After Ostrówek, the route became worse.

Before Kępa Nadbrzeska we entered a muddy section with singletracks and ruts. My bike slipped, and I fell into the mud. At the time, I didn’t know that anything serious had happened to the bike. I just got up and continued.

Later, after leaving that first mud section, I noticed that the front wheel was out of shape. It wasn’t bad enough to stop the ride immediately. The bike still rolled, and it didn’t really affect the ride quality, but I knew I had to be more careful.

That was not ideal, because the organiser’s Otwocka Amazonia was still ahead.

Near the Świder mouth, before or at the beginning of Otwocka Amazonia, I called Adam.

Adam had serviced my bike before Wisła 1200. I knew that if I could reach his service, he’d be able to check the wheel properly. I didn’t think much further than that. First get to the service. Then find out what needed to be done.

Otwocka Amazonia wasn’t difficult because of one obstacle. It was difficult because of the number of obstacles and the length of the section. If it had been shorter, it might’ve been fun. After a while, it became ridiculous.

There was mud, branches, narrow paths and repeated interruptions. I was already watching the front wheel, so I rode more carefully. At some point, after a branch hit the bike, I also lost my rear light.

The section was mentally tiring. Not because I thought the ride was over, but because it kept taking attention. Line, mud, branch, wheel, path, repeat. After enough time, that gets into your head.

Warsaw became the solution.

At the service, Adam found the real problem: a broken spoke in the front wheel.

The repair was more complicated because the wheel was tubeless. It wasn’t just a quick spoke swap. The tyre had to come off, the sealant had to be dealt with, the tape had to be cleaned and replaced, and then the wheel had to be put back together properly.

Once the spoke was replaced and the wheel was back together, the ride could continue.

The stop took about an hour and a half.

During the repair, Monika joined me at the service. It was good to see her after three and a half tiring days on the bike. We went upstairs to the café for coffee and cake. That helped. I was out of the mud, the bike was in good hands, and the problem had become specific.

After the repair, the day felt saved.

Andrzej and I rode separately after Warsaw. He’ d started earlier, as we had agreed, and I followed after the bike was ready. This was familiar ground for both of us, so splitting for this section didn’t make the day more complicated. We would rejoin later at the lodging in Zakroczym.

I knew the route from Warsaw towards Zakroczym, and that made a big difference. I did not think about the wheel much after leaving the service.

The route through the city didn’t feel like a typical urban bike crossing. Long parts followed gravel sections along the Vistula. They were good paths, and they kept the ride connected to the river rather than turning it into a city transfer.

Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki became a reset stop.

I went to McDonald’s. It wasn’t about hunger. It was a reward after a mentally hard day: the rain, the mud, Otwocka Amazonia and the repair. Coffee, something sweet, and then the last part of the day.

After Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, I rode along Twierdza Modlin, or Modlin Fortress. It was hard not to notice the large complex beside the route. This is also the area where the Narew joins the Wisła, so the ride passed another important river junction without turning it into a visit.

It was familiar in more than one way. I had ridden there before. I had also seen this part of the river system from the water. A few years earlier, I had first met Andrzej on a rowing trip from Warsaw to Czerwińsk.

The original destination for Day 4 had been Wyszogród. We didn’t reach it.

That was fine.

It was the second day in a row when we stopped earlier than the original plan. By now, the plan wasn’t something to obey at any cost. It was something to adjust so the whole ride stayed possible.

We both finished in Zakroczym, with about 450 kilometres still ahead. That meant three days of roughly 150 kilometres. After everything that had happened on Day 4, 150 kilometres still sounded manageable.

The last named section of the day was the organiser’s Zakroczymska Sawanna.

Again, this was the organiser’s nickname, not an official place name. The section crossed open land by the river, with wide views. After the mud earlier in the day, it felt like a better ending than I expected.

There were also singletracks before Zakroczym. They weren’t long enough to become annoying. After everything that had happened earlier, I actually enjoyed them.

Once the bike was fixed and the route was familiar again, the day had changed. It was still long, wet and tiring, but it no longer felt like a problem was growing. The main problem had already been solved.

I reached the lodging in Zakroczym a little after 20:00. Andrzej was there too, and we rejoined for the end of the day.

The place had no shower, but it had a bath. After a day of rain, mud, a crash, Otwocka Amazonia and a wheel repair, that was even more useful than a shower. I could lie in the bath for half an hour and enjoy the fact that the day was finished.

The next day didn’t have any special section waiting for us, but the forecast wasn’t friendly. We expected wind and rain.