UNTER DEN TIEFEN WOLKEN

Intro

The thick blanket of fog engulfs the barren tree tops, and forms a grey gradient light on the horizon making it difficult to determine what is ahead and how far.

The silence is numbing, as the three riders silently ride through the woodland and the narrow roads. The feeling of being engulfed in a blanket of fog is part comforting and compelling.

Welcome to Malé Karpaty - also known as The Little Carpathians. A low stretch of woody mountains situated in Western Slovakia. On any normal day the area is rich in flora, fauna and castles, and a favored “hunting” ground for riders willing to escape the world, but this morning the roads are empty and the horizon has long vanished into an undefined pulp.

Winter riding is a different club.

As you struggle UNDER A HEAVIER CLOUD in the darker months you adjust your stamina and your training rides accordingly. The larger group rides have vanished, and been replaced by smaller, intimate groups making winter training a far more personal experience for everyone involved.

Winter training makes you feel deeper connected to cycling and to yourself. Dragging yourself from home on a foggy, wet and cold morning, to ride for hours by yourself, gives you a sense of beating the elements. When meeting another rider, on a deserted countryroad, you feel deeper connected during winter unlike with the passing parade of riders during summer.

Together, or by ourselves, we enjoy the winter elements to train, or to experience adventures hidden in the foggy distance, which makes our enjoyment of the winter ride even that greater.

Spring will appear again, but in the meantime…

PROCEED AS IF SUCCESS IS INEVITABLE