The Kõkõva bikepacking race, 800 kilometres across Estonia

After shattering my leg in a mountaineering accident in 2019, I’ve decided that backpacking is the most adventure I want at this time – it fits in with my life better than anything else and I’ve realised I’m not ready to go back to mountaineering yet.

Bikepacking gets me outside, gives me travel, challenges, a community of likeminded people, and importantly, a way to see my new adopted home, Estonia, that is far more exciting than walking!

But entering an 800-kilometre bikepacking race isn’t something I think will come easily. It’s hard to explain why I have a feeling reminiscent of the final exercise of commando officer training - like you know you’re in for some tough times, yet excited to put yourself into furnace and get blasted to see what you’re made of.

I’ve decided to do it to fundraise for Code to Inspire, a US-based charity that runs digital skills training programmes for Afghan women who’re being deprived of an education under the current administration. A cause that is very close to my heart after working with adventure sports teams in the country for many years.

 

First few days

 The race starts in the city of Viljandi, some 150 kilometres from Tallinn. Getting there with my bike is fairly easy, I can take a train for a few hours and be there with plenty of time to spare. It’s scheduled to start at 11pm on a Friday night, so that the front rider can aim to be back at home by Sunday evening. Covering 400 kilometres in 24 hours isn’t something I’ve ever done before and or remotely interested in, this race for me is a chance to explore southern Estonia as well as test myself.

My partner, Anna-Liisa and I get to the start line in the dark and register for the race. Everyone around me appears to be riding expensive bikes with really minimal kit. I feel like I’ve overpacked, however I won’t be racing this and so prefer to take it easy. I make some nervous conversation with the other riders until we’re all asked to line up so the race can officially start. I say my goodbyes and set off in the dark, I’m anticipating it’ll be at least 5 days until I’m back home again so I reassure Anna-Liisa that I’ll be fine and that the time will go fast. After all, how hard can it be?

The first 2 days of the race is a real eye opener to what lays ahead. Sweltering temperatures, savage humidity, mosquitoes (so so many of them), rain, mud, hills, yet also some lovely cultural moments that will stay with me for a long time - such as sitting in a beautiful restaurant, smelling terrible and exhausted.

Wanting to experience Estonia during the daylight hours and on my terms means that I set up camp early in the first night which puts me in last position within the first few hours. My new nickname in the race is “Lantern Rouge”, a funny reference to the rider in last place on the Tour de France.

But I don’t take it to heart: The mountain bike that I had planned to do the race on was stolen from my garage just a few weeks beforehand, so I’m using my gravel bike that’s become a commuter to get around the city and save me time. The cable disc brakes, lack of working front mech, brand new saddle and SPD pedals all collude to make it a challenging race.

Within the first 24 hours, I reach the first checkpoint that’s placed in the middle of a techno festival to find the well that’s providing water has dried up and the festival goers are starting to ask what is happening. Thankfully a resupply is provided fairly swiftly, however it does make me realise these races can be more challenging if you don’t know the region very well.

Day 2

The second day is a much harder affair, 12 hours of mostly pushing my bike up and down some slippery mud trails, I’m utterly exhausted, and sit in my stifling hot tent at the end of the second thinking about how difficult the first few days have been. It’s taken me to some really hard places where the idea of ‘scratching’ (giving up) has been high up in my mind. 12 years in the British military has built up a very strong resistance to entertain the idea longer than a few minutes, and so persevering is the only option I let myself really keep hold of.

One thing that’s really struck me about this race is the truly expeditionary nature of it. This morning I was hand pumping water from a lake (to then boil) when I’d gone well into my reserves - due to a number of factors, mainly heat, humidity, extreme terrain, and the long distances between resupply points. Whilst this would’ve usually panicked me, it was okay, as if helped me to see something I’d not really noticed.

Ultimately, this race is giving me everything I hoped it would – challenge, resilience and determination.

Paradoxically, these kind of self-induced, self-reliance exercises start to become quite enjoyable when you realise that you can overcome short term problems (like needing water, food, or power for the navigation in what I’ve dubbed ‘the Triumvirate of needs’) and it gives you a short-term confidence boost - where the gratification for much bigger and longer projects is delayed.

The deduction I can make from this is, is that whilst things can seem uncertain some days, making time for personal challenges, whatever that may be, means that life doesn’t pass us by whilst we’re busy working.

Days 4 and 5

I’m happy to have got to checkpoint 2, however the last 24 hours has been incredibly mixed (to say the least!).

It started with seeing the beautiful Alatskivi castle, an incredible piece of architecture that wouldn’t look out of place in a Disney film!

However, it then got immensely harder thanks to hacking my way through some secondary jungle terrain using some navigation skills that I’d last used about a decade ago in the Cameroonian jungle with the Royal Marines.

The day however is characterised 2 chases by land sharks (giant Alsatian dogs) on some hard-going pea gravel, finally finished up with 8 km of yomping the bike through swampy marshland (sometimes without clear trails or directions), and a night in an old wooden bothy (I was too tired to tell if it was haunted in case you’re wondering).

The final day

Purposely trailing at the back as the “Lantern Rouge” in this incredible bikepacking race has meant that I get to see and document some incredible new parts of beautiful Estonia that I’ll definitely be coming back to see more of!

I’m now in the final 100km or so means that the race should be done for me tomorrow, but strangely I’ll miss the challenge of living out of a few bags, chasing down my next water resupply, powerbank charge or coffee.

Would I do this race again in the future? Definitely!