Coming July we’ll be facing our biggest bike adventure yet: participating in our first self-supported ultra-cycling event. This year’s version of the annual Three Peaks Bike Race will have us race from Vienna/Austria to Barcelona/Spain. The clock starts on July 4th at 1pm and won’t stop until we’ll cross the finish line hopefully within the 12 days limit. Depending on the route we’ll choose, this means:
- 2,600km total distance (around 220km per day)
- 35,000m of elevation gain (around 2,900m per day)
- Passing three mandatory mountain passes in the Alps and Pyrenees
- No outside support during the race
Do you want to support?
As two cyclists from Ottawa, we are reaching out to local businesses that would be willing to support this endeavour in any capacity – apparel, gear, nutrition, packing solutions, electronics, etc.
If you’re a business owner and down to collaborate, please let us know: followfichte[at]gmail.com
or on Instagram
You may be able to help us make this adventure a reality, and in return we may help you to staging your brand or products into the world of ultra-cycling – via social media, conventional media, blogging, and film distribution.
What kind of support are we looking for?
While we’re generally well outfitted for bike packing based on our previous adventures, there’s always areas where additional support would be appreciated.
Mechanical support pre-departure is an important one: getting our bikes ready, equipping them with the right gear (wheels, tyres, tubes, spare parts, tools, etc.), helping to pack them for transport, bike fitting for ultra-distances.
Apparel being number two (from shoe covers to bib shorts to jerseys and jackets), followed by electronic devices (battery banks, chargers, memory cards, lamps, etc.) as well as bags and packing solutions.
If there’s a bike brand that would be willing to let us use their frames or components, we’d be open to that as well.
Who are we looking for?
We’d love to collaborate with one or more local businesses from around the greater Ottawa area, as well as Canadian brands.
How may your business benefit from supporting us?
We’ll be actively posting about our preparations for the race and our experience during the race on social media, focusing on photos and video clips. We’d be tagging our collaboration partners and bring their brands visually in focus (i.e., brand stickers bike and bags surfaces).
We’ll be reaching out to local conventional media, asking for race coverage.
On this blog, we’ll be covering our experiences in much detail, from preparations to travel to the race itself. Throughout the months after the race, a detailed report will be published here.
The race will in some form or shape be covered on dotwatchers.cc, which is an additional channel to expose products and brands.
We’ll be documenting the adventure on video and will be producing a documentary-style film once we’re back. The feature will be around 30-40 minutes of length and we’ll apply for outdoor film festivals. At minimum the film will be posted publicly on Youtube.
What is self-supported ultra distance racing?
In comparison to conventional stage races (let’s say, the Tour de France), a self-supported race requires much more planning. Not only are we responsible to design our own route between the starting and finish line, while incorporating a number of mandatory segments (called ‘parcours’), and deciding on how to break down the overall distance into daily segments. It is also prohibited to take any outside help during the race itself: no support vehicles and no use of resources that aren’t equally available to every competitor. Riders have to plan for their own nutrition, accommodation, daily distances, bike repairs and maintenance. Each single kilometer has to be covered on a bicycle. No drafting (exception only for riders in teams of 2 to 4), no sharing of intelligence by outside observers. Each participant will be carrying a GPS tracking device and race organizers as well as spectators can follow everyone’s journey on dotwatcher.cc.
Training and preparations
Preparations and training have been in full swing ever since we registered for the race in December 2025. Both of us are well-experienced cyclists, each having spent more than 17,000 kilometers in the saddle last year alone; multi-week bikepacking trips, long-distance weekend rides, and participating in local races has kept us busy over the past view years. Stepping up to self-supported bikepacking racing is new territory, though. We’ll specifically have to prepare for
- Very long cycling days with almost two weeks of daily double-century rides
- An incredible amount of elevation
- Dealing with unpredictable alpine weather
- Daily calorie intake
- Packing light for a long distance
- Sleep depreviation
Creating a film
To add yet another challenge, we’ll be documenting the race on video, to bring home memories and share our first time ultra-racing experiences with others in form of a documentary style movie. All the filming will be up to ourselves, which will add to daily logistics, weight, and battery management. We’re planning to bring a small drone, a mirrorless camera with two lenses, and an action cam to capture the adventure.
Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be posting more details about the race itself, how we prepare, and what challenges we’re facing on the way.