Riding Backgrounds – A Tragicomedy Cycling Documentary Film

Riding Backgrounds – A Tragicomedy Cycling Documentary Film

One evening I was with Michael and he just came up with an idea. During a beer I told him about an idea, what would he say about us riding around Slovakia in 7 days? Straightaway I was excited! My brother one day just told come with us around Slovakia on bikes.

I looked at him… and said sure. Fu around Slovakia? I don’t ride my road bike much. I don’t know if I can make it. From time to time we wrote to each other to remind ourselves that yes it’s probably time to start planning.

We started to really think about this becoming a real thing. From the very beginning I thought of it as a nice way to see and get to know our country, something I have always been fascinated by. But still I was not very convinced that we are actually going to do this.

Michael motivated me and I said okay then I’ll join you. The biggest problem was that, I still did not acknowledge how big the physical aspect would be. It came to me only a few days before the start. When my brother sent me a plan for the individual stages.

That’s when I started to realize and calculate how many kilometers and altitude meters we had to concur. I asked myself when will we ride. It’s the end of October and the sun sets really soon. It didn’t make much sense, we are going to have to ride fast.

It was a huge challenge for me. Huge… Even for me it was a… challenge. What will happen to my body? Fat points. Downhill, body be capable of? It’s going to be a lot more than just about our country. I’ve got it figured out. Getting up early like for school. Every morning before 7.

You never got up before 7am for school. The worst is that nobody can give me a bad report. We should try to make it by 6pm each day. We need to get all our stuff and go by 8am. What are you looking at? Some video game?

Everybody’s got something to do except for me. Ready? Yes. Ready to sleep one more hour. Yeah let’s do this. Where gonna do this. All day tailwind. It’s gonna be fun. 232km 236km 2000m I always start that im a bit cold. Better chance I won’t get sick. It’s gonna be a challenge for me.

But there was a big bet with someone. So when I don’t make it. Let’s just say that won’t happen. We’re leaving a bit later than planned. 45 minutes later. We’re gonna have to go a little faster to make it in time. We didn’t bring lights, but we are riding through beautiful Myjava town.

Puchov to Lazy under Makytov. The finish is right after Czech borders. Misha? What? Keys. Did anybody see gloves? I think we will arrive at pitch black. What happened Martin? My rim was touching my brake. Looks like I didn’t do a good job. We didn’t ride far. Yeah let’s go.

Every body’s here, drunkard’s and sportsmen. The trucks and cars. It’s awful. You know how close they drive? Car drivers aren’t aware that they have a weapon. Things can take a turn very fast. We are probably going to need to slow down. Yeah. So what first 100km done. I didn’t even realize.

It’s a crisis. Be how it wasn’t. We’re in Myjava Dope. We’re going to Nove Mesto and then Trencin to eat. Crisis I don’t know what’s with them. I had to be quiet. Because I was only positive and straightaway I got rejected.

One of the guys is sick, the other was in the gym yesterday. The third guy doesn’t even know what’s hurting. And me? I’m saving it all! Say something with Misho? I don’t even have. I don’t know… He feels like a wild hog. Probably just a small one not a big one like me.

I came up with this trip so there’s no going back. We will complete this even if we die. It’s starting to rain. I have nonwater proof maybe I should put on waterproof. We should go. Now it’s going to be interesting. It’s gonna be hell. What are you looking at? 230th kilometer

Now it’s only 10km to the finish. Me and Martin Sarvas are here alone. Slowly we are getting to our destination. This was f*ckin stupid. It’s a good thing we have you red light to see the road. Like a horror movie. Probably the worst day out on the bike for me.

Totally out of energy. I’ve never experienced anything like this. Hopefully never again. It was very unpleasant… The feeling when your hands are so frozen you can’t even take off your shoe. Oh shit! It wasn’t only dark, but in the rain, pitch dark and extremely cold.

Nobody should ever try to recreate what we’ve just done. This was fucking stupid. F**king stupid and you need to put that in their. F**king stupid. I had to go a bit faster because it was super cold. Especially on my feet. I thought I was gonna die.

That’s why I wanted to finish as fast as I could. In general I don’t ride as much as I should for such a trip. So it’s also a challenge for me even though I used to ride pro I’m not a pro rider for more than a year now.

Why are you telling me this stuff? I’m here because of you. You motivate me! I also train you and look how well you’ve done today. Yeah. I didn’t know what to expect. Even before ultra-running, a person runs for 8 to 9 hours, but on the bike it’s totally different.

Well not every day is a sunday. Tomorrow we were going to do a 200km recovery ride. Easy. Today’s a new day 200k ride. To Orava and Liptovsky Mikulas. So I’m dressed like I’m about to rob a bank. But unfortunately only another stage awaits me. Yeah. See he doesn’t even know what to say.

What about your knee? Knees? Not a single improvement. So we will see how far I will make it today. Only 190k to go! Always towards the end we try and race Those races happen fast, but even faster they’re over.

Yeah we said. Now it’s race time and within a kilometer we know who’s gonna be first. Yeah I don’t know who is the strongest. Do you clean your bike? Yeah on a daily basis. We’re getting to the finish of the 2nd stage. That Liptovsky Mikulas. We have 6h and 20min, 190km

And we have left around 15k, we have a bit more climbing meters than yesterday, another really hard day, but I’m feeling a bit better than yesterday. So far everyone is continuing everyone is doing pretty good. Really hard Better than yesterday? A lot worse than yesterday

I had a big crisis. On a big flat section. In the climbs it was better But, than again we made it before dark that’s what we wanted so it’s good. It was really painful for me, but most of the day was pretty good. Except for the last 2 climbs, that really hurt

From time to time. I wanted to stop and get off my bike, but somehow the pain was absorbed so I survived. Super, great amazing I’m excited for tomorrow. Oh shit! Look! Views that you can’t easily forget. We all made it to Liptovsky Mikulas together,

Which is probably the best outcome we could get because nobody quit. Everyone is fighting. I’m actually not sure if it’s supposed to be a fight. But. It’s slowly turning into a fight. I don’t have any emotions I’m only a bodiless piece of nothing without the ability to think, move I’m actually non-existent.

Knees? Is really painful Both of them? Yeah. So I am really afraid of tomorrow. I will see how I’ll feel tomorrow, maybe I’ll only do a small bit and get in the car. You need haribo, haribo is what you need You’ll join us filmmakers Yeah I’ll be a filmmaker. We will see tomorrow.

I’ll take 7 ibuprofen tomorrow and maybe it’ll be good. Usually I’m picky with my coffee, but in these circumstances it’s only about the effect. You like to watch this? I don’t have a TV. What’s up coach? Ready? I’m relaxing. We were supposed to leave already. You’re still eating so I have time.

I’ve already eaten. Start of the third day from Liptovsky Mikulas and a bit of technical problems. We haven’t even started and already we have a flat tire. Why do you have a flat tire? How should I know. Not even god knows. We’re behind on time so we will probably arrive at night.

Everybody’s tired, I’m tired he’s sick it’s starting to get a bit nervous and they say, that third day is the worst. You need to keep a positive mind. Since we’re behind schedule, we’re not going to stop at any coffee shops or restaurants , but at the top of the climbs

We will have a break and take something from the car. The screw limit has moved. Because I’m pedaling too much! In unlimited cadence. So he’s probably had enough. He doesn’t know what it really means to pedal a lot. He will find out. We’ll see. Things are starting to get complicated.

We need to go faster! We’re behind schedule because again I wasn’t prepared I thought it would last until the end of the trip, but I totaled my cleats. I couldn’t pedal properly or clip in which means I couldn’t keep up with the boys, that made me nervous

So I had to change the cleats. Because of that we can’t have anymore stops we’re gonna have to eat on our bikes but we have time to do that. Around 5 hours. I wish us good luck. 140k If we’d go 140 we would be there in an hour. beautiful.

Everything bad suddenly turns good. Except that we still have 105k to go. Only 105k to go. Go fuck yourself. and how many pills I still need to eat. Does anyone have toilet paper? Look how much grass there is. I usually bring toilet paper for a bike ride. The best is stinging nettle. Amazing

Tatra’s are behind you. Tatra’s are behind us. But still we need to climb just as much, even without the High Tatras. I feel exactly like what he’s carrying behind WE MADE IT! 3rd DAY! Bardejov. We are here. 3rd stage done. We made it before dark.

I hope to make it to the end without any serious health issues. But at least I won the KOM today. It’s crazy how our emotions change, you can be happy all day and then one little thing happens and it gets all wrong. At least we went through extremely beautiful roads and country views

In that moment nothing hurts anymore I only look left, right, left, right 95% of the time we are riding in a straight line but still the people honk the roads are completely deserted I mean it doesn’t make sense for what? Yeah he’ll only get there faster by 30 seconds

Why risk 30s for a disaster waiting to happen Here at the reception I said because I ordered the food the night before. I said it’s our 3rd day and we have more than 600km behind us they were like nothing, all good that’s normal I said today we need to do 200k. Good.

But did you tell them about bikes? The 4th day has welcomed us also a donkey, because sometimes I can be a bit of a goof. And we will see each other at actually I don’t even know where we are going. I’m just pedalling. After a night of cold sweats and

A lot of sweating through the night after eating a number of pills it looks like I can continue I’m all bandaged up so I’m good to go I hope for no cramps and hopefully I can stick around. I don’t need luck, only good health. I think that everybody’s happy

At least happier than the previous days all smiles, crisis was yesterday, today and probably even tomorrow, but I can’t get much worse It’s our 2nd climb, we still have to do this. This is one of the most beautiful parts of Slovakia, completely untouched. When someone says their is nothing in the east.

Then he is not smart. And grounded. My achilleas are cooked I am trying not to think about it much it’s still very far to get home. You see this? This is what I’m doing. Because I have a crisis and I have extreme pain in my knees. Look their is a bridge

That will be faster we won’t have to go around. Everywhere in Slovakia there is drinking water. You need to take advantage of local resources. It’s pain through pain. I don’t know where my limit is. Yeah, but yours are still smiling. That’s only for the camera. But my soul is crying.

This is the moment I am thinking about my mom and her delicious cakes, soup and meats. You got calves like a pro. It was a difficult management of the body and keep the heart rate stable with a successful ending thanks to this schnitzel and mayo racers food. It’s ok,

Just the constant headwind is annoying. Nothing else hurts, but my achilles They hurt so much, that I don’t understand. But from the looks of it I have a bad bike setup. I’m trying to fix it My achilles are cooked today I’m really feeling it and it’s getting really hard.

Last 30k is like the end of the world. I told you after the first day that it’s still a long way to the finish. Maybe I won’t make it to the finish so what. Nice experience though. It’ll be good don’t worry. Blood and sweat.

Now my knee was pretty good, but how we went into a climb I though I was going to puke Fortunately I didn’t. Slovak map always with me. I did it today. I had a really bad moment the last 40k, but a bet is a bet.

Michael saved us, he took a big 25k turn at the front. Like behind a car? Good afternoon. I burst into laughter. You flew into her. It was a race. I was slowing down, because I saw the cows and suddenly Martin goes. I just thought what is he doing. Superhero, kamikaze They went slow

They started to run just after I rode past them. You scared them. I didn’t expect them to be so fast. We’re in eastern Slovakia. It’s good on the east side. What are you doing? I’m going to set up Martin’s cleats because his achilles hurts. So it’s probably all badly setup.

After the 4th day I found out. When it’s already almost over. I forgot my water. And I have to pump my tires. Come on hurry up. We drank a bit more than we expected. I don’t even know when I went to bed. But it’s a beautiful day, the sun is shining and

It’s only 130k to Kosice, flat, wonderful. Wow you guys have some stamina There are electric poles and behind is the fence The Slovak-Ukraine border is just theirs they said we can’t go there without their permission. I would never think that how little millimeters it takes to feel better

After yesterday I could imagine how am I gonna make it and then Michael changed my setup it’s much better I’m pulling on the front I wanna go as fast as I can and I want to be fast in Kosice Let’s go there! I heard that Martin is the biggest talent in Slovakia.

In what? In cycling. In cycling? Sure. I don’t feel anything anymore. Thank you golden hands. We celebrate you, bow to you I’m alive. Knees don’t hurt, but I’m getting cramps. Because we’re going 40kph. It’s still going slow for me. I am afraid to change my screen to see how much left.

3 days rest and let’s go again the other way around. He E-bikes? There’s a cycling path. Do you want a beer? Yeah let’s go. Kosice. Miracle that we made it to Kosice. We’re all. Everyone is alive! And as a reward we are going to have a good beer. We went fast.

Today it was ok. My knees didn’t even hurt. We made it no problems Michael changed my setup yesterday. it was today. Day by day it’s starting to show the difference between amateurs and ex-professional cyclists, we are very grateful for their past

And that they are able to help losers like us get around Slovakia on the 5th day. Cheers! I’m finally starting to feel pretty good. I made it like a great companion in the bandits’ court. I can’t wait to eat. How do you feel?

I don’t know. Like if I gave birth 5 days in a row. Kosice. We made it. For a recovery ride we went pretty fast. That was no recovery day. We left at noon. We help each other Together we are pulling. Mainly for Michael etc. Everyone is still continuing

So I’m happy that it’s working out. I’m not sure if smoother is the right word, but in some way it’s working out. Well today it was supposed to be a recovery day. Supposed to be… Come-on run a little! Yeah. Great idea. Only 1000k in the last 5 days.

I found this nice spot. Very comfortable. I’ll get this for home so I can work from it. Eco, bio. I told you the first day you need to cover yourself with that anti-inflammatory cream. Tomorrow another 200k with around 4000 meters of climbing altitude.

We will be riding from Kosice to Gemer all the way to Podpolanie. We need to get to Hrinova in a reasonable time. There’s a lot of mountains, very interesting places and a lot of history. We will try and stop at some. It will be beautiful and it will hurt.

I haven’t had so much cream on my ass even when I was little. It’s so beautiful that it gives you 1000 watts more. But Martin doesn’t think that. Never was a better time, like now… Roznava!!! You f**ked my goat. Well! Beautiful roads… yeah that was terrible. I enjoyed it on this saddle.

On a carbon seat I would die. I had to stop because my hands hurt from braking. I only held on and came on it’s Val Di Sole 2020 DH. But I made it to the end. Now the cards have turned because we are entering the climbs again.

That’s where it’s the end for Knapec. We are in Stitnik. Home for one of the most beautiful evangelical churches in Slovakia. 200m2 of wall paintings even from Italian artists. It’s a shame that nobody is here so we won’t have a look inside. Riding trap Jelsava. 3500 euro you can buy an apartment here.

That’s enough for Gran Canaria. Dude there’s a bike shop. Railwayman. (iron town) Martin your a little iron man. Me? Your are the iron man. I don’t have anything in common with iron man. All good we are helping each other. We all need to make it to the finish even if we die.

He already did. I need this. But you know what? My achilles doesn’t even hurt anymore. Nothing hurts anymore. I am just excited to go home. Bro I can’t waste words because I need energy. For pedalling. He’s just faking it. Drama for the camera. 130k 2600 meters of climbing. Somehow it’s going

And for some it’s just not. You know what’s gonna help? Get to Hrinova. That’s when you will feel better. and do you know when you will feel the best? When you will be in Bratislava. I’m gonna take the car tomorrow, f**k it. Nope. Not a chance

A day and a half. Not even that until the end. Soon we are there. You won’t even notice. Again you’re first? I’m the first to get sweaty. Looks like they’re far behind. Second place. With a large gap Michael Kolar. I don’t need to race anymore. You know what a strange feeling I have

That it’s almost the end and at the same time I don’t want it to end. Yeah today I had thoughts like what is gonna be after? So what awaits? The toughest climb yet. We did about 3400m of climbing with far. So still a bit more till 4000m. Biggest warrior. So what’s up?

Race to the top. I was second. But I didn’t give up. We did 30 minutes More than 320w This…. I can’t imagine it is fresh and not after 6 days and 190k Martin, you good?

I don’t have a problem with admitting that I got pulled up the last climb, because my knees hurt so bad. So it doesn’t matter at all because I wouldn’t be able to make it the climb anyway.

I got some help and now it’s just a descent to Hrinova, so I think I can manage that. Where were ya? I made it. Nice. For a runner that’s pretty good. I faked it. You’re a reporter. I couldn’t get my heart rate up My body is shutting down.

It was dark and just before Hrinova. At around 70kph we were celebrating that we made it down. I had a moment where I did not keep focus and I gave the barriers a high-five. But survived. Aw man today was hard.

I need this. I need this to get better. When there’s someone better than me. You choose the wrong sport. You should’ve picked road cycling it ain’t normal. Last day tomorrow. We’re going to make even if we get there at midnight. Don’t get to excited, there’s a decent from the begging.

So it’s the last day. Well yeah. It’s gonna be a long day. So we are going from Hrinova to Bratislava. Through Dunajska Streda and it’s coming to an end. Martin you excited to go home? You can’t imagine how. I broke my tire I know why I could’ve died.

So it looks like I’m sick I’m sick in my head all my life, but now I’m actually ill. Now only 200 something kilometers I’m going home to my family, girl friend, my cat, brother, grandpa Nobody’s ready. I’m ready. I am excited to get to Bratislava, go to bed and celebrate tomorrow. What’s up?

Hungarian trucks are keeping us worried. Only a little bit more. We stopping in Dudince? That’s just a bit further right? Sure, let’s go. Looks like he finally found those mushrooms. When someone says there’s nothing in the east then has never been west, we came to the west and it’s the worst.

Only straight roads I’m sick of it. Just flat you don’t see anything no mountains When you compare to Gemer or other routes we had this is how I’ll look in Bratislava Nothing tastes good anymore. That food cheers. Something this boring I haven’t experienced on a bike for a long time.

Who doesn’t experience it, can’t understand. In whatever way a person would like to cook himself there’s no way not even in 2 days you can’t match what a week does to you a week is not even that much about the kilometers it’s about the hours…

You say to yourself good 110k done, only 90k to go that sounds pretty good. But when you started to calculate. 30kph then no we don’t have 90k we have 3h in front of us. That’s when you figured, damn that’s too much. I’ve never experienced anything more intense.

I don’t know. The emotions will probably come later on. Great we are in Bratislava. This is like the ending after the subtitles. If I would ask you. Would you do it again? Yes. Why? Because it was the worst but most beautiful Yes or no?

Of course, but it would have to be good weather with good people. It was a one in a lifetime experience. I’ve never done anything like this. Their will be new challenges. I will not do the same for sure. Yes or no? Because I finally understood that the bike for me is

The best thing that has come to my life, it showed me a lot. It made me who I am as a person. But I don’t have the need to fight or look for certain goals, I do it just for fun. You have your girlfriend here, photographer and look what we have

A fucked up bike, broken shoes, 0 on the bank account why are you laughing at me? Mato you alive, Mato! Let’s go! Only times and we are home. He sh*t himself. I can smell crap Do you have wine fields here? Yes/No Wtf did you want to say?

Well, because immediately after I realized what an idiotic thing I was trying to say. I have harvested quite a lot, who’s going to get?

Before RIDING BACKGROUNDS Michael hasn’t
touched his road bike. He was working for
Bora-Hansgrohe as a hospitality manager and from
time to time he would ride mostly downhill on his #mtb
bike.

He wanted one last go at road cycling just to be sure it’s definitely the end. He took along 3 friends that are very active, but never did any high intensity efforts for more than 2 days straight.

This cycling movie is about what cycling really looks
like if someone who is not fully committed into road
cycling tackles more than 200k a day for 7 days
straight, it’s basically a tragicomedy #cycling
#documentary #film

It took sometime to figure out what to do with our cycling documentary – Riding Backgrounds.

Covid was one of the main reason’s the film never made more appearance’s because we planned to tour around Slovakia and feature it in numerous cities… That never happened and now we were stuck with a full feature film about 4 idiots trying to make it around Slovakia on bikes in 7 days. Life went on and everyone had different stuff to do so we just never found the time to do anything with it, UNTILL NOW!!!

We’ve decided to put it out into the world. Soon you will be able to watch the whole movie at OKӨEVERYWHERE YouTube channel for FREE! #cycling #documentary

We hope you enjoy the film.
Disclaimer:
No money was made from the film so if you want to support us you can buy us a coffee:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/OEPROJEKT

Many thanks to who co-supported the film:

– @hilton
– @isadoreapparel1145
– @specializedbicycles
– @wahoofitness

More about OE PROJEKT:

Nový Merch – https://okoeverywhere.com/oko-shop/

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