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BIG Review 2009
SLOVAKIA : HERE I AM !
Daniel GOBERT
Dring,here, Gabór Kreicsi, the
morning-clock of the big days.
And it's gone ! We leave with
two cars . Yesterday evening,
we left Ferenc who went to
meet again his family in the
southern area of the country,
and we left Janós too ! Today,
in Slovakia, we'll meet again
Csaba and we'll have the
honour to meet the great BIG
number 1 hungarian man,
called Gabór Györgyi, who left
his home near Budapest soon
in the morning with the bike
znd will climb the first BIG
with us before going back
home. The last man of the
Salgotarjan team, István Ispán,
called "strong man" is also
with us today .The two days
before, he worked as a driver
of ambulance. Strong man,
very strong. Perhaps alittle
loud for high percentages but
some bodyguard appearance !
Just the time to say goodbye to
my dear hosts in Salgótarján,
we go along the slovakian
border to the west. It's the first
time that I'm on my way back.
We cross the border without
any policemen. Just the time to
buy (but GK wishes to pay for
me, too kind!) thz "motorway
vignette of the country" and we
go to the north through a
national road and afterwards, a
narrower road where we get
Gabór Györgyi a few
kilometers before our
stop.With an hungarian jersey
and a short with the name
"challenge B.I.", it's impossible
to miss him. Hell , Gabör, we'll
meet in the crossroad of the
foot.
This unmarked crossroad is just
in the south of the village Svety
Antón,without any sign to the
Sitno. I tell to my collegas :"the
Felsö-Borovnyak yesterday or
the Sitno today, I would be
alone, I had never found them"
. Then, we decide to scotch the
sticker on the tree of this
crossroad. It's now the tree's
crossroad (just like the cobbled
section in Paris-Roubaix).
Seeing it, ride the hairpin and
go up, Sitno is at the end of this
end-road. We begin all tgether
80
the climb of the Sitno. The
Sitno, it's not easy. we
immidiately begin in the red
points with a 15% slope, we
cross a small village on a short
flat area, we begin again with
an hard slope and suddenly, the
surface becomes worse and the
gradients become steeper.
Succession of numerous walls
between 15 and 20%, 200
meters approximatively each
time, enough to get your heart
in extreme pulses. Be careful
the last wall is terrible, over
20%. The last kilometer gives
an average gradient of 13%.
The road is quiet, no trafic and
we see the TV tower on the top
since the beginning. We know
where we are but now, we also
know how steep it is !
Road to Sitno
On the top , the time
differences between us are very
ghreat. Just before me, Gabór
Györgyi arrives, terribly strong
and in full form, getting photos,
leading his bike with one hand
in 15% slopes and discussing in
english with me . Gabór Kreisi
arrives soon and Csaba
completely tired because he has
only 42 gears in front. "I only
walk one time ", he cries before
falling on the grass just down
the Sitno house. György
Domonkos comes a little later,
and then István Ispán and we
wait longly the peaceful Gabór
Vincze, who reaches the top on
his MTBwith some courage