The Accursed Race 2024: All Chase, No Fly

The Accursed Race is a new event from Lost Dot, the organizers of the Transcontinental Race, and it was their first foray into running a fixed-route off-road race. Starting and finishing in the city of Shkoder in Albania, the 1,600-kilometre route looped around the Balkan countries of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo before finally re-entering Albania for the final 650 kilometres.

Having visited the Balkans a couple of times during the early Transcontinental Races and while touring, I was keen to return and venture off-road. The lure of a first-edition race was enough to convince me to line up on the start line. However, the real adventure was getting there in the first place.

Lost Dot have been pushing to make their events zero emission for the past couple of seasons and have identified participants’ travel, specifically flying, to the start of races as the main contributing factor. Initiatives such as the Green Leader board in the TCR for riders who commit to “No Fly” travel to and from the event have gained momentum, and so with the creation of Accursed, it was decided that the No Fly policy would be a condition of entry.

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So, with that, the main challenge of the event began… getting there! After much research and frustration trying to piece the journey from the UK to Albania via train and ferry, I eventually settled on driving to Zurich before taking public transport for the second half. For the drive across Europe, I was joined by India Landy and Ollie Radford, who were also racing Accursed as a pair, which helped cut the costs of the journey and provided much entertainment. We then parked the van in Zurich and caught a train to Milan and then onwards to Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

Traveling with a bike on the train was a frustrating process at times as there were not always bike spaces, and the bike needed to be disassembled and put into a bike bag. However, we all eventually made it to Ancona for the overnight ferry to Durres in Albania. Once in Albania, it was business as usual with a 100-kilometre ride to the city of Shkoder, and by this point, we had picked up more riders on the way, meaning a nice casual group ride to the start.

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The morning of the race was one of the most relaxed starts I have ever been part of. I think the pre-race nerves of most riders had somewhat been settled by the overland journey to the start. For many, that was the most stressful part, so the prospect of spending over a week cycling around the Balkans with no train or bus schedules to adhere to came as a bit of a treat.

It was difficult to research the route of the Accursed race too deeply as many of the off-road tracks and trails used in the event are still very much off the tourist route. It soon became apparent on the first day of riding that it would be very difficult to estimate how long it would take to ride each section. The mountains are extremely rugged and untamed, with rough dirt roads traversing them, sometimes unmaintained and resembling a technical mountain bike trail. A mountain bike was most definitely the tool for the job despite the relatively high percentage of road in the route. You could be forgiven for thinking it would be relatively fast-rolling by looking at the map, but that first day was a firm reminder that this was not the case.

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Despite the start list being relatively small, with just 35 of us, there were some strong and experienced riders present. On the first climb, Adrien Leichti and Alex Kopp disappeared up the mountain and out of view. I figured I would ride my own pace and would see them later on in the race, but this wasn’t how it worked out. Instead, I found myself in third position from lunchtime on day one and would remain there, hovering at a steady distance behind the lead pair with a large gap back to the chasing pack for the remainder of the event.

This allowed me to ride at my own pace, on my own schedule, and really take in some of the breathtaking scenery that the Balkans have to offer. I’ve already mentioned that I have passed through the Balkans a few times before, but always on the road, so it was a real treat to discover the wilder parts of the region. The mountain passed were wild, rugged, and surprisingly long. Despite the highest point being under 2,000 metres of elevation, the climbs often started from below 500 metres, meaning they could be a couple of hours long.

The terrain reminded me of my rides on the Tour Divide, the Silk Road Mountain race, and even, at one point, Rwanda. Resupply was sparse at times, and the unpredictable nature of the terrain meant it was always better to pack way more food than anticipated. Water, on the other hand, was very easy to come by, whether it be a small mountain stream or a village water fountain. The locals were friendly and kind and always waved as I cycled by. Sleeping shelter was usually easy to find; whether it be an abandoned house, mountain cabin, or wood shed, there was usually somewhere to get out of the elements. Some nights, the weather was fine, so I simply lay out my bivvy and slept in my sleeping bag under the stars.

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After six days with very little human contact, I found myself heading into the race’s final climb. Like all good race parcours, it had a sting in the tail in the form of a steep and loose hike-a-bike across a deep valley, but once ticked off (and complained about extensively!), there were just a few kilometres of ridable climbing left before a 16-kilometre descent to complete the loop back into Shkoder. I managed to time the peak of the final climb with golden hour and enjoyed rolling into the finish as the sun began to set, a perfect and fitting end to the journey.

The race was won overall by Alex Kopp, with Weronica Szalas as the first female finisher with an incredibly strong performance to take sixth overall.

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If you want a tough adventure in Europe, I would thoroughly recommend taking part in the next edition of The Accursed Race. It’s tough and challenging, and if you ever wanted to find an experience comparable to the Tour Divide or the Silk Road Mountain Race in the heart of Europe, then this is your event; just make sure you bring a mountain bike!

Further Reading

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