MyLand MTB NON STOP isa mountain bike endurance route in central-western Sardinia, in the Marmilla subregion. Its name is, in fact, an acronym for “Marmilla Your Land.” It winds its way between Monte Arci, Grighine, and the Giara Plateau, passing through numerous towns in the Marmilla region.

I was invited to join this adventure by my friend Ausilia Vistarini, a leading expert in this type of cycling competition. They’re called UBA, or Unsupported Bicycle Adventure: you have a maximum number of hours to complete the route entirely on your own, passing through the various checkpoints set up along the way, relying solely on the GPS track and the instructions in the route book. No markers.
We obviously chose to tackle the longest route, which turned out to be 405 km with 10,535 m of elevation gain.

A unique and new experience for me in many ways.

I’ve done adventure races with long distances to cover on a mountain bike, but never this many kilometers all at once.
I’ve never shared a race with anyone, except for team races.
When I’m wearing a race bib, I tend to become a bit unsociable… but this time I chose to share this adventure, and right from the start I realized it was the best decision I could have made—and that it would be an even more wonderful adventure!

The route pleasantly surprised us! Even though we were in Sardinia, we only caught a glimpse of the sea!

Isolation was inevitable. Long stretches without seeing anyone, not even any houses.
Easy-to-ride sections alternated with technical singletrack, both uphill and downhill! At times, this forced us to“ruzzare”—a technical term meaning to push the bike by hand or carry it on your shoulder!

I always enjoy the technical nature of the terrain because it makes the run less monotonous and keeps me focused… Which, with only ten minutes of sleep over the course of a 53-hour race, is understandably hard to maintain!

Unfortunately, we also encountered a few technical glitches, which we managed to resolve brilliantly by staying calm and keeping our cool.

A few setbacks were inevitable, but having each other gave us strength!

The weather played its part. Thank goodness, the first two days weren’t completely sunny—it was almost cold, and there were even a few harmless raindrops. The wind on the last day, however, was “annoying.”
Oxyburn accompanied me along the entire route; I was wearing the new 1590 Protech arm warmers and the fantastic 1485 Bike MTB short socks.

I’d like to thank Ausilia for wanting to share this wonderful adventure with me.

An adventure worth repeating… Over longer distances, of course!

Marta Poretti