Project 3000 - Part 1

Somewhen early 2022 some friends told us they are going to marry. And that they are planning to make a weddingparty. And that they are doing it in Ulcinj, Montenegro. We live in Bern, Switzerland. So Steven and me were looking at each other, knowing this was calling for some bikepacking since we had already done some trips together.

So the plan was in mind and we talked about it from time to time and everybody called us crazy. At this point also Steven did not fully believe in the possibility of really going all the way by bicycle. Looking at the tracks and realising that this was a ~3000km roundtrip (because you can't go one way, right?) i also doubted it at some point. But i really like challenging challenges (that is how it's called, right?) and therefore kept on pushing Steven and myself into this. Project 3000 was born.

People suggested us to skip the Alps to not have to make the full height (full route is ~30'000m in elevation gain) and distance. My argument always was: What if we feel good and could have done all by just pedalling without skipping any distance? If we run into physical or mental troubles we can take the train anywhere we want! Another concern was about having to cycle back - and this on probably on the same route as we came down. The there was to plan a loop and go on a ferry in Durres, Albania and cycle back on the east coast of Italy. The planned route then finally looked like this:

This seemingly convinced the people and also Steven. So we started to really believe in this trip. During spring i mostly cycled to work, which was 70km per roundtrip. I did this 2-3 times per week and on weekends often went for longer rideouts. I gained confidence in my fitness and we tested different foods and supplements.

We wrote some brands and asked them if they would be interested to support our trip. We are not really social media geniuses and did not invest too much into sponsorship search but managed to get two deals: Woo as a nutrition supplement supported us with everything we could have asked and Ortlieb gave us their products for the sellers price.

At some point i realised that we will have som time constraints: I was finishing my masters and had some holidays as well after which i had to present my thesis. So this gave as some restrictions for the startingdate. On the otherside was the wedding day set as well.

We ended up with 8 cyclingdays to cover ~1'600km and ~20'000m elevation.

This sounded like a lot. Probably because it is alot. Cycling 200km in average per day for 8 days straight... None of us had done this before. But we were motivated to try and do this!

Luckily, Steven did all of the planning in Komoot. He planned every section of the route, ensuring we were not just racing down main streets. We also switched to 27mm tires for a smoother, more comfortable ride. In the end, all I had to do was show up with my bike, my bags, and the mindset to pedal.

And we really did it: After 8 days, 1600km, 20'000m elevation, some broken tires, and a few close calls with exhaustion, we arrived in Ulcinj. The feeling of rolling into the town was surreal. Yet somehow, the idea of quitting never came up – not seriously, at least.

Keep updated for the second part of this biketrip. If you want to make sure to not miss it, follow us on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter.