Life On The Road: A Conversation with Weronika Szalas

Interview by Chris Hunt / Photos by Weronika Szalas

Chatting with the bikepacking nomad from her home in Poland to hear more about how she balances her lifestyle built around travelling by bike with the challenges of ultra racing.

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Ultra-distance bikepacking races can feel like a delicate equilibrium of both cycling and life’s best bits – blended for a sum much greater than its parts, crammed together into a singular intense experience. It’s where competition and performance sit alongside experience and where calm perseverance often trumps skill or strength.

But there’s tension too. Racing through landscapes often feels wildly at odds with the essence on which bikepacking is built. By pushing to the extremes, the inherent slow nature of travelling by bike is lost.

And few if any navigate those clashes better than Weronika Szalas. I met Weronika several years ago at Gather Festival in the French Pyrenees, where, having been encouraged to enter by Lael Wilcox, she was recovering from her first ultra race. After three gruelling days on the road she finished second woman, just hours behind Lael.

That was the first of several summers Weronika spent entirely bikepacking. On the road, her plans evolve by the day as she follows isolated trails, prioritising wild camping high in the mountains wherever she goes. The racing it seems is just a small part what has become a lifestyle built around the bike, and she’s making a habit of winning.

Earlier this year, Weronika found herself back in her hometown of Katowice in Poland for a prolonged period – the first in more than seven years. Before she headed out back on the road with her partner Tomek, I caught up for a remote beer via our respective laptop screens, to hear more about how she balances touring with racing, hearing what she got up to in the summer of 2024 and what she has planned for the year ahead.

So what's your plan while you’re back in Poland, are you planning to stay a while longer?

For a couple of years now, I’ve had it in mind to come back for the winter. A lot of life admin piled up, and if I'm in a sunny place, I'm basically unable to do anything other than riding. So yeah, it was the winter for it.

I wanted to spend some time with family, and just have more than a week because whenever I came back, I was just repacking between trips. I was never fully here. I was just coming and going. 

It's always nice if you come just for a week, but it's different. You can't really work out how things are. Everyone is just nice because they haven't seen you for a long time. So I wanted to be here a bit longer, to see how my parents are doing, my nephews and my sister and just be here and save up some money so I came back to programming for a few months. And then, the plan was to hit the road again around May or June – which I'm going to do.

I thought the winter would be really long. And my assumption was that I’d come back here and if I get too bored or like missing riding or anything, then I can work remotely so I could just go somewhere warm. But actually, I had so many little things pile up and it took me the whole winter to sort everything out.

So before we find out what you’ve got planned for this summer, I want to hear what you got up to last year. I saw your photos from Georgia and the Balkans, what was your route and how did it pan out?

It's kind of hard to count calendar years, I still think in school years. But yeah, at the beginning of the year, I was just doing some bike guiding work in Tenerife and across the Canaries, with Outer Detours on the Gran Guanche route and I had some other small cycling projects.

Then I went to live with my friend in Sierra Nevada in Spain. We rented a small place for like six weeks. We were both working remotely, so we just took our bikes, laptops and a few things. I've been there before, but on a road bike, so I wanted to check out some gravel routes.

So we were there and then I had two weeks before my programming contract ended, and until the next bike guiding work started and I really wanted to go to Morocco. I was in Sierra Nevada near Motril from where there is a direct ferry. So I took the ferry and I spent two weeks in Morocco and did a mix of my own route going solo and then I joined some friends including Adelaide, who you met, to cheer some friends at the finish of Atlas Mountain Race.

Oh cool.

So we went basically to cheer for Sophie (Potter). It was her first Atlas Mountain Race and then Adelaide and I crossed the Atlas again to come back to came back to Marrakesh via another route. So it was very intense two weeks, being my first time outside of Europe – not counting Canary Islands because although geographically it's not, I still consider it Europe. First time outside Europe and going there solo and starting in not such a touristy area. It was a bit intimidating, just settling in and like meeting a lot of friends and then going with Adelaide. It was all very intense. 

Then I went back to the Canaries to guide and then back to Poland again to repack just for a month. So it was basically just packing and repacking the whole time and and to get ready for the Accursed Race.

Oh yeah, so tell me about the Accursed.

Starting and finishing in Šhkoda, Albania, it was 1,600 kilometres with like 36,000 meters of elevation. So, a lot of climbing, half road, half off-road, but timing wise the off-road part took way longer because it was pretty rough. 

And the rule is that you can't fly to the race. You need to make it overland. A couple of weeks earlier I was supported with a bike from MASON. And I’d tried it around here but I didn't really use it much in the mountains. So I thought like alright then, I’ll just bikepack to the race. But I didn't have enough time so I took a bus to Croatia and from there I followed part of the Trans Balkan race route to the start of Accursed.

It made sense to take a bus and then do this off-road to the start route rather than smashing kilometres on the road just to get there. And it was great. It was a  great introduction I think to the whole summer and I knew I wanted to stay on the road, so I basically packed everything, not sure if I might go outside Europe, or stay in Europe. I just packed my bike to go traveling, not super light, comfy with a tent and cooking equipment and everything and then I did the race. 

And you won right? You were first woman? 

Maybe… [laughs]

So good. 

I was one of three riders didn't have a mountain bike. 

Was that it, just one of three?

I think I was the first person to complete it not on a mountain bike. 

That's amazing!

I think because it was half off-road it makes sense in a way and also because I knew that my travelling after wouldn't be fully off-road, the bike made sense for me. 

So I did the race and then I stayed in Albania for a week to rest on a campsite. It was a kind of traveller’s campsite so a lot of cycling travellers would come there. It was really cool vibes and then Tomek joined me so we cycled again to Montenegro, and we just thought we’d cycle together and see where we get but we didn't really have a plan. So we just kept cycling until we reached Istanbul. 

Nice. So how long was that window from Albania to Istanbul? 

I went to Montenegro and we went through Bosnia, a bit of Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. It was a few months. 

We were in Istanbul at the end of July. But we weren't going in a straight line. We would just circle around the mountains and if there was a mountain we would make sure to climb it. If there was off-road climb, we would make sure we took that route.

Yeah, that sounds about right…

It was a lot of climbing and just enjoying the nature and camping and swimming in the rivers, making bonfires and stuff. So it was good recovery after the race. But even if we didn't ride like a big distance, it would still take a lot of energy because we would choose rough paths. And we also did some hikes along the way so sometimes, we would take food for a few days, cycle somewhere, leave the bikes and then we’d hike out for two nights with three days of hiking. So it was just a lot of extra logistics for that but, yeah it was cool. Something new. 

Sounds amazing. I think it’s really interesting, your angle on racing or how you make it part of your tour. What do you think about your balance between where you put importance on the adventure and the journey versus the race? Because it always feels like the adventure and the journey is the most important thing for you. But then you also win races. So what's does the balance look like?

Yeah, it's funny. If I think about it now because I think last three-or-four years, every year during my travels I would do an ultra. But I never really planned it. It would just kind of happen along the way. 

It's like the journey is just lifestyle and the racing I think is just to kind of push my limits because I know I build up the endurance over the years. I'm just like bikepacking and cycling a lot. But I wouldn't push myself day-to-day because I don't see any excuse for it. And I've never really trained. I've never really had a heart rate monitor or like training plans. So the only time I would really push myself is on those races. So I think it’s just to kind of see, you know. See where I'm at and what my body can do. And it was interesting to see my limits of sleep deprivation and things like that. Your brain works very differently than on a long tour.

So what was the appeal of the Accursed Race then beyond just testing yourself?

So like in the first place, Transcontinental is like the classic or legendary race. But it never appealed to me to cycle so far on asphalt with cars. And then I heard about this race, I thought like, oh, it's off road and it's in the Balkans. And actually, I've been now to like a lot of mountains in Europe. And to the north like Norway and Iceland, but it was kind of the missing piece of the puzzle from Europe that I knew I wanted to go. But for some reason, it's only in the last year that a few races popped up in Balkans or in that area of Europe. 

Yeah it’s seems like ‘the’ place at the moment.

Yeah, but it wasn't that known before and there weren’t so many routes. And I thought somehow it wouldn’t be boring, but maybe a bit similar. So I didn't really have an idea if I went there by myself because I like to plan my own route just day-by-day. But I didn't really have an idea where to go. It’s kind of a big area. So I thought like, oh, if I can do like like 1600 kilometres in a week, then, you know, that's great because I will get an overview of like where I would like to come back to ride.

So this was appealing. I’d never been to the Balkans and it sounded like an adventure. Maybe if someone told me about a race in the Alps, I can imagine the route, how it looks, but there I didn't know what it was going to be like. And even when they published the route of the race, there is no street view for most of it. So you don't know what's going to be there. I think that was appealing, a greater sense of adventure. And it was the first edition and I think that’s always cool, there’s so many unknowns and everyone will always remember that.

And geographically it just makes a good starting point. I'm going to get there to the race and then I can continue from there if I enjoy it or if I don’t, then I can come back. I think it's a cool way to see everyone. Like the ultra community is quite small. So I think those races are a nice opportunity to reunite with people. 

Yeah, totally. That's really cool. It sounds like so you had like a good chance still to recover afterwards camping and touring more slowly. How did you find recovery, like how broken were you after? Because it sounds like you were really pushing your sleep deprivation and yourself much more than you do touring. What was the other side like for you? 

I think I reached my limit. I wasn't that fast but I slept just three hours on average for seven or eight days. So yeah, I was tired. My body was tired and I was suffering with saddle sores and my knee was hurting and all sorts of stuff. I felt really broken after the race but a week later I felt okay to tour, just by reducing distance and elevation. In the first days it would be like 30-50 maybe 60km. That felt okay for the body but I think for a month after the race I slept for ten hours every night.

Yeah I’m not surprised.

It was a luxury do the race and then just be able to have such good sleep. I was tired but I could feel I was recovering every day. Maybe the nutrition part was hard on the road. And sometimes we’d only ride maybe 40 kilometres but like with 2000 meters of climbing. But I think if I had a better nutrition I would recover faster. But I definitely got good sleep. 

Yeah, that’s no one else's idea of recovery. 

We had food on the bikes, so I think just like almost every day was still pretty tough because of the amount of climbing or sometimes pushing the bike with the weight.

Then you headed out towards Istanbul for July, did you carry on east from there? 

I reached Istanbul with Tomek and then I left my bike there and headed to Italy to guide for a week. We passed really small areas in Greece and Turkey, but it was so hot. It was the end of July, beginning August and then in Turkey we just had spare time because I had to be in Istanbul on a certain date for my flights to work. So we were just like hanging around but it was the flat area of Turkey and it would be like 40 degrees. Really, really hot. 

We decided that it's just too hot and we don't really enjoy it. Not Turkey, we just don’t enjoy the heat. And we wanted to go to Georgia and Armenia but if we cycled, we would just be in this heat and get to Georgia when the season was kind of ending for the high mountains. 

So we took a plane to Georgia from Istanbul and then stayed for, I don't know, five weeks in Georgia and another five, six weeks in Armenia and back to Georgia for another week. We cycled all the way until the border with Iran and we could see it and I guess if we sorted our visas we would have just kept going. 

We never planned to go further. It was always the idea to go back home around that time like the end of October, November. If we kept going because it was getting colder like already when we were there the nights were sometimes like sub-zero. Then it just a different kind of touring. Like if you have a goal, you just keep going but what we were doing, spending time enjoying camping then it's harder when it gets cold. The days were short, the nights were becoming longer and longer. What do you do for ten hours?

Yeah, that doesn't sound that fun. So you made it pretty much to Iran. You've been sort of heading more and more east from when I met you in the Pyrenees. So does that tee you up for what you're doing this summer? Are you carrying on east? 

Yes, in a way. So already last year, my idea was to get to Kyrgyzstan. But I like it when things can take their own path. I stayed so long in Georgia and Armenia because it was so interesting and I prefer to explore in-depth those countries rather than rush through just to get to more countries. I didn't get there last year, so then the plan for this year would be to Kyrgyzstan. 

But then another idea in my head, which was getting to Kyrgyzstan, but from Mongolia. But the plan is just in our heads. To get to Mongolia and then cycle through Mongolia, China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and then like see what what happens after. 

So, Silk Road? Can the race be part of that? 

Possibly. If I if I managed to be there at the time of Silk Road and just like see some friends, it would be it would be cool to like be there when the race happens, just to cross paths with people. 

See some friends, win a race…

I don’t think I have the energy to race. But honestly, if I just had limited amount of time and had to go straight back to a nine-to-five job, I would definitely race more and then take this time back home as recovery. But if I’m on the road for a few months, I have no reason to rush when I have time and then just be tired after like I'm rushing to do the route faster, but then I have to recover. So I'm in one place maybe for two weeks recovering. But then I could take the same amount of time, but just like doing everything slower and enjoying it more. 

I've really enjoyed seeing your photos in the last few years of the portraits you've had with people and like going horse riding during your tours. That's amazing. 

Thank you. 

Where was where was that? 

First time in Montenegro before the race, as I was getting there. That first time in my life riding a horse. I got to this kind of guest house, restaurant. It was bad weather and I while I was waiting, I made friends with Peya, the guy who was looking after horses there. And I had a chance to go on the tour in the mountains with him. I guess it came in use three months later in Georgia when I crossed one of the 3,500 metre passes on the horse with my bike on another horse because I couldn't bike it. 

I split for a few weeks with Tomek because he got food poisoning so I kept going on my own. But I couldn't do it, there was a very deep river crossing which I needed help to cross, but there was no one in those mountains. So in the end, I had a chance to cross on the horse and I did. It's like six hours of horseback riding over The Atsunta Pass. I'm actually writing an article about it now. 

Yeah, those photos were so good. I'm not surprised someone's asked you to write about it. I’m sure those sort of experiences happen to you more than anyone else I know. You seem to find amazing opportunities. And, you know, that's pretty at odds with racing. It's like they're kind of either ends of the spectrum.

Yeah, racing is very compressed. If you have limited amount of time and you do a week of racing, it's almost like a month of touring because weeks later you would have like flashbacks of landscapes or like sunrise or something. And I think you process it for way longer. 

But then on the tour, you already have a lot of impressions. So then for me to get this compressed dose, it's just like almost too much. And then you can't have all those encounters with people because we just don't have time to talk to anyone.

And I don't know how it happens that I have those encounters, but I guess I'm just curious and maybe, if I just stand there and like stare, eventually someone talks to me and I end up riding the horse or something. 

I think that's an interesting point as well. How racing sort of fits in with touring, but then, how do you feel now, this sort of this being your lifestyle for a couple of years? How do you feel touring fits into your life as a whole? Does that feel like a sustainable lifestyle?

Yeah, I definitely want to keep doing it. I don't know if I will go for that long in the next years. Like that was another reason I wanted to come back to Poland. Before, when I was wintering in the Canaries, then if I came back, I would kind of have to take a week or two just to come and see my family. 

But it's easier to have a base here and maybe do more trips. Like even if they are shorter, maybe not six months. Maybe like two or three months and then come back. I think that would be maybe an idea of balance. Last year when I came back after six months, I went pretty much straight to work and I had no time to like even properly edit anything. I had thousands of photos and video clips from last summer and I was hoping to put it together and do something. But I just had no time since I came back. So it would be more sustainable to maybe go for shorter and have time to process it. And then go again. But by shorter, I still mean a few months, but maybe not six. 

Yeah, you can then see why people maybe then lean into doing more racing as part of that.

I think it's nice to do it from time-to-time. So yeah, I might do some more races, but I don't have any plans for this year. Yet…

But, I started to ride a mountain bike a couple of weeks ago. 

Ah yes, when you were in the UK and we spoke, you were picking up a new bike, right? 

Yeah, the MASON MACRO. For a few years, I was thinking I’d like to try mountain biking. But when I was in Tenerife, I would basically just pack up what I had there and travel for the summer and go back. But I had no place, just like a box of things stored at my friends place, so I had no space for more bikes. And then if you have more bikes, maybe you need other bags for different bikes and stuff like that. And I had no space for it, so it would have been hard logistically to, you know, either keep these things or like I would have to travel somewhere to keep them. 

It was kind of logistically hard, so I just had the gravel bike and two sets of wheels. I was riding road and gravel, but I wanted to try mountain biking. But now I'm back here and I have a bit more space I can leave one bike here and go on another bike. So this is the time. 

And then going further, it just felt like the right choice to try it out and decide. I would have an option of either keeping the suspension fork or having a rigid fork. But I think you can put more things on your bars and it's kind of simpler in the way that like fits with like touring.

Yeah touring on a mountain bike is so good. There’s so much space. And you feel so confident with all the weight on there. It’s so different.

Yeah, exactly. So, I'm going to ride it this summer and then see. If I get the hang of off-road riding, I might sign up for some races. 

So you mentioned, maybe Silk Road if it lined up, but is there any other races along the way, any other first editions that you want to do? 

There is a race in Poland that's called the Carpatia Divide. It goes through all the mountain ranges along the southern border. 

Oh Cool! 

There are a few versions of it.There's a lot of climbing which appeals to me, but it's in the summer and I'm never here in the summer. So maybe not this year, but maybe another year. It would be cool to do that. 

I don't want to do really small races, but I think it’s like 400km or something. I’ve never really done a proper ultra here. So it will be nice to do one at home. 

That'd be so cool. There's a few in Poland, right?

Yeah. Race Through Poland, that’s the road one. But yeah nothing specific yet. I haven't really cycled through this winter. So I don't think it'd be wise for my body to just go straight into a race. So, I’m just gonna keep cycling and see how the season unfolds. And then decide along the way. 

So cool to have that freedom as well. And so Tomek, has he got the summer to do that with you as well again?

Yeah, he's also freelancing. We both made the decision that like the winter is for saving up for the trip and then we'll go on the have time in the summer.

What an opportunity to have together, that’s awesome.

Actually, I'm going to have a warm up before our trip. In a month's time, I’m going to do the komoot Women’s Rally in Montenegro. 

Sick. So when's that? 

In a month's time, like end of April. My whole kind of traveling started with one of these rallies. So it would be great to do it again. And I'm taking my sister along. She’s never wild camped and she never bikepacked. This is the chance to introduce her to it. It was hard to find the time because she usually needs to know like six months in advance to get time off. And I have no idea six months in advance. It’s so hard for me. It feels so like restricting to like for the dates for six months in the future. 

Anyway, I hope like she's going to like it.

In the 2024 summer season Weronika talks about in this interview, she was riding the MASON ISO. Now in 2025, she’s venturing east, this time riding the new MASON MACRO.

A huge thanks to MASON CYCLES for supporting this story.