Team Parcours Jan Recker On The Utrecht Ultra – a 1000km, 8000m Elevation, Unsupported Ultra Race
Two days. 48 hours. Enough time to visit your favourite café, get some work done, meet up with friends, and finish your workout at the gym. Even enough time to do all of that and still get plenty of sleep to start your next day well-rested.
But is it also enough time to finish a 1000 km race through the Belgian Ardennes? The start of a story…
Ever thought about an Ultra challenge? Cycling 1000km self supported and having to navigate yourself? When and what do you eat, if you can? Do you sleep? All of this were questions asked by Parcours athlete Jan Recker of himself! A true insight into the ultra endurance, and the highs and lows that go with 1000km of riding! Congrats Jan on a great race and fantastic result!
Utrecht Ultra
Hosted and organized by Ruben Platte, a successful finisher of ultra races like the Three Peaks Bike Race and Lost Dots Transpyrenees, this event was created in 2023 with much love and passion. The Utrecht Ultra is a 1000 km self-supported cycling race starting and finishing in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Five fixed parcours take riders through steep hills in the Belgian Ardennes and dense forests in the Eifel region in Germany. Between these parcours, riders must plan their own routes, making strategic planning a crucial part of the race.
The start list for the 2024 edition features a few well-known names, including Lennart Nap, winner of Race Around the Netherlands 2022 and 2024, and Julio Greff, who has also claimed top spots in several races, especially in the Belgian Ardennes.
The last few hours before the race were all about meeting the riders, sharing stories, and checking out the various setups at the start. As drafting and support are not allowed in ultra races, setups and especially sleep tactics vary massively from rider to rider. As 1000km seems to be pretty long for most of the cyclist, we expect that none of the front riders will sleep in this race.
I set myself the goal of finishing the race (1000 km, 8000 m) in 50 hours. Knowing that most of the sections in the Netherlands would be relatively flat, it was the middle part of the race—with most of the climbing concentrated in a short distance—that concerned me the most.
The race started at 06:00 pm, meaning that most riders planned to ride through the first night to secure a good position in the general classification.
The first hours of the race went really well. I felt comfortable on the bike and hit my calculated power numbers perfectly. After six hours, rain set in and accompanied us through the entire night. Eight hours into the race, I had two punctures, with my front and back tires going flat within seconds. I was able to plug them, but struggled with air loss for the rest of the race. The pace at the front was incredible and left no room for unnecessary stops. After 11.5 hours in the aerobars, I reached CP1 in Huy at 05:20 am in a top-five position.
Feeling highly motivated by the first part of the race, I was excited about the next climb: Mur de Huy. 1.3 km long, 204 meters up, gradients of up to 25%, and so many images in my mind of pro riders pushing to their limits to savor the joy of winning one of the most famous stage races. Unfortunately, after 330 km on a fully loaded bike, reality catches up with you quickly, and the Mur de Huy became a real challenge.
Having been without water for the last 50 km, I was really happy to find a 24/7 vending machine at the top of the climb. A must-stop and the perfect moment to get everything else ready: pumping up the tires, refueling as much as possible, checking the weather for the next hours, and deciding on the best layering. Seven minutes later, I was back on the bike, heading to CP2 in Mozaive, Belgium.
From then on, it was up and down all the time with short, steep, punchy climbs. A few kilometers after my stop at the top of Mur de Huy, I felt that something was really, really wrong. My stomach was causing problems, and my power numbers dropped significantly. I tried to eat something but realized that just thinking about food made me want to vomit instantly. Without eating, the next few hours were pretty rough, and I can say for sure that I had one of the worst days on the bike ever. Even though I considered scratching the race, it wasn’t an option. I pushed the pedals as best as I could and reached CP2 after 432 km in fifth overall.
Still unable to eat, I fought my way to CP3 in the Eifel, knowing there would be opportunities to rest and recover a bit. As my parents live in the Eifel, the region and most of the climbs were familiar to me, which helped a lot. At 9:00 pm, I reached Eupen, a small town in Belgium, and the start of Parcours 3 with a real “high.” I bought two cans of Red Bull at a supermarket and was pretty confident I could ride through the second night without sleep and maybe fight for a top position. As these moments are pretty common in ultra races, I was aware of the dangers and consequences of misreading your own body and overestimating your ability to handle sleep deprivation. But making progress and maintaining a good spot in the general classification was still a motivation to tackle the climbs in the parcours to the last checkpoint.
After 659 km, 30 hours, and nearly 18 hours without eating anything, I reached CP3 and decided to sleep for a few hours. I set a timer for three hours and hoped to have enough time to recover and successfully tackle the final part of the race.
I can say for sure that this was the best decision. Maybe not for classification, but for being safe on the road. After 2.5 hours of sleep, I felt much better, drank one of the Red Bull cans in one go, and jumped back on the bike at 04:30 am to start the final part of the race in eighth overall.
Knowing that most supermarkets and bakeries won’t be open for a few hours, it was all about saving energy and riding efficiently. I grabbed a banana and realized I was smiling, happy to be able to eat again. At 09:00 am, I got a chance to resupply, and from then on, it was all about chasing the dots in front of me. I pushed as hard as I could and felt mentally strong. As hard as the previous day was, I enjoyed every moment of this part of the race. I picked off a few riders ahead of me, and the next few hours were all about resupplying as quickly as possible and not wasting any time. With 70 km to go, I found myself in sixth place and decided to go all in. I skipped a refueling stop to gain some time on the guys ahead of me. I paid dearly for it!!! Riding on the "Deich" for hours hit most of the riders hard, but the heat really got to me here. I ran out of water too quickly, and my system, still battered from the day before, totally crashed—I could barely hold the line for the last two hours of the race and had to let the others go, with no chance of catching them. It felt like a loss at first, but what do you gain if you don’t risk anything?
After 48 hours and 14 minutes, I crossed the finish line in Utrecht in tenth place. Achieved my goal of 50 hours but also missed a chance to do way better? Not at all. There’s a learning In every race, especially races like this one.
Three pizzas and a few beers later, I asked myself, why am I doing this? I still don’t have the answer to that. Maybe because it's fun. Most of the time.
In the following days, I hung around the finish line to welcome incoming riders. It’s insane what kinds of stories you’ll hear from everyone after racing such a long and intense race. Riders who got hit by owls, frames full of water, or those who got totally lost in the middle of nowhere because their GPS crashed or they ran out of battery. Riding an ultra without any issues seems to be one of the most difficult things to achieve. In a race that lasts not just four hours but almost 50 hours, small mistakes are punished twice over, and handling them is one of the most important skills.
In the end, it’s not about the overall classification, but about sharing stories and being part of a great community with people who share one passion: riding your bike.
1000 km
8000 m elevation
48 hrs 14 min total
10th overall
Jan's Setup:
I used my Specialized Crux with the Parcours Strade wheelset Team Edition with Schwalbe Pro One 30mm tubeless tires. Aerobars and a 46/33 - 33/36 gearing for the steep climbs.
The bike was awesome and delivered in every situation. Absolutely loved it!
Author: Jan Recker
Instagram: janrecker