Last Sunday, the legendary "Black Forest Ultra Bike Marathon" was imminent for the PIRATE tandem team. After our experience in Willingen two weeks ago, where we rode the 66.5m/107km lap with 9022 vertical ft/2750hm, we knew that we would have to divide our strength up over the ultra track (72m/116km and 10499 vertical ft/3200hm).

The day of the race began very early for us, since the starting shot would be fired at 7:30am in Kirchzarten.
Before the start we rode a little warm up lap and then we were off to the starter block and ready to go! Right from the start, the licensed riders put the pedal to the metal. Since the track was softened up, due to all the rain in the past few days, we had some pretty hardcore conditions to deal with - perfect for us trail bikers!

Since the 8 tandems that started attracted the attention of all the spectators and we were in the lead early on, we were filmed and photographed a lot.
After half of the race we switched positions and Phil manouvered us down the fast-paced downhills, while Jan was in charge of the tempo.

After 50m/80km, we began an exciting duel with one of the two other tandem teams on the ultra track, but ended up losing the fight. They were just in better shape after 56m/90km! We crossed the finish line after 6:26:13h and were welcomed and celebrated as the 2nd tandem.

Right now we're discussing which race we're going to tackle next.
Til then, we wish you all an awesome summer and have fun biking and chillin' out!

Cheers, Phil and Jan