the weather was great, but apart from that dear Ron was pretty annoyed… A) because he had invited all team members to this wonderful event and B) because we even made the trip with our sales booth and made a grand total of € 35.- ....

But let's see what our team members Leif and Elvis have to say:

ELVIS: In perfect weather, I wanted to shake Ron's hand

for making a "hell of a" turnover on Saturday. So much so that he decided not to set up the booth again on Sunday and flee back to Hamburg a day early. Also, I was there to ride a short marathon of about 25m/40km and 3280 vertical ft/1000hm, within the framework of the Mad East Challenge. When we were informed that the track would only be 18.6m/30km long and that they weren't really sure about the altitude right before the start, I went to the back of field frustrated, because I wouldn't have taken the trip had I known.
Oh well, whatcha gonna do. I just declared it a training opportunity. So, to nice girls and I rode out the track extremely relaxed. Interestingly enough, the length of the track ended up being longer than they had announced, since a bunch of the other participants, as well as myself, had more miles on our timers and we didn't all get lost, did we?
See ya soon, in Willingen.
Bye Martin

LEIF:

Bodily torture with a feeling of adventure. That's how I would describe the 4th Mad-East-Challenge in my case. Mad East is a hardcore MTB race in stages. A short trip to our neighbors in the Czech Republic made it an adventure.
In order to prepare myself for the event, I ran 6.2m/10km in our neighboring town Glinde on Father's Day. Since, I had been sick for two weeks, which is why I had to bow out of the German Duathlon Championship, I was happy with the time I made (37:55min). I came in 3rd in my age division, which gave me hope for the weekend. The next day, I stood at the starting line of the Mad East. A 3.7m/6km race opened the round trip. Since it started out with a 1.8m/3km ascent, I was pretty beat after the 3.7m/6km. I was also really feeling the 6.2m/10km of the day before, since I hadn't run in almost 2 weeks before that.
On Saturday, we rode a 59m/95km marathon with 9186 vertical ft/2800hm. My legs were so destroyed after only 6.2m/10km that I was really afraid I might not make it. After 6:50h of torture, I was rewarded with a nice downhill across the finish line. After 31m/50km, I had suffered such a slump that I would have burst out crying, if I had had the strength.
After a good night's sleep, I had regained the strength and will to go on on Sunday (43.5m/70km and 5906 vertical ft/1800hm). My body was in much better shape that day and I was able to make up a few places. The rest of the day was devoted to food.
Leif

I hope a few more team members will show up next year, since we had a great vacation rental really close by, where up to 21 people would have fit and where the jacuzzi was only one of the many accomodations that could be found there for only about € 8.- a night. :)
Ron