The day's weather was a bad omen! First it was dry, but the clouds were merciless and we had a few showers. There were a lot of good and fast bikers gathered at the starting line, which meant I'd have to keep up the tempo! At 10am the starting shot was fired for the 31m/50km lap with 5249 vertical ft/1600hm.

Everything started out well. I was doing well on the first few longer ascents and was able to pass a few participants. However, the rain had turned the forest into a mixture of mud, exposed roots and rocks, so that many of the downhills were like tap dancing on a blade.

In the end, I had to slow down a little, because of the many long ascents, and joined a 3 man group.
After 2:38:06h and a 13th place in my age division (36th overall) the race was over and I was pretty pleased.
See you at the Ruhrbike Marathon in Wetter, where I will try to cross the finish line faster!
Greetings,

Daniel