The beginning of the season was pretty bumpy.... After some super winter training, a super streak of bad luck began.
The day before my darling and I left for training on the Pirate island Fuerte, I broke two of my toes. Of course I got on my bike anyway...

Four weeks later, I started having some pain in my knee, which got worse and worse.
So, no waiting and off to my trusty doc.
Quickly and painlessly a date for an operation was set. Friday, April 13th!!!

14 days later, my knee felt better, so much so that I just had to go for a spin. So, 14 days after the operation and with my doc's permission, I started at the Mega Sports race in Sundern/ Hagen. The questions were: will the knee hold up and what's even possible after 3 weeks without training? My goal was to cross the finish line and not to look at my time ;-).

1.200 participants started on the different trails under great weather conditions. (Last year it was still snowing here!) After about 4.3m/7km of chaos on the streets, we finally made our way into the hills of the Sauerland.
After 9.3m/15km my knee let its presence be known and I had to take some of the pressure off my right leg. I thought about giving up for a second, but then the words of Doc Uwe went through my head: "You can't screw anything up"... So, I kept going! I really wasn't very fast at this point... oh well... I made it! The single trails gave me the necessary added motivation. The organizers in Sundern had really put together a great course!

I finshed after 1:29h and 19.8m/32km. 15min too slow, but still, Stedebeker is back! The first points going towards the Bike Sport News North Rhine-Westphalia Marathon Trophy are made and I hope to survive the time until the next race in Saalhausen without an injury.
I would like to shout out a great big THANK YOU to my doc, Dr. Uwe Trauzettel, who made it possible for me to be back on my MTB 14 days after the operation! So, if any of you have a problem with your knee, contact me at stedebeker@pirate.biz and I'll put you into contact.
Weiter möchte ich mich noch bei meinen heimischen Teamkollegen bedanken! Pirat Schnuffi, Little Joe and ZimbO visited me every evening with a wheat beer, when I was limping aound on my fat knee and kept up morale. Thanks again to you guys, the best teammates in the world....
Ahoy,
Captain Stedebeker