After having scraped through the short distance at the Ghost-Sauerland Marathon with knee problems, I was off to Erfurt last Sunday, for the 7.swe-pp-Bike Marathon with about 700 starters on three distances. Since, unlike in Grafschaft, I was the only Pink Pirate there, the high recognition-factor set in. I was even addressed by name, when they handed out my starter number. I'm getting embarrassed, considering my recently poor results. But, like I said, you meet some nice people. Most of us chose the middle distance of 36m/58km and 4386.5ft/1337hm .

To be quite honest, I never expected to be able to start, since I had been limping around on my knee. However, since I had driven to Erfurt the day before with my wife, who wanted to check out the pretty Old Town (recommended!), that didn't matter. This painting reminded me a lot of my knee on Saturday .

Due to cold compresses and various ointments, it seemed to be all right in the morning. Maybe it was witchcraft.

Many notables were at the track here too

Since I was still a bit concerned, I started off slow on the uncommonly fast track, so as not to put to much strain on my knee. In addition to a lot of wide forest trails, there were also a lot of awesome singletrails. Some of them had such a great flow, especially towards the end, that you just had to smile. An unusual fact was the absence of any kind of mud.

At least, my goal to arrive before the snail was realized. Surprisingly, my knee didn't give me any problems, but there was no way to know that beforehand.

Lastly, I don't want to hold back the fact that, of course, I have my own castle here.
The Pirate flag is hoisted when I'm in attendance. Next weekend, I'll do another marathon in Geyer in the Erz Mountains, before the party in Plettenberg is on the agenda.

Til then.

Elvis (Martin)