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On September 18, 2007, the day had come,

The first German CC MTB Championship in the hobby division was carried out within the framework of the Federal League finale in Bad Salzdetfurth. I couldn't pass up this event and so I stood in the starting formation of the men's division, at 4:30pm.



After the launch, which was cleared by the KTM mopeds ahead of us, I made my way around the 2.2m/3,5km lap. It was pretty hardcore, with long, steep ascents and brutal descents in an awesome atmosphere downtown, where the track was peppered with obstacles and innumerable spectators (goosebump inducing).



Right in the 2nd lap, I wiped out going downhill, with these results: bloody knee and shoulder, black eye, bruised pelvis, sprained finger, pain in my cervical, a broken helmet and the glasses were trashed too. After putting myself and my bike back together, I tried to find my rhythm again and took up the pursuit of the lead group. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the front during the 5 remaining laps, of 7, and so, after 1:14h, I finished "only" in 6th place. I'll be back next year…



After the race, I quickly made my way home, nursed my wounds, ingested some carbs, showered and was off to bed, because my alarm would be ringing again at 6am the next morning, to remind me that the starting shot for Block B, on the 62m/100km track, of the Vattenfall Cyclassics, would be fired at 8:04am in Hamburg. And so it came to pass… after about 18.6m/30km, we had caught up to the A Block and charged through the field. During this activity, I feared for my life at times, because some people are morons.



Once I got to Jungfernstieg, I mounted a final attack, where my legs, already strained from the day before, began to fail me. Nevertheless, I finished in 66th place overall (20th in my age division), with an average of 26.5mph/42,6km/h. Overall, it was a really cool weekend, which, unfortunately, happens all too rarely. See ya,

André Zamponi



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