Even though I've lived close by for a while now, I had never
ridden in the oldest German bike marathon. Why, I don't know.
This took place in the toy-town Seiffen, where you can buy
all kinds of weird craftsmanship.
On Sunday, 1300 starters, a new record, started on three distances
(24.8m/40km and 3281 vertical ft/1000hm, 43.5m/70km and 5906
vertical ft/1800hm, 62m/100km and 8530 vertical ft/2600hm)
at the same time, in awesome weather. The day before, I had
changed my reservation from the short to the middle distance.
Naturally, doping was an issue here too. (Thomas Nicke was
the winner on the long distance once again with a new record
time of 3:43.)
Of course, a vehicle control took place before the start.
Here, the start itself begins neutralized and then takes off
on the main street of the town, without a time recording by
transponder, which is a disadvantage for the people in the
back of the starter field.
First, there was a lead in lap of 7.5m/12km on wide streets,
which dispersed the field well. I wasn't on track in the beginning,
because I had to chitchat with my fellow fancy-dressed Pirates,
but after about 1.2m/2km, I started making good on the lead
in lap, which was easy to do. I was feeling pretty good.
As you can see here, nature is adapting itself to the color
of our jerseys. That's evolution for ya.
Shortly before riding out into the country, I had to leave
the track on a turn and went down a slope. As we say: concentration
is the key. It wasn't horrible though. At least not for me.
Soon afterwards, I noticed that I was having problems shifting.
Either it wouldn't shift at all or the chain kept coming off
in back. Since I couldn't get it under control, I had to give
up after the short distance, because I had just lost so much
time.
During the last part, we went up a paved incline with an average
slope of 20%. There were a lot of spectators and great moderators
that the pink jumped out at and who thought us very courageous
for wearing it. At this point let me say thanks again to the
guy that came up behind me and bumped into me here, forcing
me off my bike, but thanks to the help of a nice "grandpa",
I was able to launch myself into the fray once more.
However, on this incline, I was most impressed later by an
older gentleman, who proudly called out, "And all that at
83", after pedaling up to the top. You've got to tip your
hat to that.
On Monday, I made my way to the bike shop for repairs. By
the way, one of the owners found the pink pretty conspicuous
too. His short, curt comment was: "That's really porno". It's
a good conversation starter. I guy in Seiffen asked whether
I had ridden in Albstadt recently too, just because the jersey
stood out.
Well, til next time with working technology.
Bye Martin