German Single Speed Championships, by phil

I know this is way over due but since it was a good race for me I decided to throw in here anyway. The Kellerwald Bike Marathon is not a single speed only event; they just have a SS category. Nonetheless, I was curroius to see how I would do against geared bikes in a normal marathon. I’ve race SS before at SiS and at Külsheim; both the 12hr. race and the Weißwurst Rennen and have done fairly good but how would it be on a 80 km course with over 2000 vertical meters of climbing? I had to find out. As usual I started out way to fast and paid for it at the end. On the flats I got killed by the gearies but on the hills I could keep my own, even leave quite a few people behind me. There were a few hills that I had to push up, one was so steep that most of the gearies were doing it too. I only saw one other SSer during the whole race and he went past me and I never saw him again. When I came in to the finish I was pretty well cooked! But happy and satisfied of my time: 4:23. My second fastest time ever on the course. So my theory was right that on a good day a SSer could be just as fast or faster than a geared bike. I got third place in SS category; I feel pretty good about this because it was a national event. But I have to say honestly that there were only 6 – 8 SSer in the race.