Veringendorf Marathon: Muddy Sunday

Last weekend I went to the Schwäbische Alb to do the 55-km Marathon in Veringendorf together with my buddy Michael from Stuttgart. It was supposed to be his first race ever. The Marathon there has quite a good distance to start with. Not only for racing in general but also for a new season after a long winter. After thinking about it for a long time I decided to take the shifted bike, which should allow me to ride together with Michael. It turned out to be a good decision due to the circumstances.

The night before it had rained quite a lot and it only stopped close to the start. In combination with the loamy ground (German “lehmig”, I’m not sure about this in English – you get it guys?) this was to cost me more than 30 minutes compared to my race time last year. At one point I had to stop and clear the tires because my front wheel refused to turn while pushing the bike over a grass passage. However, apart from all the mud my race was really allright. I found quite a good pace in the beginning and was able to keep it to the finish after around 3:15 hours. Really a fun day – it felt so good to have a number plate on the bike again and I am really happy that I did and finished the race despite the conditions.

Kopf hoch, Arsch in den Sattel,

Christian

Grenzsteintrophy Scouting

GST Scouting

 

This past Sunday, the 21st of April I did some scouting for this year’s Grenzsteintrophy selfsupported race. The route has been revised and refined since 2011; with the goal of making it a bit more rideable and enjoyable. If that’s at all possible for a multi-day self-supported race. Up until 2011 the followed almost 100% of the old patrol roads from the East German border guards. They consist of cement slabs that are about 10 feet long and 3 to 4 feet wide, have four rows of slots that are 8 inches long and 2.8 wide. This means you have a path that is littered with pot holes, kind of like a wash boarded road. So the idea behind the re-route was to eliminate most of the worse sections of the “Plattenweg” as they’re called in German. There is still quite a bit though because they are part of the experience.

I parked the car at 835 meters; this meant that I’d have to climb back up later in the day.  Scouting an area for rideable dirt and gravel roads sounds easy but it’s not. I went down three dead ends before I found a good dirt road that didn’t end in nirvana. The morning temps were a bit cool but I had enough warm clothes to wear. The gradually warmed up and I shed layers as the day progressed.

One of the places I was suppose to take my track through was the Statue Park outside of the little town of Eussenhausen. Interesting memorial.

 

Then I found some single track, barely rideable with a fully loaded bike. That will keep the other GST’ers on their toes!

 

I fineally ended my days scouting in the Bavarian town of Melchstadt. Then I had to ride back to the car, only 30 km but a 400 meter climb at the end. It wasn’t too bad though, I had my mtb with gears. On a fully loaded singlespeed it would have been a pusher.

Stats for the day; 100 km, 1600 vert. meters.

A great day to out riding. More to follow.

 

 

Christians und Andrés Saisonstart 2013

Für Christian und mich war heute der Auftakt 2013 mit dem München City Marathon.

60 bzw. 80 km / zusammen gestartet / zusammen angekommen.

Die Strecke besteht nur aus einem kurzen Teilstück in der Stadt, danach geht es an die Isar und in einer Schleife um die Alianzarena wieder zurück zum Olympiastadium. Von Michael gibt es ja schon ein paar Bilder von den letzten Jahren, für uns wars das erste mal.

Bilder werden erst in den nächsten Tagen bereitgestellt, ebenso die Ergebnisse.

More to come….

André