Berlin Velothon

On June 9th I finally put my 2000+km’s training to the test at the 120km Berlin Velothon. The Velothon is a beloved road biking event in Berlin attracting over 2000 competitors for a Berlin-Brandenburg Rundfhart. The Jedermann event occurs at 9:30 in the morning and is followed by a pro race in the afternoon, from which I snagged a few nice bottles after riders jettisoned them on the last lap.

This year had great weather and a huge crowd in the city and in every Dorf we passed, along with motorcycles, helicopters, the odd notartzwagon, cobblestones, lake views, forests, fields, tree allez avenues, fast pavement, autobahn, and above all a whole heck of a lot of people who love to ride road bikes. I even saw some blood on the road… This year I did the 120km’s in 2:52:58 placing 988th (out of at least 2200 riders based on my start number) and a split time of 41.6km/h, with the Jedermann winner finishing in 2:38. Ten minutes faster than my time last year and beating my goal of under 3 hours. I had a blast, working with a group of about 10 guys including a tandem team for much of the race. There are so many competitors that the race is staged from starting block A through E and I started in C and ended solidly in block B finishing time, moving up through the field until the last 30kms where I got caught in a failed bridge attempt with 2 lone riders between groups on a 15km windy autobhan stretch of the course. After that I was gassed and just settled into the next grupetto that caught us after the autobahn and then rode the wave in. 2:33 of the 2:52 was in my HR zone 4 or 5, so pretty much a suffer-fest. I was VERY relieved to cross the finish line in one piece and see my sub 3 hour time.

I know its not mountain biking, but hey, the wheels are still big (technically) and the distance is big-ish, so it fits the theme. I look forward to rolling this fitness into some nice training over the next two months in Berlin and Dortmund in prep for SiS. Here are two pics from the event.