Welcome to Swabian Hell

Photo copyright Dirk 🙂

After the desaster of Mannheim four weeks ago I was really hot for another Cross Race. Last Saturday it was finally the day of our home-match here in Stuttgart, where one of the local clubs organises a race of the national cyclocross series every year. However, until Friday evening I wasn’t even sure whether I would ride there or not. First, I had a slight cold and second there were some organisational issues in the way. Lastly I decided to ignore the cold and to work around all the other stuff. So, we went there quite early in the morning to register, afterwards I went off to pre-ride the slippy and tricky course. Due to all the loose grass on the track it was sure that the main problem of the day would be to keep the derailleur hanger on the frame.

It was really cool to see all those people who had turned up here in Stuttgart: Sandra and Ken Bloomer from Crema Cycles had come up from the Allgäu, Dirk had done the drive from Freiburg and the local Stuttgart gang around Bicicletteria was here as well of course – all together 64 (!) people stood at the start line of the 40-minutes hobby race, which is more than in the pro category during the afternoon, and made the first minutes a little survival trip.
As I had registered only an hour before the race I had to start at the very end of the field, but nevertheless it worked out great! I was able to keep touch with the people around me for the first two laps and then started to overtake. It felt a bit like being part of a video game, working myself up the ranks and at the same time making sure not to crash, keeping the pace exactly at my modest limit. As I heared the bell for the last lap I really gave all and finally got a little reward: After DFL in Mannheim four weeks ago, I was on place 34 of 64 here in Stuttgart in the end and, apart from that, really had great fun during the race.

Have it good

Christian