Race report!
Came in place 4000 something. Time: 3h36m (120km/75miles). Considering I'd done the very minimum of training i.e. a couple of spins with MEAT and Siôn many weeks ago, I'm well pleased with the result. The road bike was on its first outing this year and it (she?) performed beautifully, shifting under load no problems, trusty handling, not a sound as we sped along. The main massive difference was riding in bunches almost all the way, I'd seriously underestimated the energy saving this brings you. I was lucky to grab on to a group of 10-15 riders who were riding together and just eating up the road ahead of them, when I was in that bunch no-one overtook us, we just devoured the slower riders, it was awesome. I took a short turn at the front and it was a fantastic feeling to be pulling along this rolling train. I was spent after a minute or two of this and the next riders took over at a crazy pace which I thought I'd never be able to keep up, but by the time I'd drifted to the back of the bunch, I could keep up again under the protection of the slipstream.
In the last 5km or so, my breath started running out, reminiscent of when I had circulation collapse many years ago in the alps, but I hung on to the finish line and at least I know I couldn't have given more. Managed to stay on the bike and not pass out and finished ok, so actually pretty well paced all in all.
The race was superbly well organised. Loads and loads of marshalls, good-natured spectators cheering us along almost all the way. Unfortunately, I did see the aftermath of a couple of crashes: cyclists with bleeding bodies being stretchered into ambulances. I read afterwards that there were 54 first-aid cases, of which 17 cases needed to go to hospital. Considering there were 12300 participants, that's not too bad, really...
The race was won in a mass sprint with a time of 2h46m. Erik Zabel strolled in 2 seconds after the winner.
It was a really great race and I'd definitely do it again. A couple of areas I know I can improve - apart from actually doing some training - are: switch from mountain bike to the racer a few weeks early to get used to the body position. The Trek fits me like a glove, but the handlebars are way lower than the Klein and a few miles into the race my neck really started aching and still hurts a day later! And, the main one which would've saved me 5 minutes or more was the constant need to pee when I'm on the bike. I don't know what it is, but I'm thirsty and drink about a bottle every 45-60 minutes or so, but it just goes straight through me and I needed to stop and pee twice in 3 and a half hours, which is a waste of good racing time. So any suggestions/tips/bizarre contraptions greatly appreciated...
See you in Berlin next time?
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