Hi all
This race was for a bit of fun and getting to know what racing is like over here.. I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday afternoon and did a bit of sightseeing whilst waiting for Carl and Katie to fly in at 8.30 that night. Managed to learn how to buy train tickets from the machines and managed to catch the wrong train towards Geneva haha. Anyway when they arrived we put the bike rack on the rental car, packed the car, and headed to Schaffhausen where we spent the night in a Castle Youth Hostel.
The next day (Friday) we headed into Offenburg, Germany and I registered for my race and found out I was racing the next day. It had rained that day and there was still the odd shower when we got to the course, riding the course was really fun! It was a good course with a good variety of technical areas and no rocks. There were a bit of roots that made it a bit slippery in the wet. That night I raced the Terminator short track race and finnished in the 50s and was definitely feeling the jet lag, when I finished I couldn't even think straight! After that we went back to Karl and Annemarie's.
A very nice German couple who are feeding me too much and letting me stay with them, so awesome!
Saturday was a good hot day and the day of the race. I didn't have any nerves and was quite relaxed but knew this would not be the best of races as I had just gotten off a 30hr flight.. The start of the race was soo much faster than i thought it would be it was intense and the course had completely dried out and was dusty now, I managed to stay mid field for the start loop and a bit of the first lap but faded fast as I could not handle the quick pace. The first three laps I was going backwards in the race, until a couple of leppin squeezies later I began to pass people again and pulled back to 82nd, 10min 34secs behind the leader. It was a very good experience for me and will help a lot in my race next weekend I hope to be at least 4 mins quicker in the next race but we will see how things go. Thanks Carl Jones for feeding me!
Watched Karen race today she had a good race! except for a few crashes but she still finished 36th which was really impressive. Watching the pro men was ridiculous they are so quick and would have lapped me easy if I was in their race haha.
Thats all for now
Will post another blog next week
Laters
This race was for a bit of fun and getting to know what racing is like over here.. I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland on Thursday afternoon and did a bit of sightseeing whilst waiting for Carl and Katie to fly in at 8.30 that night. Managed to learn how to buy train tickets from the machines and managed to catch the wrong train towards Geneva haha. Anyway when they arrived we put the bike rack on the rental car, packed the car, and headed to Schaffhausen where we spent the night in a Castle Youth Hostel.
Saturday was a good hot day and the day of the race. I didn't have any nerves and was quite relaxed but knew this would not be the best of races as I had just gotten off a 30hr flight.. The start of the race was soo much faster than i thought it would be it was intense and the course had completely dried out and was dusty now, I managed to stay mid field for the start loop and a bit of the first lap but faded fast as I could not handle the quick pace. The first three laps I was going backwards in the race, until a couple of leppin squeezies later I began to pass people again and pulled back to 82nd, 10min 34secs behind the leader. It was a very good experience for me and will help a lot in my race next weekend I hope to be at least 4 mins quicker in the next race but we will see how things go. Thanks Carl Jones for feeding me!
Playing around after the race.
Thats all for now
Will post another blog next week
Laters
