XC Race & Giro Nortorf

An all in all successful weekend came to an end! After two great events and a good training session I've to label this the most effective training weekend of the year, so far. All started with a good 90km training ride through Hamburg's country side on Saturday morning . Every protagonist, or maybe just me, tried to ride a little more self-protective then usual to keep some energy for the upcoming 12km cross country race in the afternoon. However, we kept the pace to a good GA1 ride and even a little more on the final hill coming back into town.

After a good 2 hour break and a couple 1000 carbohydrates I was back on the starting line at the second of last Cross Country Race of the 2010 BSV Series. This time it was my goal to stay behind Hasi! No more wild efforts to chase the leaders, or any brainless attacks!

Just follow Hasi on this 12km race and finish strong in the Top 10. Following, not really my strength, but due to some motivational help I was able to stay behind the above mentioned athlete and "only" stroked him twice in his calf while following.

Yet, just before the last lap with about 3.5km to go I lost the group and dropped into fourth place. Strong rain and a muddy ground described my overall well being at this moment quite good. However, I was able to finish within field of vision to Hasi (2nd) and the 3rd place finisher in a good fourth place.

Just about 18 hours later – My first proper road race was scheduled in Nortorf, about an hour north of Hamburg. It was once again Hasi, who scheduled this event as well as our tactic. Placement shouldn’t matter to me, just a strong workout and good practice for the upcoming Duathlon Elite National Race on May 1st .

The race over 4 laps, each about 11km of length started quite hectic with many attacks and an all in all very chaotic field. To me all this was new, so I tried to stay out of trouble, but as close as possible to Hasi. We achieved a small breakaway with two other competitors, but couldn’t hold the lead as one of the riders wasn’t willing to work at all. This didn’t seem to bother me at all, because I was more than fine to stay in the mix of the large field. Just during the second loop it was Hasi one more time who was able to breakaway by himself and start the chase of the small lead group of three riders. He caught the guys within 3km and the peloton with a deficit of about 60 seconds wasn’t able to direct a pursue. At the end Hasi (2nd) vanished the sprint to a sluggish rider who hardly worked during the last lap and I managed a 19th place in the main peloton. Considering that we rode outdoors twice this year and didn’t visit a cycling camp in Spain or other warm destinations this year, this result was a great success for both of us!

So far for now, looking forward to 5 days im Schwabenland and some good strong hours on the bike. Next test coming up at the Duathlon in Schessel April 10th.