On Sunday, TEAM GREEN'N FIT had the second German Cycling Cup (GCC) race of the season, the Tour d'Energie. All in all, things couldn't have gone better for the team: Victory over the short distance for both women and men and victory over the women over the long distance, including a yellow jersey for overall leader Manuela Freund. The personal race reports show that not everything always runs smoothly in cycling. This week by Marion Wittler on the long distance and Cosima Henrichs on the short lap.
The second bike race of the GCC 2014 was scheduled for Sunday: 100 kilometers in Göttingen including a few meters of altitude to be overcome. As a rookie in cycling, my biggest concern at the start line in Göttingen wasn't the Hohe Hagen, but getting through without falling. I admit when learned As a triathlete, I still need to develop in the area of technical and tactical driving. So I stood at the starting line with a heart rate of 200 and hoped to cover the first few kilometers well. Although the neutralized start led to a reduction in speed at the beginning, it didn't make driving any easier in my opinion. At some point it was called fire and it was allowed to pedal. Right from the start I noticed that the high humidity was really getting to me and that I was having problems breathing – gasping was no longer an expression of my attempts to pump oxygen into my body. Ok, in addition to the humidity, the speed might have been a little to blame, which didn't quite correspond to my GA1 range.
When we got the sign 70 kilometers to go happened, it actually felt like that even after 70 kilometers – but after 70 had already been driven. When it started raining - I have no idea. It didn't matter to me either, because there weren't any cobblestone sections like in Cologne to be expected and I feel quite safe on the descents, even when it's wet. So it was then grit your teeth and pull the thing through. I was happy that it was still enough for 8th place in the women's classification - it was a tough fight for me today.
On the long distance we not only had to celebrate Manuela's birthday, but also the overall victory that she clinched, the sprint classification she won and the lead in the GCC: I hope I haven't forgotten anything.
“Cycling is about falling and getting back up”, as Walter Godefroot once put it, and it can somehow apply to me too. For me, the race over the short distance wasn't crowned with much success. But more on that later.
On Saturday evening I set off for Göttingen with Andreas in the team car. There we spent the night in a sports hall, which the organizer made available to us free of charge. After a short night, we went to breakfast and handed out the starting documents. We unloaded the bikes and assembled them, attached the race number to the handlebars and jersey and changed. Since the temperatures were still quite low, the legs got a good dose of heat oil.
When warming up, my personal horror day began. Even with the best material it can happen that things don't work out. It was difficult for me to shift from the large to the small leaf and the gears didn't shift properly either and jumped around. Unfortunately, 20 minutes before the start it was no longer possible to fix the problem. So get in the starting blocks and try your best. After 3 kilometers I already knew that any chance of a good placement had disappeared. On the first long climb I had to let the field and everything behind it go. The only wheeled gears were the smallest and the two largest. With the terrain I have no choice but to drive in the smallest.
Arriving at Hohen Hagen, I was of course looking forward to the descent. There it was important for me to get as much time out of it as I'm not the worst on the descent. However, the roads were quite wet and full of dirt. It was therefore necessary to exercise caution. After that it was just full throttle. Now the big gears were mobile. Turning off my head wasn't the smartest decision though, because with the high speed and wet roads, it was only a matter of time before my rear wheel went off in a corner. And so it happened. I immediately got off the bike and continued on. Unfortunately, the air was out. Still, I finished and that was what counted for me.
Then we watched the award ceremonies of the two distances as a whole team. The mood was great because the race had been very successful for many of us. Now it's time for me to tick off the race and start with renewed vigor on May 11th in Leipzig.