Bundesliga to Cycling Champs and everything in between

Last weekends race @ Schliersee was a great team effort. It was my first short distance race since last August at the Olympic Games- and I can still do it. I didn’t end up finishing the race because only the first four men from a team of five count – but it was awesome to win as a team, and to know that we are pretty securely going to win the Bundesliga series this year!

After a good swim I exited with the fastest swimmers and we quickly formed a 20 man leading group. Within the first few minutes the group seemed to split, but I decided not to push to follow the leaders, since our team had 2-3 guys in there already. After 12 km or so we had 3 riders in the front and I sat with the best runner from our team in the group behind- so I decided to attack the next hill and I closed the gap all by myself. This effort killed me because once I got to the group in front I was not able to recover quickly. It took some time for me to adapt and then I threw in all I had left in order to bring our other three riders further away from the 2nd pack. At that point it was the smartest thing for me to do, since I was a bit unsure of my own running fitness. The last 4 km uphill (12% increase) killed me and I was totally out of power. “Jumper”, our top runner was attacking in the back and came past me on his own- so I knew the team was set and I was able to take it a bit easier. I still decided to do a few km into the run, just to make sure everyone was securely flying on the course.

It was a great team effort and we won the Bundesliga race again that day. The race was actually the German National Champs, and the top three guys were from my team–EJOT Team Buschhuetten. Right on!

A day later I drove back home to Luxembourg–on the way back we drove with two cars since Alicia found a nice car for us when we were there and we now finally have a great ride that we can call our own! I will post some pictures soon.

But for now I have to focus on the race tonight!

Just a few weeks ago I decided to race at the National Time Trial Champinships in Differdange, Lux and to test myself against the best riders in the world. Kim Kirchen and the two Schleck brothers will be racing along with several other pros. It starts at 4pm with the juniors and I will roll down the ramp at 8pm tonight. So guys, wish me luck and help me to suffer along the sketchy course.

Alicia will be sitting in the car behind me filming the whole show and Paul, better known as Westy, will yell in the megaphone to keep me going once I show the slightest weakness on the course, lol.

On Sunday, I need to perform at the 170 km National Road Champs as well. That will be exceptionally tough, because the last 60 km will be on a city course with two major uphills- good for our three top riders but hard for the rest…

I will keep you guys informed!