The Blog of Dirk Bockel

Luxembourg National Cycling Championships

Thursday’s contre-la-montre (Time Trial), 18km:

I was very excited to be part of the Cycling Championships in Luxembourg this year, even though it was during my racing break, I was still looking forward to a good performance to show the cyclists that I am a good rider. I knew the race course and I had my training partner and friend Paul Westwood behind me in the follow car; Alicia was there as well and she filmed the whole thing!

Check out the YouTube video above! Crazy, I know Continue reading →

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 Continue reading →

Back in Luxland

After several months of traveling and racing, I finally made it back to Luxembourg. The week after my big win at the Ironman 70.3 Florida, I took it pretty easy and hardly trained. To be honest, I did 4 sessions total that week. I was actually hanging out in St. Augustine, FL and spent a lot of time with my in-laws.

The weather was terrible for 6 days straight, so we spent a lot of time at the in-laws house, which was actually pretty nice for a change. St. Augustine is an amazing place. Right now, I am sitting in the plane on my way back to Frankfurt and then back to Luxland Continue reading →

Winning by an ear at Florida Ironman 70.3 in Disney

What a day! I finally have my first WTC victory after racing for such a short time in the new distance.
Coming off the tiring St Croix race, I struggled to get back into my training rhythm once I got back to Tampa. Not only did my blisters make it hard to do the biking and running but also the training itself took it’s toll.

Up until the last two days before the race I did not feel completely ready. Race day proved to be quite different. Continue reading →

How to pack to win an Ironman

My training partners used to make fun of me for overpacking my bags and bringing way too much with me to races all the time. It was a real pain in the neck (and back, and arms, etc) to carry that huge bike box (or sometimes two!), a really big travel bag (or sometimes two!), and a backpack. Mass transportation was a hassle and I used to get into loads of trouble with airline companies because I would get angry when they charged me for extra luggage. On top of that, I would oftentimes experience airlines losing my bags and/or bikes which is a HUGE pain before a race. I can tell you that I have definitely had my fair share of arguments about lost bags with airline personnel–which is not a great way to get into the right mindset a couple of days before a race! Continue reading →