We planned to enjoy the amazing village festival the evening before the race to pick-up my race number and to have a nice snack for dinner, but unfortunately the weather was really not on our side.
After a sunny day so far, Kelheim welcomed us with a huge cloudburst and we had to cancel our cosy dinner. What a shame, but a good Italian pizza on our way to the hotel was great as well and so we were ready for a last relaxing night before the big race. All of us were full of anticipation during our relaxing breakfast. Unfortunately I had quite an uneasy night and tried to repress my fatigue with a few cups of coffee.
After arriving we were really impressed about the possibilities there, because an entire buffet plus kitchen plant was already installed and everything, a cyclist and his tummy dreams about, was available!
Soon everything was prepared and my clothes had been assorted by the different periods of the race. As a precautionary measure, Christian has taped my lower back and my knees, after the other long distance races I knew my physical weak points. The bike was prepared and cleaned, the first few bottles were filled, now there was no return! Even the space behind the starting line became increasingly full and so I joined some well-known faces there until the starting signal finally sounded! The 24 hours has started and the legs were simply perfect!
So I could manage the hill loosely-light and the atmosphere along the track was fantastic as usual. I got a good group on top of the ascent and so we were flying with high-speed direction finishing area. But of course it was only allowed for the relay riders to cross the finish line. I had to do the U-turn before the time measuring mat and in an explosive atmosphere, I rumbled over the cobbles through the gigantic party tent to start my next lap.
