On May 13th this years Velothon took place in Berlin. It is my favorite race of the year since I participated for the first time in 2012. And I am always looking forward to it.
As I had a surprisingly good result 2015 I thought the two following years I could do even better and reach the finish line with the first group. Despite knowing it better, I started too fast and as I was too eager to stay in the first group. This cost me my reserves and I couldn't follow any more which happened on Tempelhofer Flugfeld, were the wind is a big factor. Two years in a row the same.
So this year I used my power to calm down instead. I was not in the first group but in the second, I guess. Nevertheless, I felt very good and I easily managed to stay there. Until Tempelhofer Flugfeld. I've seen it coming but I didn't even try to avoid it: A pink little girls hat was blown over the street. And it got stuck in my sprockets. I tried to get rid of it without stopping but I couldn't. However, I managed to cycle with it for a few seconds. Then one of the guides told me to take it off. So I had to stop. But I reacted wrong. Instead of keeping the pace and going to the outside I slowed down and, of course, the whole group pass before I could get to the side and stop. It took just a few seconds to get rid of the hat. And the group wasn't yet very far away. But once again I had to admit that I'm not strong enough to get back into the group on my own. I looked back if another group came. So I could do the remaining 18 kilometers with a group. But there was nobody coming. I had to do it on my own. Of course, cycling alone in an event like Velothon Berlin is absolutely annoying. But on the other hand those kilometers were absolutely special. The people on the street were just applauding and cheering on me! And it was a real challenge. I didn't actually know that I'm capable to do this distance in such a speed level.
In the end I stayed short of the minimum target which in Berlin is always to reach an average speed of above 40 km/h. But I came in as 22nd of my age group and 153rd overall. For quite a while I was convinced that this result can only be a mistake. Curious to know how many riders of my age group have been in the group I lost in Tempelhof. So better luck next year. Maybe I will even be able to take the hurdle Tempelhofer Flugfeld.
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