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This was supposed to be the high point of the biking season 2004. I had nearly 5000 km of training rides and races behind me and my legs felt great. Two minutes after the professional racers, I started in the second block out of twenty with 250 riders in each section. On the first long climb I caught up with some of the slower pro’s and even passed some of them. Regrettably, I had a leak on my rear tire in the middle of the longest descent and lost at least 6 min. trying to fix it with liquid latex (I rode a tubeless wheelset). Luckily I met some friends some km later who could help me out with a CO2 cartridge. I never really regained my pace and finished the race as 75th without pushing myself. Without the flat I would have been 50th or even better. Still, this is one of the nicest marathons I’ve ridden so far - mainly beacause my stomach and my legs felt good most of the time. I did meet my goal of reaching the top 100 but I’ll probably have to come back next year for the top 50. |
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Official finish time: 3:31:41,6 (my personal riding time: 3:26) |
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I felt great after this race. No cramps, no mud, no crashes. |
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David liked his new wheels. |
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Autographs from Karl Platt & Mannie Heymanns who both had a pretty bad day. |
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