Time to taper

stats of the week: run 25km, cycled 254km, gym 2h

I put in some more hills on the bike to get ready for the cycling season's highlight. Unfortunately one of my feet preferred to show it was enough now. It started to hurt the next morning after Sunday's usual run. Program now is to rest for nearly whole of the week.

Friday will see me doing the yearly climb of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain that is half Austrian. However, way down is by cable car.

Sunday is the big day. My biggest clycling challenge awaits. The race of the races. Organisers advertise: "I have a dream." My dream is to get to the finish line.

Mud in the woods

stats of the week: run 40km, cycled 194km, gym 2h

After 3 months of concentrating on cycling I felt the need to get back to proper running and entered one of my most loved little race events. It has a history of 40 years that ended now due to the lack of volunteers and participants.

So I ran the 20K through local woods one last time and was surprised to be 46 seconds faster than 2 years ago. I beat the aging process, hooray!

It was a wet and muddy day. I enjoyed it. Very much.

Going South to the local hills

stats of the week: run 18km, cycled 332km

Choosing your cycling route in my area you always have the option to ride flat to the North or hilly to the South. I always go South. And so did the organizers of the 5th "Sauerland Extreme". Taking part in this tough event meant my longest cycling tour ever - 254km including 4,000 meters of altitude difference. It took me 12 hours thereof 10:53 h of sitting on the bike! Surprisingly sitting was no problem but feet and shoulder still hurt the next day. I found the many short steep climbs much harder than going up a proper mountain for hours. First impression is: I don't have to repeat this ...

More London

stats of the week: run 24km, cycled 233km, gym 1h

London's weather made up for the wet day last year and we had glorious sunshine at this year's London Ride 100. No excuse to slow down. Target was to ride the 100 miles sub 5:30h. Way was to go the distance without any stop. Success! Half way I still doubted to make it but the final 25 miles I was able to accelerate and finished after 5:11h. The organisers keep telling that it is not a race so there is no ranking. More than 25,000 cyclists made it to the mall thereof 5,000 women!

Anyway, it was a great day out with good fun and a cold beer by interAir in Green Park. Compared to oncoming challenges it was a time to enjoy.