Today, Julian and I did a delicious hill-climb race named the Schauinslandkönig . It’s essentially a hill climb time-trial with 800 metres of climbing over 11 km. Julian had organised a number of his work colleges to enter a MRI “team”. So we cycled over to the start line, 45 minutes ride from his house, in the morning. It was going to be scorching-hot but luckily much of the climb was in the shade. I started before Julian and cranked off up the hill. I started well but it wasn’t long before I realised that three months of almost no biking and my recent German beer and kuechen in-take were not helping my form. After about 10 minutes, I heard a bell and turned around to see Julian grinning. Curses…
So we drafted for the rest of the climb, taking turns in front. Well, actually Julian probably spent 85% of the time in front with me gasping and wheezing behind. Too many pies. Sadly my attempts to drop him in the last 2 km and regain the approx. 15 seconds I had lost at the start did not stick. I was reduced to out-sprinting him at the end and clawing back approx. 7 seconds. My heart was purring at 205 bpm. Yay.
We went and hung out at a little mountain hut later and ate. Brendan and Julia headed back to Wuppertal in the evening.
Avg heart rate: 193 bpm Max heart rate: 205 bpm
Above left: Cris tries to look casual as he drafts Julian up the hill. Above right: Team T2 at the finish line.
Below left: Julian “road cycling” in the forest. The route to the restaurant was not ideal for road cycling. Below right: Eating out after the race.
