It was a bit fresh in the morning but the weather was looking good. We got ready for a 7:30 am start in Imst. We being Leonie, Markus K., and I, plus Markus and Max who we first met at the Tour de Kärnten in 2013. The start being the first edition of the Imster Radmarathon 2016. Brendan was jacket-taker-man and accompanied us to the start line.
The race is 100 km and has around 1400 m of climbing. The first 5 km are neutralised and go through Imst. Time is taken as you leave Imst and I suspect it’s gun time rather than transponder time, which is a nice change.
We set off at quite a pace and I worked my way up from far at the back towards the front. Somewhere along the way I met Markus K. and we continued working our way through the bunch. After about 20 minutes we came to the first climb. I powered up it telling Markus D. as I caught up to him that I was going to give everything on the first pass and then stop. Oh how true it would turn out to be. Markus D. slowed up to wait for Max and I descended getting into a nice bunch and we cruised along the flat until at the 60-ish km mark we began to climb again.
Markus D. and Max caught up to me and it wasn’t long until they had dropped me. I realised my legs were entirely kaputt and shortly after Markus K. caught up and then passed me. Many many many other people did the same and I rode verrrry slowly to the finish line. Oh dear.
Anyway, the course was alright. Quite a lot of main roads. The second pass was a bit nicer and I had quite a lot of time to “enjoy” it due to my sad legs. Brendan and Markus K. were waiting at the finish line and Brendan took the opportunity to hoon around on my road bike while Markus and I took the opportunity to eat pasta. Leonie turned up a bit later and it was one happy family.
Above left: We raced the first Imster Radmarathon. It was Leonie, me, Markus K., Markus D. and Max. Brendan was support crew. Above right: Markus had a very good race.
Imster Radmarathon 2016 100 km / 1400 m 3:20:35.2 54/67 (category)