Festina Radmarathon - UPDATED

Next race on the calendar was the Festina Radmarathon based around Schwanenstadt in the Salzkammergut region on August 15.

I wrote a brief report in German for the RC Hallein website, and for those interested, here's the write-up:

Manche der Freuden, wenn man ein neues Land entdeckt, sind die Überraschungen, nett oder nicht so nett. Ich habe mich für den Salzkammergutradmarathon angemeldet und habe geglaubt es ist nur ein Event für Hobbyfahrer, mit einem kleinen Wettbewerbsvorteil.

In diesem Fall kommt die Überraschung an der Startlinie. Es gab keine Hobbyfahrer, nur circa 100 ernste Rennfahrer, die wie Semiprofis ausschauen. Ich habe ein bisschen Angst bekommen, aber dann waren wir unterwegs und es gab keine Zeit mehr zum Denken.

Die ersten 25km waren unsäglich schnell und die Strecke war mit kleinen Hügeln übersät. Nach 20km war das Peloton total gespalten. Ich habe mich in der zweiten Gruppe mit acht anderen Rennfahrern gefunden.

Die Geschwindigkeit ist hoch, aber konstant, geblieben und wir haben Nußdorf, nach 55km des Rennens, in 90 Minuten erreicht.

Der 766m hohe Berg nach Nußdorf hat einen Wendepunkt markiert. Erstens, auf dem Anstieg, ist der Regen angekommen. Dann wurden manche Fahrer von unserer Gruppe abgeworfen und ich holte mit drei anderen eine weitere kleine Gruppe, die vom ersten Peloton zurückgelassen wurde, ein.

Der Regen ist wieder schwer gefallen, aber nach vielen Jahren in England als Rennfahrer, war ich in meinem Element! Wir haben gut über die hügelige und kurvenreiche Strecke zusammen gearbeitet, und nach drei Stunden und 30 Minuten sind wir 125km gefahren und in der Zielstrecke angekommen.

Ich habe die bemalte Aufzeichnung auf der Strasse gelesen: 5km bis zum Ziel. Die Gruppe ist schneller gefahren. Ein Kilometer: wieder schneller. Fünfhundert Meter, dann 100m. Ein Fahrer der Atterbike Mannschaft hat seinen Sprint begonnen und ich habe ihn verfolgt.

Aber nach weiteren 200 Metern gab es kein Ziel! Wir sind um eine Ecke gekommen und ich habe noch eine Aufzeichnung gelesen: 100m bis zum Ziel. 'Scheiße' sagt der Atterbiker, und ist wieder gesprintet. Ich habe kein Gas mehr gehabt, und bin hinter ihm aber vor den anderen von unserer Gruppe durchs Ziel.

Am Ende habe ich 20. Platz geschafft, noch eine nette Überraschung in Österreich!

Thomas Mair von RC ÄRBO Wels hat mit 3:13 gewonnen. Ulli Öhlböck (Team Müller’s Gasthaus) war Zweiter, und Josef Benetseder (Team Volksbank) Dritter.

Not the best image, but that's me in the black behind the guy from Atterbike

To summarise in English, it was a 125km route littered with little climbs and very few flat sections. I was more than slightly unnerved on the startline when virtually all of the 100 or so starters turned out to be local hotshots and there were even a couple of pros. But once on the road, the peloton fractured quickly and I ended up in the second group. We worked well together, over the major hill at halfway and even through the worsening weather, which by for the final 50km became heavy rain.

The road was marked with 5km to go, down to 100m when a guy from the Atterbike team went for it and I jumped on his wheel. Unfortunately the markings were totally incorrect and we still had another 750m to the line. When the actual finish came into sight we had a small gap over the field and the Atterbiker opened his sprint out again. I couldn't match it, but was still pretty stoked, ending up 20th behind winner Thomas Mair (RC Ärbo Wels).

Beeb Overkill?

There has been significant comment in British media about the extravagant number of staff in Beijing from the BBC, namely from The Telegraph and Daily Mail

The actual figure is around 440, well over the 320-odd athletes representing Team GB. Many newspaper bloggers report an incident from yesterday's press conference with Michael Phelps, the American swimming champion (see report in The Guardian). A Children's BBC reporter asked "just how amazing is amazing? Amazing like Christmas? Like your birthday? Or like winning the lottery?"

Earlier this week, one BBC reporter decided to see how many different sports he could see in one day. Sounds like fun, but was it worthwhile and what exactly came of this intrepid investigation apart from a few amusing comments on their live ticker?

There were similar over-staffing allegations at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. I was there working for a number of magazines, and particularly remember travelling to the triathlon event in the media bus.

"What sports are in this then?" Asked one BBC employee a few seats back.

"Err, cycling, running and swimming?" replied another. "No idea what order they go in though."

One wonders what was the point of sending two journalists half way across the world to report on events they know nothing about. Even more irritating was the fact that these two clowns could have at least done some research into a sport they are expected to describe to an entire nation.

Trattbergerstier

Second race of the season and it really didn't go too well. The Trattbergerstier is only 82km, but takes in 1850m of vertical gain. I got into oxygen debt on the first short and sharp hill, and never really recovered properly. Unfortunately this race finishes on a 20km long climb that rises approximately 900m. The last eight kilometres are particularly steep and unpleasant with five hairpin turns and by this stage I was not exactly enjoying myself.

About 250 riders, including many from my club RC Hallein took to the start.

Halfway up before the steep section.

On the final hairpin before the finish.

Reading from the race: heart rate on the top, altitude on the bottom, both plotted against distance.

I ended up mid pack, a long way down on the leader. My training has been significantly altered since this race, however. After consulting my old coach, it became clear that my upper levels were not getting the work out they need if I am to race at a decent level. The past few years have been all about enjoying riding and therefore basically just cruising around at a medium level. Therefore my endurance is fine, but I need more higher intensity workouts.

It feels very strange to be so far off the standard I once was, not that I was ever that incredible. But it would be nice to get some of the old racing sensations back again. Schau ma moi.

Enzianhütte at the top. They do a good Kaspressknödelsuppe.