07.05.07 - Up and Down: Bundesliga Cup, Heubach:
Germany's Bundesliga Cups (Federal League) are their equivalent of our national rounds, but with more sponsors, huge fields for all classes, big crowds, and great atmosphere. The Heubach round was the third of seven and it was no exception. It felt like being at a World Cup.
After getting in two weeks of solid training, I was hoping my form would be better than Houffalize. I've been creeping for those two weeks, but the Friday before this I finally felt like I could pedal and put some sort of power out. It's a start anyway.
Travelling to Heubach was also a good excuse to pass through Stuttgart, a town the size of Canberra but with more charisma. It’s host to the World Road Championships this year. Best of all it was home to the brand new Mercedes Benz museum. This was insane. From the whole building being an architectural feat inside and out, to the displayed cars, and everything else around them. Even the elevators in there were like spaceships!
After a mad rush on the Sunday morning, with a few wrong turns, we arrived in Heubach about a minute before rego closed. Then we found out we weren't on the start list, would have to pay late entry, and start at the back of our respective fields. Time to stress! We ran around for a while and finally found the officials to sort it out. Then Niki went for a quick warm up while I prepared her bottles.
We wouldn't get to see the track, but in the end it was pretty straight forward. I tried to warm up while feeding Niki, 5-10 minute rolls for each of her laps. It felt more like it was wearing me out rather than warming me up. But with no support crew this is all we could do. And after my race Niki didn't get to eat or drink, just rush to get my bottles, run to the top of the hill (and it was big) amongst the big crowds, and wait around for each lap to feed me.
I was lucky enough to get a good start position in the end – front row, beside the world champ! I looked around me on the start, only to see a crowd of world cup hitters around me. I felt out of place, but though “I’ve got to make the most of this”. The start didn’t seem as hard as I expected, until the lactic set in. Without a proper warm up the first climb was a shock to the system. I held my position for a while, and the lactic just built up. With such a long climb I never got to spin it out. And the downhill was just a ‘stand and hold on’ deal. I never seemed to recover and just tried to minimise time lost. In the end I finished mid-field. My race was similar to Niki’s, so we got to whinge to each other on the trip home. Time to rethink training and race prep.
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