Die Bikepacker 1-Sekundenschlaf Challange
Nutze deine Möglichkeiten
Mit meinem übergewichtigen Bike, dem Trainingspensum, Familie und Job der mich 100% fordert, werde ich es nie schaffen, an Events mit Top Bikepacker um ein Spitzen-Ranking zu kämpfen. Da bleibt mir nichts anderes übrig, als meine Performance in kleine Scheiben zu schneiden und diese isoliert zu verbessern. Eine Analogie finden wir z. B. im Formel 1 Rennsport, wo die Streckenabschnitte in Segmente geteilt und einzeln analysiert und optimiert werden, einer der wichtigsten ist der Boxenstopp.
NEOAIR XLITE
leicht, klein, komfortabel und heikel
Z-LITE SOL
leicht, sperrig, weniger komfortabel aber unverwüstlich
Wie es dazu kam
Nachdem ich dieses Frühjahr schon drei Löcher an meiner Luftmatratze flicken und zum Teil auf hartem Boden schlafen musste, habe ich mein Bikepacking Schlafsystem überdacht. Zum Schluss bin ich von der aufblasbaren Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite - Luftmatratze auf eine geschlossenzellige Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite – Isomatte umgestiegen. Der klare Nachteil der neuen Lösung liegt beim Packmass der sperrigen Isomatte, mit etwas tüfteln habe ich aber einen idealen Platz gefunden, der weder mein aktuelles Packvolumen verringert, noch die Aerodynamik negativ beeinflusst, jedoch viel schneller aus- und wieder eingepackt ist und zudem den hinteren Spritzschutz bei Regen verbessert.
Die Idee
So bin ich auf die Idee gekommen die Bikepacker 1-Sekundenschlaf Challange zu starten. Ich bin gespannt, welche Strategie und Lösungen andere Biker/innen haben und wie viel schneller oder langsamer diese am Ende sind. Es ist mir bewusst, dass dies nur ein kleiner Teil einer Bikepacking Tour oder Rennen ausmacht, daher bitte nicht all zu ernst nehmen. Über eine Handvoll Herausforderer oder noch besser Herausforderinnen freue ich mich jedoch sehr.
Bitte Videos an mich senden oder unter https://www.facebook.com/groups/swissbikepacker posten.
Happy Trails, Mark
CHALLANGE TEILNEHMENDE
Mark Lauzon - 2 : 45 Minuten
Vermerk:
Geschlossenzellige Schlafmatte moniert unter Satteltasche.
Video: https://youtu.be/p00IZnUWj9E
Mat Haussener - 3:06 Minuten
Vermerk:
Cooles Schlafsack/Matte 1 Rollen-System mit schlankem Lenkertasche von www.capricorn-bags.ch - Custom made in Switzerland
Video: www.facebook.com/groups/swissbikepacker
… (wir warten noch auf weitere, welche sich der Challange stellen. Es geht nicht nur um die Zeit, sondern um zu zeigen, dass es unterschiedliche Setup’s, Strategien und Arten von Bikepacking gibt. Also zögere nicht und stell dich der Herausforderung…!
Schwarzwald Bike Marathon
Race report from the Schwarzwald Marathon (Black Forest, Germany) with my best body and bike mate Nello.
I like when things turn out better than expected…
It was raining like hell last Saturday afternoon, when I picked up Nello and his two kids. After dropping of the kids at his parents-in-laws place 45 minutes later Google maps still showed another 1.5 hours to Furtwangen (Black Forest, Germany) where we planned to participate in the bike marathon on Sunday morning.
OSPA at full trottle at the Black Forest Marathon
The rain kept on even worse and we somehow felt like squeezing our adventure into a anyway short weekend. So what, we said, but we were not really convinced this was going to be fun.
After finding a suitable parking for the motorhome we had just enough time to register and loading some carb at the pasta party. As it was still raining and seemed to get colder and colder we were unsure for which distance we should register for, 60km or 90km. After checking the weather with several Apps, we decided to trust the one with the best forecast – expecting the rain to stop just about for the start of the race. We finally decided to go for the longer one with 90km and 2300 m elevation gain.
I suffered from slight stomach pain and occasional sh… since a couple days, but I was hoping it wouldn’t really bother me during the competition. After two plates of pasta we went back and had a cup of tea, delicious cookies and a good talk – something we missed in the last months. Since we work together at andiron, we meet each other more often, but we rarely take the time to talk about the really important topics in our lives 😉
I love to sleep in the camper when its raining. Hearing the drops knocking on the roof is the best mantra I can imagine – except before a bike marathon. Good night!
Next morning
Ready, steady, GO!
Nello got up first (as always…) and announced dry conditions outside. When I opened the window I was positively surprised and I thought to spot a tiny little blue of the sky between the clouds what gave a optimistic mood. Bacon and eggs is not the recommended sports breakfast but we don’t care – on Sundays we deserve and enjoy it – white bread, orange-ginger jam and Italian coffee nicely round up our breakfast ceremony. A little massage, packing the bike and off we went to win the battle.
Seconds after take-off
In contradiction of yesterday evening Furtwangen turned from a quiet, deserted hicktown into a vibrant small city, so it was not easy to find our way to the start area. With the first shafts of sunlight the start led us through the city center and shortly after we left the pavement and entered the beautiful countryside.While I could well keep the pace in the flat, many riders passed me at the first real uphill and also Nello passed me without noticing it, as I learned later.
The first hour / approx. 20 km I was unable to find my rhythm, my stomach was jammed and I could hardly breath and many of the riders passed me. Even though I was sure, that I would catch-up with most of them in the later phase of the race, it was difficult to keep calm and go my own speed. As I arrived at the first food station Nello was just about to take off. He was fairly surprised to see me and couldn’t believe I was behind him since almost the beginning of the race.
Riding together between kilometer 20 to approx. 35 was a real highlight - Yeaphiii...!!!
So we took of together and enjoyed the nice Black Forest and the beautiful track. The weather got better and better and it reminded me 5 years back, when rode together at the Transalp.
As I looked back after the next food stop I suddenly realized, that I had lost Nello. I tried to keep up my own pace and enjoyed some nice fights with other riders. As I passed one for the fifth time, he turned his head and said, “you have a very nice bike” – “thanks mate” I returned and kept on with pride.
The track mostly on wide forestry roads and some nice single tracks is a real pleasure to ride, but over time, I tended ride a bit to risky and had a moment of shock in a steep downhill when I suddenly had some big steps ahead of me. I had no chance to stop, so I just held to the handlebar and jumped over, as some smaller bumps followed I was lucky to not crash. With some more adrenalin I attacked the next uphill and thanked my guardian angel for taking care of me so well.
I saw no other rider with large tyres like mine, and generally get a lot of reactions from spectators but also competitors.
The race is really well organized and with total 7 food stations on 90 km never to far, even if you lose your bottle as I did. The last kilometers, mostly flat I joined a nice bunch of riders, together we passed a lot of other riders, that probably started the race a bit to fast.
A nice sprint to end the race.
Nello arrived some minutes later and except a short crisis, he also enjoyed the race.
After a short, cold shower (sorry Nello, it will not happen again) in the camper, we left Furtwangen with a big smile on our face. After a short stop in a nice café to eat a big piece of Black Forest Cake we safely arrived home.
As we passed the Swiss border a SMS from Datasport informed that I finished the race on 5th place in my age group - what more could I want?
