Reevax 12th in first TransSchwarzwald

The last stage brings us today from Grafenhausen to Murg-Niederhof, at the Swiss border. After only 7,5 km neutralisation we are in the mean time used to it- we have to start again with a downhill. It keeps wondering us why they create such dangerous situations and want to use a 3m wide gravel road at 43 km/h for a start with 250 riders. Luckily we come through without accidents, but at the foot of the downhill the distance between Domie and me is already that big that I can close the first gap of the day and my legs feel if they will explode every moment.

They luckily do not explode, but in the next downhill, after 9 km in the race, my rear tire blows and we are forced to make a technical pitstop. We quickly mount a tube and an air canister to inflate the tire. Kroki, standing a couple of hunderd meters further with fresh drinking bottles, comes running towards us and with the pump we can bring the tire back to normal pressure, while almost the complete peleton passes us. We have to adjust our tactics for today. Chain to thr right, standing on the pedals, and full speed ahead. Taking care we don’t burn ourselves, those who ride in the red zone take a risk to end up in the black zone.

The course is again real black forest with large forests, roots and fire roads like in the first stage. The climbs are not very long, but steep. In the chase I try to do as much work as possible, while Domie hangs on and follows.

Domies rear tire apparantly also has a leak, but the NoTubes liquid did its job and closed the hole. Despite this a lot of air has escaped and we have to pump up the tire again. In one of the next climbs we plan a pitstop, and I already prepare the air canister so we don’t loose too much time. In less then 30 seconds we are back on the bike and can start the chase, again. It costs a lot of energy, but it pays back, as regularly we pass a couple of teams. In the last section we pass the Forza-men and the leaders and 2nd team in the mixed category.

We notice that Domies tire still looses air slowly, but we have no time to stop. The last kilometers Domie is forced to ride on an almost flat tire and take care he doesn’t hit the floor. And then they put a fantastic singletrail in the last 2 km with roots and rocks. Weight as much forward as possible and almost crashed over a big rock, but Domie luckily stays upright and we reach the finish in Murg-Niedrhof with crashes.

With an average of more then 25.6 km/h over the 77km and 1700 vertical meters and a time of 2h57min48sec we finish on a 17th place despite the technical problems and we loose only 2-3 mminutes on the teams in our neighbourhood. In the general classification we keep our 12th place, with which we are all happy.

With a refreshing drink from the beer can of the local brewery we salute for the happy end of the very first Trans Schwarzwald. The finisher party with a local live-band is especially appreciated by the Belgians and the party goes on until the early hours. Alcohol flows in big quantities and mixing different variants results in the well-known symptoms. Domie and Daan do their best, but especially our cook getsit difficult later in the evening and withdraws to the mobilhome to recover. A bit later it goes wrong when he mixes the cooking plate with the sink. Cleaning work ahead !

Loose items from the race:

Last night there were 7 bikes stolen from the bike-park, amongst which 2 of Belgian teams. Team Lingier-Versluys’ from Ostend and Team The sir united cycling team’ from Merksplas belonged to the unlucky victims.

As a thank you for Kroki’s support during the race, Kirsten Rösel, winner of the mixed category, gives one of her leader jerseys to Kroki.

Team Alb-Gold, with current European champion Hannes Genze, beats the leaders of the Merida team today with more then 5 minutes. In this way they win this Trans Schwarzwald.

Paul and Pascal of the Forza-men keep their position and are 3rd in the masters category.

Together with team Landrover and team Connections Hasselt, Reevax takes places 10, 11 and 12 the final classification.

The Forza-ladies finish their first stage race in style: with fluo-green hair under their helmets. On top of that they are called on the stage during the winners ceremony. Forza scores 100% in podiumresults.

Patricia and Luc of Performance daily grew in the race and reached the finished line relatively fresh. First reaction: too bad, now it is finished?

In the laste meters before the finish, Jochen from the Casse Patat team crashed and hurst his knee and shoulder. He can finish the race, but hopefully it is not too bad.

Kroki, in the reevax van, appareantly couldn’t follow a guy with a caravan today. He flew through the hairpin turns.

Pepe