Roth Update # 2

Güten Morgen,

Time is ticking along now until race day and the days have been turning over with the required training as prescribed by my coach. It is nice to not be able to drift along doing what training I can organise but to have this all scheduled out. This has been the best lead up to a race I have had in a long time. All things seem to be coming together nicely. I received a great message from Nick at Platypus about the race which was good to give it a check in regards to the overall picture.

Today I awoke late after stuffing up my alarm. Changing between two mobile sim cards is always a risk and I was late for the morning swim as Matthias had freaked out, in a good way, that I had not tested my wetsuit yet. Matthias took me to Birkensee, a lake with a 500m diametre in forests 20km away which they had found after running trail sessions. We had to hike in about 1.5km to the place, but it was stunning. I had to test out a wettie for the race as my personal one had been sent back to 2XU for repair only to be lost in the warranties department somewhere. So, a borrowed blue seventy helix shall be doing the job this weekend. It was pretty awesome to be the only person doing 400m efforts in this alpine lake chasing geese and trout out of the way with fir trees and utter quiet (apart from my splashing around). A good 4km set and the suit stood up well. Very impressed actually with the ease of ability to breath and shoulder stretch. Matthias took some photos of me training in the lake which I hope to put up.

Matthias has been a great help including taking me to a former German mountain bike and cyclocross champion (Felix) this afternoon to service my bike. I couldnt get the bike into the 3 small cogs for speed. Felix found a few faults that had not been picked up and the bike is now running smoother that ever. He is also a Stevens bike rep which are some pretty nice looking bikes. There are so many brands of bike here in Europe and all look good. The individual time trial at the tour de france today was paradise. Now only if I can get a hold of some of the gear somehow ;) .

Germans are inspiring for their facilities for sports. Everywhere I go in villages there are helpful things. For example, there is a parcour that is exactly 2km long of forest track about 2km from the house. This was made for training for the local teams and people to have a loop on soft ground that they can use for timed efforts. Labelled and all, utterly amazing. And you see this everywhere. I have not done a single session on the same course yet and each has been of ease navigational wise and of great safety. It certainly makes a mockery of the roads and hassles of Sydney training. I am going to enjoy this whilst I can.

Matthias took me on a hill loop yesterday on the bike that included a 2km climb that had a 18% gradient for the last km. I had asked what the famous "Solarberg" climb in Roth was like and this effort was to show me something a bit harder. This "serpentine" climb passed through a small village of cobble stones on a big slant and then finished with a hill top cherry tree orchard. It was a nice way to finish off a 2hour ride for me but poor matthias had raced to a pb in frankfurt ironman the day before. I had my first car buzzing for the period on the steep descent when a "Isetta" BMW car passed me. This car was all over the shop and I couldnt stop laughing as these cars are those little boxes with one wheel in back and two in the front and open with a single door at the car front (think Mr Bean's european car or the gogo mobile but worse). As it passed me it slewed across the cliff edge and slammed the breaks on too investigate the solar panel field next to us. I nearly smacked into the back of it gave the old guy some Aussie barbs to his dumbfounded look. Matthias and I nearly ran into a cherry tree pissing ourselves. (Germany is big on the environment and alternative energy. Petrol is 1.60 euro to the litre. That is worse than oz and equates to about $2.67 per litre. The government also rebates energy saving devices.).

Monday I had headed to the university town of Erlangen where Seimens holds court with its major design buildings. Bjorn is at school here in the Sports Sciences Sector. They are in the middle of exams so I headed to the uni 50m pool for a non neck hurting session away from a 25m pool. An in and outdoor 50m pool greeted me with a lane to myself, nice. I checked out some of the other facilities of the sports sciences faculty and it looked like I had walked into the German version of the AIS. Technology everywhere of the highest standard and outside were top notch climbing walls, athletics tracks, football grounds, you name it. Not bad at all. Plus a damn good "bakerei" for lunch :) to add to a sprezee (think i didnt get that right) which is a coke-fanta mix softdrink that is the thing to have here if you do not drink beer.

I have just been at a 15 year olds b'day dinner where I got to try some more of the healthy local cuisine many ending in würst. Well, that and a small chocholate tart for carbo loading ;) . The family is a big thing here and there is another "do" tuesday following the race for Matthias and Ines' 25th wedding anniversary. This is going to be a big family food fest with a belated beer for my birthday. Something nice to think of after the pain sunday night. I am an endless source of laughter for my dismal attempts at German pronounciation. I have been trying to build up my vocab and a few sentences. Food seems to be a good starting point and there are two sounds I just cannot get right. All in good fun though and I love trying to learn something new. Also shared a great Greek meal at a local cafe here with Bjorn and his girlfriend. She had been on a 9hr 30km pilgrimage walk for a wedding that day so the food went down well.

One other plus is the extra sleep. With no work to run off to, an extra 4 hours or so sleep a day is doing wonders for the body and recovery. I have even got Bjorn into calling his study naps a "kip", now all I have to do is convince Sam at home that they are great things and not lazing off. Although I am sure that with the bub growing and doing tumble turns, she may be having a kip or two as is deserved.

More tour de france over the next day or two and on Friday will be heading to Roth to register and go over the bike course for the techinical details. Am looking forward to the race and having a good hitout. The team uniform looks like half a black-white cow pelt with blue arms and stars on it. Stands out as we were able to see Matthias on the live television cast on Sunday from a mile. I will be in my sponsors labelled racing uniform that is a proven comfortable item though.

Tchüss,
Bevan.