Writing this post suddenly fills me with shock, that I have not posted anything on this blog for a whole year! Was 2021 such an uneventful year in cycling for me? No, quite a lot was going on, just not much in competitive road cycling though.
A 5th place at the Championships of the Federal State of Bavaria was dissatisfactory, as I missed the winning break in the first lap! The race was held together with Masters2, Masters3 and U19, which always leads to hectic racing from the start.
On another occasion, at the Grosser Allgaeuer Strassenpreis, I didn't even survive the first lap, as we went into the first of the 8 x 1.3km climbs, my heart rate already exceeding my FTP HR and reaching max. HR, not even halfway up the climb. Game-over.
The biggest goal of the season though, was the Oetztaler Radmarathon, a 250km alpine race with more than 5500m total elevation. I prepared for it all year, rode long distances of 220-270km every second weekend, about 15x times in total, but then realized close to the event day that I was not going to be able to sustain 9-10 hours of riding, with agonizing seating pain and pain from the two broken vertebrae from my accident in 2014. Both issues had built up over the season to the point of realization on my ultimate recce ride, a dress rehearsal 2 weeks before the race. I had to withdraw from participation the day before the race, on medical grounds.
That leads me to the positive note about 2021, riding with the Ammersee Cycling Team. A great bunch of people of different ages, cycling histories, ambitions, different professional and family backgrounds. The regular Saturday and Wednesday rides with the "bumble-bees" had been a great balance to the mentally challenging solitary long-distance rides, especially during covid induced home-office weeks, I found it increasingly difficult to also ride my bike in solitary confinement. I am very grateful that this cycling club emerged just before the covid madness started, in early 2020. If cycling saved my life, then AS Cycling team saved my cycling!
