Report from Caroline Pasedach .
Finally time has arrived. Time fort he UlTravamündathon from Braunschweig to Travemünde. A trip of about 500km. My big goal for this season. Last year I managed to ride a 400km race and now it was time for the 500km. The time was right and also the marathon start, right in front of my front door.
I stand up at 3:30o´clock on Saturday morning. I wasn´t able to sleep anyhow, because I was really looking forward fort his event. Than I drove with the car to Braunschweig – Timmerlah for the start. The start was at 5:00o´clock. I was able to invite two friends of mine to attend me at this adventure. One of them wasn´t used to ride RR, but to ride longer distances with his MTB and the other one never rode such a distance at once, but just came back from a bike trip across the USA. We had lots of respect off this distance and we didn´t quite know what it´s up to. But no way back. On the way north we rode together with two long distance specialists and were able to ride a constant high speed.
W erode the first 100km without a break, during this time it began to rain, but I didn´t care very much about it. Normally it bother me very much when it rains but today all things were whatever. We rode on and on. No mountains to solve but even in northern Germany are some bridges really bad. Finally at 15:00o´clock, we reached our destination.
The last meters we did by feet onto the beach. It was unbelievable. I don´t know when I was at the ocean fort he last time. We rode a good speed on our way here and so we enjoyed the 2h break with cake, rolls, bars and fruits by the organizer. Everythng you needed…
Now it was time for our way back. Me and my two guys were almost the only ones who wanted to ride all the way back. Another rider was one with a Velo-mobil and was faster than us. The other rider took the train back or rode directly home. But we three wanted to ride and felt quite fresh. The first break we did after 50km and enjoyed a coffee in a small village. We were in need of some caffeine because of the closing night. At dawn we reached Lauenburg/ Elbe and soon we had the first puncture, but the tyre was fastly changed and so we entered the night. My two guys helped me very much and let me ride behind them most of the time. One of my guys really enjoyed riding during the night while the other one suffered with a stomach flu. It was that easy to hold the back wheel sometimes when I rode in the front, we rode my speed and I was able to take my breath again. But I knew, that they wouldn´t let me alone. And so we fought our way thru the night.
At 4:00o´clock on Sunday morning we reached the finish. But when we reached it, one thing was sure, we had to get the 500km ready, because a few were missing, okay just 12 but…. Overall we less than 24h for the distance of 500km with an average speed of 26km/h.
We were really lucky about what we did and when we were at the finidhed the eyes became more and more heavy. What´s next? I don´t know, but I know, it was a fantastic day, my day to the ocean and back. I will never forget…
Caro