Münsingen

First race of the year is always making one a bit more nervous as usual.The Marathon in Münsingen has been growing in popularity the last years and more than 500 enthusiastic bike riders found their way to Münsingen for this year’s edition.
Münsingen is a 2 hours drive from Freiburg and since the start was only 9.30 there was enough time to get there in the morning. I got up 5.30, had a bowl of oatmeal and we left to Münsingen right in time.
We arrived to Münsingen and there was still plenty of time to ride the last part of the track. It is important to know at least the last couple of kilometers.
At the start line I noticed my back tire was leaking. I always use tubeless with stans and I was suprised to notice that there was only about 1bars left in the tire. That would definitely not take me even one meter. Luckily Gabi Stanger showed up at the start line. She is one of the most friendliest and nicest of my bike colleagues. Unfortunately she is injured at the moment, but I asked her to find me a pump. I used me CO2 and then suddenly she was there with a pump. She helped me to get the right pressure in the tire and as we had finished there was only one minute and 30 second left to the start. So it was kind of tight.
The start was fast and the whole race was fast riding. I was riding with Birgit Söllner and Katrin Schwing for half of the race. I just felt awful and did not find any good rythm.
In the tird last climb and about 15km to go I decided to speed up a bit. I knew I should try to catch the group in front of us. The flat and windy parts would be very slow if I would ride alone between 2 groups. I managed to catch the group of 5 men in front of me and the gap to Birgit was now about 40 seconds.
This gap continued to grow and I could comfortably cross the finish line in first place.
It was a nice start of the season. It is always great to be in Münsingen. The organizers really do a great job and you feel very welcome there.