Black Forest Ultra Bike Marathon. To describe this event you would need an entire day because you would not find all the adjectives to describe it. Hundreds and hundreds of volunteers and a great athmosphere. A lot of people watching the race, especially in steep climbs their shouting was pushing one up the hill.
I had a special moment yesterday as we were descending to Hinterzarten after the first climb. I recognized Georg Thoma, a living legend in Black Forest. Olympic gold medal winner in Nordic combined, in Squaw Valley 1960. He was riding his mtb and cheering at us. 20 kilometres later he was on the race track again. This time cheering at me in Finnish! This moment I will never forget!
The entire race I tried to keep a steady pace. Always thinking of how hard the last climb from Todtnau to Hofsgrund is. I wanted to have enough energy for the last part, but even this time I failed. I think no matter how slow you start the race, the distance is eating your energy reserves up. I really had to fight against tiredness, but had a big gap to the other women so there was no danger that they would catch me
I finished just under 5 hours, which made me a bit proud of my performance.
It is always special to ride here in Black Forest, where I have done most of my training rides for the last 5 years.
Pia Sundstedt 