Clujul pedaleaza - Cluj is pedaling

Sunday I went racing to Cluj. Cluj is at about a 2 hour car ride (about 100 km) but I had a rough time getting there. The day before I changed my tires but I didn't pay attention when I bought the tubes and I got a 20 inch tube. So I had to go back to the store and change the tube. The next morning my phone didn't wake me up, it didn't ring. Next the car didn't want to start. After some help from a few taxi drivers and a lot of lost time it finally started, as I found out in the evening the battery died. My bad luck didn't stop there... I got to Cluj almost in time but I still had to hurry to get my race number. I didn't go on the first route my gps suggested so I had to go under a pole and disaster... I was kind of lucky that the driver behind me wasn't too close and that my Thule bike carrier is kind of idiot proof. The seat of the bike is a bit torn and one peace of plastic is broken so I was kind of lucky. The car stopped and I couldn't start it again so I had to run up the hill to get my number...

Before the race started I had to wait because the kid and beginner races were first. When the race started I was tired and cold. The first two laps were very hard, I was struggling to keep up and find my rhythm. I don't really enjoy these fast races. At the end of the second lap the rear wheel slipped and my left gastrocnemius contracted and it was hurting. I couldn't pedal for a while so I was running. I got back on the bike and started to find my rhythm. I was in about the 20th place at the end of lap three. Slowly I started to get back in the race and I started to have some fun to. My Nobby Nics were awesome, I had so much grip on every surface (mud and ice) that I was very happy that I bought them.

I finished the race in 15th place, I was covered in mud and I had really bad muscles cramps in my legs. After three days my legs still hurt. It was a great race, I had a lot of fun, I am happy that I was able to race although I had a lot of problems, I even won a Garmin t-shirt :D

Some pics from the race:

new tires on the bike, clean clothes on me (before the race)

race time

before the cramps

go go go

it started to snow

pushing hard

Merida rulz

Merida flags again

getting dirty

on the finish line

dirty and tired after the race

dirty after the race

muddy

going home

Stats:
    - time: 53:07
    - distance: 11,91km
    - average speed: 12,5 km/h
    - max speed 23,4 km/h

All the pics here.