Maros Bike Marathon 2011

Last Sunday I was racing in Gilau again. I love this race because the view is spectacular, I love to climb high in the mountains. The weather was perfect, the Merida tires had a thick wall so I didn't cut them and my brakes lasted until the finish line although I was breaking a lot (I had to buy new pads) but at least I didn't fall like a lot of other riders. I saw a few guys in the ambulance and I even saw somebody falling in front of me. The first downhill was very hard, there were a lot of rocks on the road, but the other descents weren't easy either.

I was climbing a lot better than a year before, but I still had to push the bike on some hard climbs. I am starting to like my new race tactic, I start slow and I can pass people almost till the end. I started a little too slow but I warmed up on the first climb after some muscle pains (from the lack of the warm up). I passed a lot of people and I was feeling good. I lost some places when I stopped for water and bananas but I recovered a few positions on the next climb. I was loosing positions on the descent but I was very careful, I think this was the first race this year without a fall.

I wasn't in good shape, I had some cramps but I was eating a lot of bananas and I was enjoying the ride. I was even singing on the last descent. A bug bit when I came out of the forest on the last descent about 300 meters from the finish line. Maybe it was a bee but I'm not sure. My leg is still itching and I had a huge red spot where my skin got a bit hard.  I didn't cut my tires this year, so I finished in 3:33:00 85th overall (from 330 finishers) and 36th in my age group from 117 finishers.

The only thing I didn't like is that I've got some large gloves in the signup package, and the rubber wristband was big also. Beside that the course was beautiful, it was the best organized race in the country and the pasta and the watermelon was very good after the finish. I hope I can race again next year :)

Stats:
    - time (riding): 3:30:27
    - official time: 3:30:00
    - distance: 46,53 km
    - average speed: 13,2 km/h
    - max speed: 51,4km/h


Some pics:

on the first climb

going down

I was happy to finish and my leg was hurting from the sting

it was a nice ride

receiving the finisher wristband

happy

yummy

On vacation

I'm on vacation for two weeks so maybe I won't be writing...

image from tabuyobeach.webs.com

In the mean time don't forget to click on the Maros Bike Marathon banner to help me win a free registration voucher.

Maros Bike Marathon 2011

Last September I was lazy and I had a lot going on. My life was in fast forward so I didn't write about a few races. I didn't write about the Maros Bike Marathon 2010. I think this marathon had the most amazing course, it was just beautiful. The high mountain landscape is one of my favorites.

It was a nice race, I was feeling good but I wasn't lucky, I had to change 3 tubes. I destroyed a set of Race  Kings. Although I lost a lot of time changing tubes I have finished in 25th place in 4 hours an 20 minutes. Here are some pictures from the race:

warming up

rocky

going fast

not going fast

before the last cp

the finish

the tire

This year you can help me win a free registration to this race clicking on this banner or on the banner from the sidebar:

Maros Bike Marathon

Last year I couldn't go to the Maros Bike Marathon because I couldn't get a ride. I heard that it is a great race ans there were a lot of participants last year. I hope I can get there this year. You can help me to win a free registration voucher by clicking on the Maros Bike Marathon banner in the side panel or in this post.

There are a few interesting races coming up next month and I hope I can do some serious training before them. Stay tuned :)