Rocky Mountain Bike Marathon Willingen

Every year around this time, MTB fever gets to it's high in Willingen during the Ziener Bike Festival.

Singing in the rain...

As every year we were looking forward going over there. Not only it's a great race, there is also a great atmosphere and we yearly meet great people who have been supporting us for over 4 years now.

The condition is good and I feel great on my new bike, but this year my plan did not quite came together. And I usually love it when it does...

At 5 o'clock saturday morning we woke up, not just early but for me the middle of the night. trying to eat as much as we could. Getting our picnic and drinks together and warming up.

Lunch for today by Overstims

7u30 start with a lot of strong girls so making it to the podium was not going to be easy today. Peter was starting in the box behind me, somewhere in the back.
Everything went smooth until I reached 35KM on an easy shotter descent both my tires go flat. Strange but I try to fix the problem as fast as possible. Co2 didn't seem to do and by the time I got my pomp out Peter arrived.
He changed wheels with me and gave up his own race by doing that. The chase could begin and for most of the second lap I chased on my own which didn't make it any easier. At the end of the second lap I could stay in the wheels of a dutch team.

At 95KM Peter was waiting for me with a new drinking bottle and he told me I was 12min behind the podium so the last 35KM were mission impossible. Some Belgium marathon riders stayed with me and mentally supported me until the finish. I missed the podium by 4 minutes so  very disappointing but the legs felt great, and that's a positive thing.

Crossing the line with Cyriel my mental coach for today.

On sunday classically we spent some time at the fair, but due to bad weather there wasn't the usual party atmosphere.
We met our partners from CB Germany, COSMIC Sport and Fizik.

We had dinner in the VIP area with Rainer and Brigitte.

I got another present from Fizik. A new saddle especially for stage races.  Fizik rules BTW.

Top of the bill custom Fizik Arione Donna

Peter got a new beanie for giving up his race and supporting me, some stuff to clean and grease bikes.

Always brings back a good mood when I can spent some money I earned by working really hard... NOT!!!

And we got two sleeping bags from Ziener... NOT!!!!

I mean the huge finishers shirts we got in XXL German Style.  I told them to keep an S model a side for next year.


Peter deserves a statue! Everytime again he helps me getting everything ready, he starts all the way in the back and if I'm in trouble he sacrifices his race for me. Not only not finishing but getting new drinks ready, fixing my bike, and even taking photo's at the finish. He is definitely the best boyfriend I could imagine!

Thanks for feeding and gearing me up; Crankbrothers, Fïzik, Roeckl, Overstims, Baloise Insurance, Canyon Belgium

Peter's quote of the day: 'One flat a day keeps the doctor away; but two flats makes me wanna kill that doctor...'

Peter's second quote: 'Of course I'm the best possible boyfriend, because Sara doesn't deserves anything less' ;-)

RESULTS WOMAN