DAY 4 – Survived wickedly tough 3-peak climb!

Most of the 3700 metre elevation gain came 2/3 of the way into the race with climbing to 3 peaks Glockenhütte, Eisenthalhöhe, and Schönfeld. Each had a super wicked Cdn-temp cold descent with major twists, turns and speed. The first climb was manageable. The second climb was bare-able and the third one plain hurt as I was depleted.

The descents in between were work as one awesome descender (#51) waited for me to descend with him. To save time, I quickly put on my windjacket inside out and was pleased I managed to do the zipper up on the inside. My descender friend tucked in the teeniest position and kept looking back for me to be with him.

It was super nice to get quite a few compliments on my descending skills. My bike worked well with me (thx to the awesome work Jere did with my bike’s headset).

It was a beautiful semi-cool day with the sun out. The scenery going thru the mountains was awesome with the tops dusted lightly with snow. After the first BRUTAL average 18% climb (which is like Cameron Ave that we do on ERTC city circuit) for at least 4-km, racers dispersed and we had similar groupings to the previous day.

I’ve been riding around the top mixed teams though the first place team got away today. Spent a lot time around 2nd place “Team Agapedia Munsterland” with Annika and Joachim. Annika is a strong climber and Joachim at 80 kg has to catch up with her. Joachim and I have climbed together and then I got to follow his descent to catch Annika. Lots of fun!

I did get away on Annika today. When she caught me I put in a good effort to sit in the saddle and spin like a mountain biker to stay with her. It worked for awhile then I went and stand-climbed again.

Excellent comradry with the groups of racers I’ve ridden with. It feels like one big team until we cross the line.

I was so happy to get past the 3rd peak today and work with 3 guys the last 25-km to the finish.

My home for the night is 1-km away in a cute Gasthaus.

The weather looks good for the next few days!