The sides of cycling

stats of the week: cycled 547 km

Had a great time at Emilia Romagna in Cesenatico. Cycling in a beautiful landscape and well catered for in the very friendly bike hotel Lungomare.

I also was happy with my performance at the Nove Colli bike marathon. I have to admit the view at the result list was somewhat sobering. My time of 10:28 h for 205 km and 3800 altitude meters was only good enough not be the very last one. 90 % of all 4,600 participants finished in front of me. And I felt to be fast...

I also enjoyed my rented Pinarello bike that enabled fast and safe driving. Especially the new Ultegra brakes seemed to work sensibly better.

The enjoyment was considerably muted when I noticed that - while I was in the area - two famous cyclists were killed by cars near Cesenatico. Julia Viellehner was a high level German triathlet who was overrun by an Italian lorry. She was 31 years. In a second accident two days later MotoGP world champion Nick Hayden (35) of USA got injured so badly that he died a few days later.

Testing week in Emilia Romagna

stats of the week: run 17 km, cycled 137 km, indoor cycled 2 h, gym 3 h

A fairly proper week of exercising but I still haven't got the confidence to be fit for Nove Colli. My longest ride so far was 105 km, Nove Colli's distance is the double.

Maybe the Pinarello bike will help but it hasn't got a senior equipment to handle the steep hills. I will test it tomorrow on a guided tour that waits with 1,600 m of ascent.

Low level week

stats of the week: run 35 km, cycled 140 km, indoor cycled 2 h, gym 2 h

It was more running than scheduled as focus should be on cycling now. However, it was very low level running. While I got the impression that my cycling is even lower level, after I got overtaken by more female riders than ever. I keep telling myself not to be depressed. At least I extended my longest ride so far to 100 K which is half the distance of the Nove Colli.

Two more weeks to get prepared for the year's first cycling highlight.

London News

stats of the week: cycled 136 km, gym 3 h

My disappointing performance at the London Marathon provided one advantage. Due to the long stretches of walking my recovery seems to be faster than usual. But will it be fast enough to get fit on the bike for Nove Colli in 2 weeks?

There are some news around the London Marathon while the ballot is still open until tomorrow 7pm.

Adidas is finished as main sponsor and New Balance steps in for 2018 and onwards.

The World Marathon Majors have announced that the series will be extended by 3 more races in a few years. Obviously one of the new members will be in China as Wanda is the new main WMM sponsor. Cape town is another favourite and the third one will probably be in Asia.

And the London Marathon has launched a new London City Half Marathon called The Big Half. 5,800 public entries are already sold out. You can still get in via charity and via the 4 London Boroughs where the race will take place. The Big Half