Jana Kesenheimer Instagram – After riding for ultra’-long, one usually notices it in the body here and there, mostly even a week later (look at my numb fingers). And before my brain romanticizes everything, it’s time for a race recap from the @theunknown_race
We got the coordinates of the first checkpoint at 6 am. I planned the first route within 10 minutes during my breakfast. We started at 7 am in Vienna at @starbike_wien The first 25km were neutralized, so it was relaxed chatting with familiar and new people. There was even time for a communal pee-pit stop in the bushes before we climbed up the cobbles to Kahlenberg. After that, the path became quite lonely, with an ever-chilling headwind towards the west.
By 12 o’clock, I was in a snowstorm, already wearing my rain pants and pulling my hood over my ears. Before reaching the first checkpoint, I wanted to put an end to this – it seemed infinitely stupid to ride a bike in this wet cold for days – but the train station just didn’t come. Sometimes it’s good that scratching isn’t so easy. Because when I finally reached the station, at the ‘Gesäuse’ mountain range, the road suddenly dried up, and I shouted to the sky as the sun briefly came out. That was a sign…
So it happened that I found myself in the evening with several other riders in a kebab shop, where I shivered while devouring falafel and looked for a place to stay for the night. After a snowy pass descent, a bed after 360km and 4500m elevation gain for 3.5h was an oasis!
I continued at 4:40 am, the second checkpoint was in Slovenia. Somehow, I chose a route that no one else took, a bit more elevation gain but fewer kilometers (and earlier Slovenian sun). It seemed like a good idea until I had to wait 40 minutes at a construction site. You can imagine how maddening that was – but before I emotionally lost it, I decided to have a stretching session. My knees thanked me! Yoga for the win.
Arriving at the 2nd checkpoint, I was informed that I would have to ride the last 300km back the same way… done. Phew. [continue in the comments] | Posted on 29/Apr/2024 13:53:55
