Bundesliga Saalhausen

Saalhausen equals “up”s: Steep uphills and an upside race!

I had a race beyond my expectations. Due to a rib injury, which also cost my Olympic participation, I’ve kind of started all over again with my training: focusing on some endurance training on the road and training my strength to build a base for the rest of the season. It has been a period with both good and bad experiences. Good – because I had a lot of time without travelling or racing, which gave me some time to relax mentally, while enjoyning being physically tired from training on the roadbike ( which was the only thing possible since bumping around on the mountainbike was too painfull ) and at the same time feeling improvements in my endurance. Bad – because all the sudden and unprovoked I heard a crack in my rib followed by renewed pain – which made me realize, that recovery can’t be forced.

Just a week before the Bundesliga race in Saalhausen I was able to ride my mountainbike again, without feeling inhibited by ribpains. Therefore I decided to race as a part of my preparations towards the upcoming World Championships in Austria and France. The race was a completely succes, and while I crossed the finishline in third position I was overwhelmed with the feeling, that this was the best race of my season so far!

The course was challenging due to a lot of new designed downhills and rockgardens. On top of that, it had been pouring down the night before the race, which made everything a whole lot trickier. Halfway through the race it started raining again, and the course turned into a muddy show. I made mistakes in the downhills, which cost some crashes. That didn’t really matter, because I was able to keep on going without loosing concentration and crossed the finishline tired and happy behind winner Alexandra Engen and Anja Gradl in second position. This race was a mental boost, which makes me really excited for the last part of the season 🙂