Finally my racing season for 2018 has kicked off today with the Specialized Szilvásvárad Maraton. Now, make no mistake, it wasn't the usual "lets-ride-some-maraton-race" type thing. Today was a savage day on the bike. The kind that you are happy to get over with... But lets go from the beginning!
I got up at 5 am sharp to jump into my clothes, get my massive porridge brekfast in with a beautifully strong espresso coffee and to be on the way to the race venue.
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| All packed up from the night before |
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| RTG (with a bit of a Giro d'Italia feeling) |
On the way I picked up my training buddy and all time good friend Gyuszi and after a not too long drive we arrived to our destiantion at Szilvásvárad. After doing the usual bit-of-this and bit-of-that routine the time has finally arrived. It was go time my friends! :)
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| Ready to roll |
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| Rolling into the start area |
3...2...1...GO!!!! Off we went to hit the trails of the Short Course of the race. The first 15 km was pretty much continous uphill that I loved. There was my chance to gain some ground...and it did work, it did work well...until...
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| ... things started to get a bit rough (photo credit: Zsolt Juhász) |
... the sky has opened up and a proper thunderstorm hit us and it did hit us badly. The temperature dropped drastically and the rain was very-very heavy. A little later some hail arrived also just to be sure we don't get to the finish easily.
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| Yep, the party was gooooood... :) (photo credit: Zeve Photography) |
I was soo cold that I was cramping all over the place (luckily not the legs though) and I didn't see much either. The last descent supposed to be fun to roll into the finish but it was rather challenging with massive puddles and deep mud that I got into my eyes in every damn turn.
The only thing that managed to pull me out of the misery was the loudness of the Start / Finish area. I knew I was close. Just few more corners and there I was. I crossed the finish line!
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| A lonely warrior type finish...but to be honest I was happy to see the line |
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| Soaking wet and cold as hell but still with a smile! :) |
I've had a hard day on the bike and an ok race I guess. I finished the 39 km race with 760 m elevation gain under 1 hour and 54 minutes. This was enough to get the 21st place in the Masters 1 field. I was aiming for better result indeed but this is how the cookie crumbles.
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| The best tool for the job: the faithful Trek was outstanding today |
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| The mud is good for your skin. That's what they say anyway! ;) |
After we finished with all the cleaning and packing there was nothing else to do but to head back home. On the way we stopped for a quick lunch and for some of these bad boys:
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| The reward after the hard day #yumm-yumm |
All in all I had a good day. The event was well run, the course was great and it was absolutely priceless to be racing again! Especially with my new team Mátra Biker KSC, it was great to meet the lads for the first time. Although I didn't have a chance to wear the team kit yet but it was still great to represent my new team! Huge thanks to Gyuszi for washing the bike after the race while I was getting life into myseld and to Jani for picking up my start pack the day before, so I could avoid all the queueing this morning! You rock lads! :)
So, the season is rollin' now, stay tuned until the next race!
note: stay tuned more photos still to come...
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