There is not much more to say. The right mix between tension and feeling at ease determines the path to success.
Chris, Nicole, Meike, Lothar and the Biestmilch team at an Italian restaurant in Frankfurt.
Ironman Germany 04: Casual Friday? No you are wrong, it is pre-race Friday in Frankfurt!
Chris’ last bike ride before the race – shear horror !
After the press conference this morning just for a sudden Chris and Lothar decided to go on a bike ride, while Chris the days before had refused to mingle with the local traffic. But then it happened. Madness caught the guys and they disappeared with their bikes. Fritz and myself jumped into the car with our local driver, armed with a sheet of paper having the Chinese words slow (man) and fast (kwai) written on it. Our intention was to shoot the madness, we succeeded. The video clip (coming soon) will show cyclists from another planet.
What we experienced on this ride was incredible. The 3 guys were almost enmeshed by cars, trucks, tuc-tucs, other bicycles, dogs, pedestrians moving with the most different velocities you can imagine, let’s say between walking speed and 150km/h…
For Chinese just normal insanity. It is amazing how they know the dance of the street. Since I am here I only saw one accident with a scooter, nothing serious. But for us and the guys it was stress pure. I think Chris asked himself several times on this ride whether he was mad to take this risk.
35 seconds left to cross the street
Chris overtaking a truck, his face shows the stress
Chri head-to-head with a scooter
Done, on the way back to the hotel; Lothar, Chris, Fritz
Lothar Leder along the race course at Ironman European championship in Frankfurt
Lothar was the first man who raced the Ironman distance under 8 hours in 1996 in Roth, in those days still a Ironman and not a Challenge race. Since Chris was training in Darmstadt the 2 guys spent quite some time together (for those who don’t know Lothar anymore, he lives in Darmstadt, and Nicole Leder who was 3rd in Frankfurt this year is his wife). Of course, Lothar cared about him on the course. The 2 have close relations since their fabulous finish in 2003 at Challenge in Roth. Then Chris got beaten by Lothar by 3 seconds only.
Nicole Leder on her way back into the race
At the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt biest athlete Nicole had a great start. She came out of transition “I” first, and she had not lost much time on the bike – the bike being her weakest discipline – when she was so unlucky that her saddle tilted. It took 30K in an most awkward position to get the saddle right back into an upright position. In the end she had to catch up round about 10 minutes on the run, a task not impossible for Nicole Leder with her flying legs. Here a very short impression from the bike course.
Nicole Leder at the Ironman European Championship: I need a mechanic from susann kräftner on Vimeo.
