Routine is settling in. I manage to put in about 6h training each week. Last sunday, I convinced Christian to swap the MTB for the road bike and explore a new route with me. I’m registered for Wiesbaden 70.3, which sports 1,500 m ascent in 90km, so I am looking for a training route with approximately those proportions – not an easy task around Stuttgart, where the highest elevation is 600masl. So we had a look at the Remstal-Doppel-8 I had found on Garmin connect. Altogether not bad, a mix of quiet side roads with some stretches of heavier traffic, a few towns to cross and a quite picturesque hill as the highlight, including a sporting descent.

On Tuesday, I attended a course in Stuttgart and went there by train, taking the road bike along. The venue had assured me there was bike parking, which in reality consisted of a dust-covered rim-breaker railing in an abandoned corner of the garage. I was lucky to have brought my second best bike (can I leave that to my wife?). I was even luckier to find it again in the afternoon, for I was unable to apply the most important anti-theft technology: park your bike next to a nicer one that is less well secured… On the way home, I took again the new route, from Remseck to Schwaikheim and Winnenden. On Wednesday, I went running, 16k fast and 2 k uphill. My foot is still not 100% recovered from last October’s injury, but this is about the stress it can take without a throw-back.

Thursday morning, I tried my new baggy pants in the pool. Interesting experience. I did 2*1,000m and needed 3 min more per k than in my speedos. The advantage was, I fitted in better with the early morning crowd. Must have been more frustrating for the others, though 🙂 Apart from the increased effort, I noticed that you get a better feeling for the water pressure on your forearms. I think I will make this a regular part of my training, though not in club training, where I have to fight hard to keep up with the rest.

On good Friday, I tied my kids on the bike and took them for a ride, together with Birol and two of his daughters. It was a fantastic spring day, temperatures above 20°C, and thousands of bikers on the road.

The highlight was a ride over the BMX course on the Hase Pino: Pino on BMX