Team Florida star Dan Larson is spending a few weeks in Germany trying out the local racing scene. He transmitted this report to Team Florida.
Here's how it goes:
Today was a German Holiday so there was this local race in Koln (Cologne) about two hours away. My sister and I left this morning with little idea how to get there since the directions were in German. We found the town and the race was right in the center. I registered by making use of the promoters broken English and soon had a number. It was a criterium type race about 100km long (52 laps, 62 miles). It was confusing and nerve-racking to be at a race with the announcer speaking only German, especially since the format was kind of strange. The Start was a handicap type thing where the Category B+C men (I guess like 3s and 4s, about 100 of them!) started with a 30 second head start on the As (~35 riders). Not a staggered start! A HEAD START! We, Category As had to catch them since we were competing for the same prizes. By the way, I had no idea if there were any prizes I just paid my 15DM ($8) and assumed...
I guess the As usually catch up and we soon did, but it was a frightening proposition to work through 100 shaky riders on such a tight course. I got to the front and soon ended up in a break. As we were getting caught by the now enormous field I attacked solo. I was soon joined by two Germans and we were off! The race was pretty much over as long as we kept moving. Not as easy as it sounds. The two guys proved to be pretty slow and I didn't know how to get them going faster cause I didn't speak German. I pulled allot! With about 9 laps to go I attacked them and tried to go it alone. They proved to be as tired as they were acting and I got away clean. I had about 25 seconds on them and about 45 on the field with 5 laps to go. I was on my way. It was in the bag! First race, first victory? Yeah right, think again. Going into the first corner with less than 5 laps to go I kinda crashed because my rear tire has gone flat! I hit the curb and a street sign with one big "kong!" I'm fine but I thought my day was done. I can't finish five laps on this course with a flat tire. I thought all was lost. I soon thought differently! I rode about 20 meters down the course and there was this guy holding up his bike for me to take! I trade him for mine and I'm on it just in time to get in with the three guys who were chasing me. We still have 20 seconds on the field and I struggle to finish on this bike that is like 2 inches too tall for me. I beat one of the three in the final sprint and end up third. That's not the end of it though! There is this big awards ceremony with beer, a podium, bouquets, photographers, and a prize girl to give the "Tour de France style" peck on the cheeks. We all pose with arms raised as well as toasting with our ready to go glasses of beer! Apparently this race is a bigger deal than I thought. It was sponsored by this beer company and it drew at least 1000 people to watch. So this was all great and I start to get ready to go and I'm congratulated by a bunch of random people, all speaking German and shaking my hand. I go to pick up my license and off-handedly ask if there were any prizes for the day. Apparently, unbeknownst to me there were primes like every lap. Of course I had no idea since the announcer spoke in German! I got 14 primes and didn't even know it! Not only that, I got some dough for 3rd as well. Here's how it all shook down:
Prize count:
Beer!
Huge Bouquet
Travel Bag (w/ t-shirt and towel with beer company logo)
Hard tool case (looks like a Bomb so I'm not sure if I'll get it back to the US!)
13 cash primes + 3rd place money, 740DM (~$400)!
Not bad for the first race!
A roller-coaster ride full of surprises.
PS- I'm growing a beard and I look like Grizzly Adams!