After 3 weeks in hell of windy Hannover it was about time to head south, on Monday to Nürnberg, 470km driving and a relaxed dinner @ dads house. We didn’t have a lot of time Monday evening, even though it was nice to chat a bit sitting outside enjoying a mild evening outside after too many cold, grey and rainy days in the north of Germany.
On Tuesday morning we did not drive directly to Austria as we had planned before. My brother and I had an important date, a sad one, because a dear and beloved person has left us last week after 5 years of fighting against cancer. Günter was our moms’ second husband and one of the few people I would call “wise”. It was always enriching to talk to him, he was tolerant, intelligent, funny, loving... a very special person who left our lives and who will hopefully be with other beloved ones again now.
Our first drive to Nürnberg was quite funny, this second trip of 540km was a bit more quiet, thinking about many things and not talking too much the first hours.
I have quite a bit of experience in long trips by car right now, I missed to post the story about my 2 days drive from Marbella to Hannover, maybe I’ll do that in the next days or weeks, still don’t know. Just some information: important equipment for long drives: Coffee, music, a working aircon (which is NOT the case in my car right now), something to eat, compression socks and tons of humor!
We arrived in Klagenfurt at about 8.30pm, checked in our little apartment, and situated about 8km from the race start a bit outside of the city. The apartment is located on the other side of the road where the main building is, so for internet we’re sitting outside, the walls are too thick for wifi to come trough ;)
On Wednesday a beautiful day said welcome to Kärnten, the perfect conditions for the bike course check. I haven’t seen too many bike courses of IM races, but I think the lake and mountain scenery topped with perfect weather, no wind and blue sky is really hard to top! There are two climbings on each of the two laps, they might hurt in the second lap, but we do have lots of km’s to recover (not like Regensburg ;). I think Mr. Powertap will have a lot of work to do here, as the first part of the bike is mostly flat and animating to give it all ;)
The lake is awesome to swim, we went once without wetsuit and yesterday with wetsuit, both options no problem, I really enjoyed the Kona style coffee boat on our yesterday morning swim, today I missed it due to some extra sleep…
Everything is prepared for the big day already, course checked, tires changed, TT helmet tested. The only thing missing is the fancy back wheel, it got stuck in Madrid for too many days and arrived yesterday in Hannover, no chance to get it for the race or 190€ to pay, but that won’t happen…
After collecting our registration stuff yesterday we took some time in memory of Günter, as we couldn’t join his very last journey, some minutes on the lake thinking of him. I think there can’t be better scenery to say good bye to a beloved person… I’m sad that he left us, but I’m happy to know that he had a fulfilled life, 73 years of a lived life. I said good bye to him yesterday, watching the water and the mountains and just before we left, the sun came through the clouds and sent us a farewell smile.
This IM is different already to the others; it’s probably the most relaxed until now. We’re just my brother and I, we decide what we do and don’t do, head over to the expo, come back, train, cook, relax, and surf on the internet ;)… I don’t know exactly if it’s the circumstances, the experience or if it’s me, but I’m enjoying every minute here and I’m hot to race on Sunday! I haven’t got any doubts, I feel prepared and excited and there will be what has to be, I’m sure I’ve done everything I could to prepare my race. I really enjoyed it this year, of course I was lucky to dedicate a lot of time to train, without working like the years before. And I enjoyed to be trained by Jaime, I think we did a pretty good job this year, both of us ;) Thank you for your patience and plan changes during my travels coach!
There isn’t much more stuff to do before 7am on Sunday. Tomorrow race briefing, some swim, bike and run, bike check in and relaaaaaaax.
I’ve never been so calm the days before an IM, hopefully it’s the silent moment before the storm, prepare yourself tiger, you will have a lot of work to do ;) I will need him, but I already spotted a painting on one of the hills, saying: I love you my tiger, and: go tiger go…
Nothing more to say!
