So having decided to not go and help at the Trans Alps mtb stage race I had a few opportunites to race some mtb marathons myself. Albstadt being the first of these which was around 1.5 hours drive from Offenburg and a race referred to as the Super Highway. The race was an 85km course with around 1800 high meters in it and all on either bitumen or fire trail. There were some rougher parts but all in all there was pretty much no skills needed to compete in the race. The first hurdel would be getting an entry as the field was maxed to its 1500 riders a month ago. So I gave the organiser a call and talked some crap about being an aussie pro here to train for the summer season and dropped a few names of German Pro's I knew, next thing I know ive got a start but as hobby and supposidly at the back of the pack. Well when we arrived I got registered and they let me race for free, Bonus! Then my friend Bearnd decided that I should not start at the back of the pack but come to the front with him. So there I am standing shoulder to shoulder in a bunch of pro's including 2 German Champions, lots of team riders, pro road riders and my 1506 number. I felt a bit bad but hey I thought I was up to it. The start was amazing. It started in the main shopping strip of the city and the first 2km's of the course was stacked 5 deep wit spectators all with noise makers and they wernt affraid to use them. Riders around me were being asked to sign autographs and everything, I couldnt believe I was right there. Definatly feeling nervous now. Finally the gun goes and we are away. The course started with a 3 km climb not to steep and the pace was on. I felt great so moved in with the lead bunch but soon found riders ahead dropping wheels and causing breaks. After covering about 4 of these breaks to get back onto the leaders I decided to calm it down an bit and ride with the 7 or so guys around me. We got working to keep the pace up and soon found ourselves closing down on the leaders. After 20kms we were about 100meters off them when my race changed a bit. I had run out of water about 5kms earlier but kept up the pace knowing that my feeder was going to be at the 20km mark. Problem was I didnt know where that would be or where he would be standing. At every road corssing there were hundreds of spectators lining the course and shouting encouragment. I assumed he would be in one of these, but which one. I did spot him but I was past him and had to stop completely and wait for him to run up to me. I lost around 300 meters from the bunch and was left in no mans land. No bunch and a good 65km's to go. I soon got caught by 2 guys and we started working together. One dropped off so the other guy and I had a chat about weather to keep pushing or wait for the bunch behind us. We could not see a bunch behind us but we could see the bunch ahead, so we decided to keep up the pace. The crowds beside the course never eased. Each climb had a group of spectators yelling support and at one stage when decending the guy I was with pointed over to the next climb where all you could see were spectators. Im guessing around 3000 people were there. We hit the climb which was a short steep one and the noise was defening. There were bells, horns, drums and ratchet things. I was blown away by it all. This is something that I would never ever see in in Australia. Not even australias biggest cycling event would have this much crowd come along. Well after 30km's of swapping turns at full pace my body let me know in a big way that I was going to fast. I hit the wall and no matter what I ate or drank my legs would just not get going again. So I gritted my teeth and groveled, limped, crept and rolled the last 35kms to make the finish. The biggest climb of the day was the last and it just kept going up. Each time it leveld out you would turn another corner to see a bit more of a climb. I just wanted the top cos I knew the last 5kms was a decent. Each climb I was reduced to granny ring to hold of cramping and the pain on my face was telling to the hundreds of spectators who lined the climb. At times when it was really steep and I had nearls stopped some would give me a little push to keep me going. Bloody awersome ill tell you. So finally I got there. I had got caught by my friend Bearnd with 15kms to go and then Alexandra his wife and a good friend of mine from a few years back when she was in OZ with Anna. She was the first female and she got me on the very last little climb with only decent to go. So I ended up finishing in 41st place in 3hrs 25mins. I was so spent at the end I could hardly stand. I felt a bit sick when eating or drinking but once that beer was put in front of me things started getting better. Presentations wernt for a bit so we went for Pizza which went down a treat and then back to the party area. That night there was a party after the race with live bands and plenty of food and drink. We didnt stay for it but it was looking like being a big one with a massive crowd packing into the marquees and hitting the beer pretty hard. So it was a great experinece. I learnt alot druing the race and now know that in next weekends marathon I need to really go out quite slow. The race next sunday is the Swiss bike masters and its 120kms with 5500 height meters of climbinb. For anyone that doesnt know thats like riding up King Lake climb around 13 times. Definatly just going for the finish right from the start. Well off for a recovery ride.