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Will's Worldwide Adventure: Part IV

A Grand Championship

Going into my 4th race in 4 weeks, you might think I was a bit worn down, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Like I said before, every XTERRA is totally unique and the whole experience surrounding the European Championship at XTERRA Germany had me totally fired up and rejuvenated. The cold, the mud, and my less than stellar performance at XTERRA Czech had left me a little down at the end of the week, but the wonderful town of Zittau and what awaited me there turned that around.

Just like those special experiences I encountered in South Dakota and Mexico, my European experience was top notch. Not wanting to miss out on training for the entire week and also not wanting to miss out on site seeing as well, I mixed the two together.

Our sightseeing and training went like this. First, there were intervals on the bike, and those intervals brought us to a 13th century castle, which Seth Wealing and I checked out.  Next was pick-ups on the run, while checking out a small typical eastern European town located close to the race site.  Later, more efforts on the bike, gave us more to see as we rode through some beautiful scenery that the surrounding areas of Zittau had to offer, like an old wooden ski jump built in the early 1900's.  As we threw down a few sprints during a hard run workout, we turned the corner and accidentally stumbled upon a nude beach, then proceed to turn around and sprint the other way (that was by choice, not by training schedule!).  Post race workouts and sightseeing were a similar pattern as pre race, with a recovery ride that was filled with more cappuccinos than miles.

The XTERRA race weekend was exactly what you would expect for a European Championship put on by the Germans. Great organization, tons of people, loads of things to do, beer and brats, great band, and the entire weekend done with impeccable timing and structure. The kids race was massive and the entire weekend just had a warm inviting feeling to it.

As for the race itself, Shonny Vanlandingham and I were incredibly happy!  The swim left us a little chilly with no wetsuits, but the sun warmed everyone right back up. On the bike, just outside transition a fly over was set up (a giant ramp/bridge). It made you feel like you were in a European cyclocross race. The run was flat and fast, quite a contrast to the race in the Czech Republic last week.

All in all it was a fantastic way to finish off my races in Europe!

Special thanks to Sandra, our Zittau tour guide, Torsten and Beno for organizing an action packed weekend, and of course to Kahuna Dave for making us laugh (and organizing a lot of this part of the trip).

This next week I'm off to the jungles of Japan to do battle with the Caveman himself, Conrad Stoltz.