Race report #3 Hast du auch hunger?

Guten Morgen, hast du auch hunger & und-los! Is the 3 most used 'words' from this weekend in Heubach together with The Ghost family, a little bit reduced, but almost there. Looking so much forward to the world cup circuit starts, and the whole team will be travelling around together. 

Guten Morgen - and wakey wakey Malene. Flight at 06:45 from Copenhagen - Berlin - Nürnberg, picked up by Uwe and Terpstra. We had a 2-hour drive in front of us, but they went by quick, catching up on the last weeks being apart. We went out for lunch, lucky my teamis all speak fluent german so I can be like “what is this? - wait no what is this ‘spätzle’?” ..Something like pasta - but not? (btw who would ever try to beat pasta - you already lost before starting hah). Afterwards, Uwe and I drove to the race venue and I did a few laps, trying tire pressure, lines and so on. Good session. Home for dinner and massage. Passed out early and got 9 hours sleep, sharing room with Anne, so even had a good little chat before sleeping. 

Hast du auch hunger? - breakfast on pre-race day is a hungry morning fueling up before tomorrow’s big day. Good morning, talking about Neil Armstrong, the weather, and how many euros you need to spend to get the Black card. (Yea, you have to hurry to follow us ;-)). My program of the day was easy. Breakfast - ride to the venue - 1 hot lap - bike check - recovery - massage - talking about hunger - dinner - sleeping. 
Felt a bit tired on the hot lap, but I had the feeling that I needed to wake my body, even if it didn’t felt amazing. But anyway - the good feeling is needed for Sunday and not Saturday. Still hungry? A little, but more for racing now. 

Und los Malene - race day. Woke up for breakfast at 8, chill morning, making my bottles ready, a little yoga ses and making race clothing ready. Energy was in the pocket - and today I would actually use it. 3 gels and a cola on the last lap should do it :-) 
I have struggled a bit this early season (more or less, to get my shit together..grr). But last weekend I saw myself pushing super hard, and I started to feel the rewards from the many hours spent on the bike. So standing on the start line in Heubach was with a feeling of confidence and excitement, but also eager to have a race where everything works out for me, to fill up the confidence before the World Cups starts. 
Up the climb, the first time went really well and on the top, I was sitting with Alexandra Keller in 5th/6th position. For your information; Heubach is one climb up and (no kidding) one downhill. Everything seemed super good, and I felt comfortable yet riding on the limit all the way. But that is what it takes, in this kind of races, there are so many strong riders, you cannot have a chilled moment, it’s just push push push. On the 3rd lap, Keller pushed super hard on the top of the climb and I had to let her go, I couldn’t reply to that. Anyhow I kept my pace and focused. On the 4th lap, I had to let Adelheid and Tauber pass me on the climb. Not sure if I was slower or they simply pushed harder. But I kept my speed and my position and crossed the finish line in 8th satisfied with today’s effort. It felt right. Hope I can keep this momentum towards the next big races coming up! 
Next race will be the World Cup, so I have a few weeks home to find the last small details - and give you guys a little break from my race stories haha. puh lucky huh

I just got a whole lot more hungry  

All the best
Malle

A few pics: