Although it was quite comfortable and roomy up front, we decided we prefer second class... less looks from the other passengers.
Since we already did most of the sights the last time we were in Berlin, and because I wanted to stay rested, we didn't do too much sightseeing this time around. We were able to make it out to Olympic Stadium and see some history there but that's about all of the sightseeing we did. We had hoped to make it to Sachsenhausen concentration camp but we ran out of time.
Race Recap:
It was another afternoon start, but after the last bonk I was ready this time. I wasn't skating in starting block A with the pro's, so I found my starting block and settled in... As I was looking around, I started to notice that there were two types of bib numbers. The blue bib had numbers that started with a 'T', and the reddish bibs had numbers that started with 'X'. My bib was reddish and started with an X, and I quickly noticed that I didn't see any other males with the reddish bib or an X on their starting number... ok, noted.
The race warm-up was pretty cool... skating along Straße des 17 Juni and around Siegessäule Tower with thousands of other skaters... definitely put me into race mentality.. and shortly thereafter the pros were off! The women first (ladies first), then one minute later the men... and then there was about a 4 minute gap until my group started. I tried to jockey for position and get myself up front, or close to the front, but ended up starting towards the back half of the pack.
I lucked out at the beginning scramble trying to find the right paceline... as I glanced to my left and saw a team of 8 skaters in a paceline just moving along the left side of the road and passing people... so I decided to catch up with them (not an easy task) and 'wheel-suck' off of them for as long as I could. This plan worked perfectly as this team obviously had a game plan and over the first 6 miles a few of their skaters fell off and were most likely the bunnies of the group lacking the stamina.
Around mile 7 or 8, I watched a skater join our paceline that I was very cautious of... seemed a little unstable, but he kept up with our paceline so I figured he'd be ok. Well, my initial instincts proved correct because at about mile 9 he managed to clink my skate on my recovery and wiped me out. Kind of a scary moment as pacelines 30-40 people deep are flying by me and I'm on the ground hoping that no one hits me. Although I must say that's the fastest I have ever gone down and gotten back up, probably a matter of 2 seconds.
So now I have cuts and scrapes on my right side, and I've lost my paceline... GREAT!
I managed to find another paceline within about a mile, but quickly realized that with this paceline I would never catch back up to the original paceline I was with... I decided that I had to skate smarter AND harder. Over the next 6 miles I made up ground at each turn, and slowly started advancing pacelines by myself... not an easy feat!
Mile 16 proved to be a serious physical and mental boost, as I not only caught my original paceline but was now in a paceline that was rolling on by. AWESOME! I had exerted so my energy over the last 6 miles playing catch-up that I was looking for a break, just a split second to rest and I found it. I had managed to catch up to the front pacelines of my wave and everyone was bunched up and momentarily the pack slowed down. The next 4 miles were a game of slinkie as the skaters at the front would sprint, everyone would chase, and then everyone would bunch back up... At one point around mile 22 I looked at our speed and we were cruising along at 29 MPH... THAT'S ABSURD! 22 miles into our race and we're going that FAST!
We turned our last corner and approached the final stretch where we skate through the Brandenburger Gate and sprint to the finish...
By this point I realized I was going to be well under my goal of 1 hour 20 minutes and as everyone else started to sprint to the finish, I decided I wanted to enjoy this finish. I was pleased with the race I had skated, very pleased with my time (a PR) and relaxed over the last 500 meters and I gave the fans at the finish a round of applause.
This was truly one of my favorite finishes... there were hoards of people, lots of cheering and just a fantastic scenario for a finish. I skated up to the finish applauding the fans, with a huge smile on my face and knowing that I had just skated a great race... looked up at the clock and was very pleased with my 1:16:29 finish.
