Zalau Marathon

29 May

Two weeks end I’ve participated for the first time at Zalau. The race was at the 3rd edition, but for me was the first time there as a rider.

As usual I’ve chosen the Race distance, in this case ~50km, as a good training for the upcoming World Cup in Nove Mesto.

Got there with Simona, my girlfriend, my ex-team mate Zoli and his wife Laura a few hours before the start. I was kinda nervous being for the first time there but in the end was ok. I had a good start until we hit the off-road. I’ve lost there almost a minute in the first kilometers. I’ve found a nice comfortable pace and got back first. Then we had to cross a small river around 20-25 times which wasn’t my favorite part. Then we had a long road section, where I was alone and had to push hard to keep my position. Right after that a long climb dotted with a few short descends and flat section was ahead of me. I’ve even had two or three times when I had to get off the bike but in the end was as I want it: got first at my age category and overall first time this season.

Was a nice thing for me and I am very happy for the result but I know that I have to improve my fitness because I am a bit behind with training.

The organizers did a good job, but they still have to improve some things regarding how to mark and clean the course, but also how to make it much more interesting because passing around 20-25 times through the same river and right after pushing 10 km on a road isn’t quite what I was expecting.

Many thanks also to my sponsors, my new team and everyone that supports my fight against cancer!