Sunday is one of my favorite races: Challenge Kraichgau. The distance is 1.9km swimming in the Hardtsee lake in Ubstadt-Weiher, 90km cycling on challenging and scenic routes through the Kraichgau, and 21.1km running on a 7km loop in Bad Schönborn. I was only a spectator at the first edition of the Kraichgau Triathlon, but I’ve raced every edition since — across different distances and with mixed results. Everything from new PRs to DNFs has been in there. ...
After a lot of deliberation I had basically decided to ride my Kuota again this season. The bike already has three years and a lot of kilometers on it, plus a crack in the paint at the seat tube/seat stay junction since a crash (whether it’s just the paint or the frame itself is hard to say). I just couldn’t make up my mind whether and which bike to get. The decision was especially tough because there are very few time trial bikes that are fully compatible with Shimano Di2. Once you’ve ridden Di2, you don’t give it up willingly… ...