The 24-hour "Rad am Ring" race at the Nürburgring is legendary. Once a year, cyclists are allowed to take on the 22 kilometres of the Formula 1 circuit in the Eifel. The winner is the one who collects the most laps. TOUR has thrown four reporters together to form a team. They draw a chronicle of teamwork and passion.
THE IDEA
KristianI really wanted to experience sitting on my bike for 24 hours straight. So I suggested to the editorial team that I should take part in Rad am Ring - and as I didn't know the altitude profile, I naively thought of a two-man team. I was lucky that Manuel advised against this idea. Now there are four of us.
ManuelIn mid-April, Kristian asks me if I'd like to race with him at the Nürburgring. Over-motivated after my week of training on Malle, I immediately say "of course". It's only afterwards that I realise what I've let myself in for. Twelve hours on one of the toughest cycle routes in the world - even with my good early form, it suddenly seems a bit tough. At the next editorial meeting, I demand solidarity from my colleagues. Icy silence in the group - until my colleague Jens lets out one of his typical three-word sentences: "I'm travelling with you." It will be a good two weeks before we have softened up our racing man Andreas, with whom I have had a warm rivalry ever since I took an hour off him at the Tour of Flanders.
AndreasLong-distance competitions, where those who can roll along the longest without sleeping are at the front, are anathema to me. For me, cycling is all about dynamism. My colleague Manuel, who is obsessed with the idea of tearing his arse off at Paris-Brest-Paris in 2011, sees it differently. But the thought of sharing the Green Hell, as the Nordschleife is known, for 24 hours with our touring cyclist Kristian ("RTF-Kristian") as a team of two made him queasy. "It can't be true that we can't get a team of four together in the editorial office!" Did I say that? I can't get out of this one.
JensWhen I smashed my skull in a mountain bike race ten years ago, I decided never to take part in a bike race again. But off-the-beaten-track events like the race on the Nürburgring have long appealed to me. Above all, however, I'm driven to take part by collegiality (I'm so bad at saying no) and Andreas's mouthing off. I still owe the editorial team a "proof of performance" after more than a year of membership anyway.
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