Bratislava

I've done it!

Arrived to Bratislava, Slovakia at around 7:50 and we walked to the registration, everything went smooth & professional.
Then warmed up a bit and put skates on.

The race started at 09:45, weather was overcast and around 10C, light breeze from south. All in all there were 271 starters and in fact I was a bit overwhelmed by that number. Following the slow start we rolled down about 400m to the quay of river Danube where we stopped, and following the gun started the race for real (map here).
It was here I made my biggest mistake in the race, I positioned myself way too back near the end of the crowd. After the initial 400-500 metres we had to climb up to the bridge 'Novy Most' which proved a bit hard for quite some people and I was able to overtake some. Then some more climb up to the middle of the bridge and from there whoooosh down in straight line onto Panonska Cesta, a 4-line road (2 lines closed). Fighting the small breeze I tried to hop from group to group, but it was quite demanding. My heart rate went up to 99% sometimes so I had to relax a bit drafting.
The road turned eastwards and climbed a bit for an overpass which I found very hard to cope with. Then onto a rough asphalt for 1.5 km and then down south again, following the dam.
This part of the route was shown as 1 km on the race map but proved to be 2.8 :) I could see the leaders racing in the opposite direction, on the top of the dam, and tried to catch glimpse of the others from our club (Szonja, Balázs and Dani) without any success. This section was quite OK, the asphalt was smooth and by now (we are talking about km #9-12) I was feeling OK and perfectly warmed-up. I could lead the group I was in long enough and bring them up to another group ahead.

Then came a short climb and turn back, and we started our way back to the finish. With the turn the breeze now helped us a little bit and it was much much easier to ride with speed. However sometime later my lower back started to signal it would become stiff soon, so I had to stand up and stretch it sometimes.
We were rolling on the bike routes on the dam all the way north back in the city, the road was OK with few hazards but all of them were signed with red paint. I was drafting a lot with #201 (a big thank you goes for Peter Cervinka from Vienna).
At around km #19 it started to rain, first only very slightly but soon enough water gathered to make the roads slippery. Unfortunately it was also the last kilometres that we had to climb up the bridge 'Stary Most', which proved very hard for me on slippery surfaces. I was not able to push long enough to the side and completely lost my speed in the climb. Then on the bridge I suffered to gain some speed again but the dilating elements and the surface errors made it too hard for me to cope with it :s In the last turn, down from the bridge & left, all the organisers showed us to slow down, I guess the turn was quite slippery and the crossing tram lines did not help either. After that it was a 500 m ride up to the gate and the clock stopped at 1:03:03!

I was and still I am very happy and satisfied with this result!!! I earned 155th place between the men (from 200 starting). I now think I could have earned about 2 minutes if I did not make that silly mistake at the start and stay with the rest of the team - but well, next time it will be better :) According to my HRM the first half of the race went harder, HR average was 95%, while it was only 94% during the second part.
Szonja finished 17th in the women's race (47:13), while in the men's race Balázs 133th (59:55, had a small crash), Dani 135th (59:57). Results here, photos I will try to find (Szonja here on Stary Most, #243).

(l-r) Szonja, me, Balázs and Dani

The race itself was very well organized, lots of police and race staff everywhere, chip timing, big screens; and friendly spectators, friendly racers, it was really fun to be there. I really hope to get back here next year.