Erstellt am: 6. 6. 2010 - 12:42 Uhr

Ab ins Ländle

I belly flop exhausted over the Trans Germany finishing line at the Bodensee

I don't know who was more surprised to find me crossing the Trans Germany finish line in front of the Seebühne in Bregenz - me or the organizers. The latter thought it would be a good idea for me and my riding partner Sissi to celebrate by jumping into Lake Constance with all our biking gear on.

trans germany

But there is no beach near the Seebühne, so, with the television camera rolling and a group of curious pensioners peering over the rails, I had to clamber over a fence and down some slimy steps, before belly flopping into the shallow cold water. Like most radio workers, I'll do anything to get on television!

OK, it looked cuffy. But the mere fact that we were now bathing in 30 degree heat just three days after I got minor frostbite through my sodden cross-country skiing gloves up on the Ehrwalderalm made the race seem epic. In the end, I had only spent around 18 hours in the saddle, but I felt I had arrived in summer after cycling through winter and then spring.

Trans Germany/Peter Musch

Admittedly, I arrived in the finishing area less than triumphantly. After a long descent down the Riedbergpass, we'd come to a windy flat road. Desperate for that all important wind shadow, I'd got out of the saddle and tried to sprint to catch the group ahead and, with cold legs, pulled a muscle. With still 30 kilometres to go, it felt like someone was putting a knife into the back of my right leg each time I turned the pedals. I was beginning to wish that "motor doping" was more than a cycling myth.

chris cummins

Sissi Pärch

But by this time we'd crossed into Vorarlberg and I knew I'd make it to the finish of the 75 km final stage if I could just block out the pain. There was respite in a free-flowing single track section down to Lake Constance and then for the final lakeside kilometres I put my head down, clenched my teeth and blindly clung to Sissi's back wheel, pedalling mostly with my left leg, until we crossed the line. I was just thinking that she deserved a medal for a selflessness that probably cost her several places, when she was presented with a trophy instead.

If you don't win a trophy, the best rewards you take home from an international bike race like this are the people you meet on the route. There was a rider in our part of the field who I'd seen every day during this race and come to admire a lot. Her name was Luciana, she was from Brazil, and she had pink flowers poking up from her helmet and a pink horn that she used to honk back at the cheering spectators. But, more rhan the pink bike, it was the pink aviator-style glasses that I liked. I first saw her struggling in the freezing, pelting rain on the way to Lermoos. She couldn't have looked more desolate. But now, with the sun out, she was honking all the way to Bregenz.

Who says you can't look stylish in Lycra?

chris cummins

Talking of style, my favourite finishers crossed the line wearing flippers and snorkels that someone had handed them in the last hundred metres and, with a piece of rope, dragging along a crate of beer on wheels.

By this time the serious racing was long over. The winner of the overall race, Christoph Sauser from Switzerland, had been in Bregenz for over two hours crossing the line with Austrian rider Alban Lakata who cemented his overall podium place. Chapeau! With 1,200 starters, the last rider was in the saddle for double the time of those in the leading pack. Overall I was over seven hours behind the winner! Still, my 413th place in the Men's category didn't feel as ridiculous as it perhaps sounds.

chris cummins

moi et mon vélo

As I hobbled over to the mechanics of the Scott team to hand back my bike, they asked me if they would see me next year. I thought of the words of the British rower Steve Redgrave after he picked up a 4th Olympic gold in medal in Atlanta in 1996. "If anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, shoot me." Aching and sore, I said I felt the same about mountain bikes right now, thank you very much.

Trans Germany/Peter Musch

But Redgrave was back four years later for the Sydney Olympics after all, fit and ready to go. You can never trust a Brit to keep his word.

chris cummins

What did Sean Connery say? "Never say never again"?