Skating Octoberfest (Hour #9 of 24Skate #1)

What was clear for me weeks before the 24skate was the site: The "Theresienwiese" in Munich, where each year Munich's famous beer festival ends on the first Sunday in October - best known under its brand name "Octoberfest". It is my favourite training area, because it fulfils several requirements for a nice skating ground: Sufficiently smooth asphalt, no motorized traffic, easy access by public transportation, close to down-town etc. . (Unfortunately you cannot skate there during the Octoberfest...)
What was clear only a day before the 24skate was the weather. After a rainy and cool autumn week, the Indian Summer was announced to visit Munich again exactly on the very week-end of 24skate #1.

Meeting time was a quarter to six p.m. at the feet of the "Bavaria". The "Bavaria" is the Munich version of a Statue of Liberty and directly overlooks the "Theresienwiese" - and during these past-Octoberfest days also the deconstruction site of the gigantic beer-festival-tents.
My always reliable Brazilian friend Marcelo Heil-Franca - who jumped in at short notice for my brother Ulrich, who suddenly decided to spend the week-end in Hamburg - was already there to shoot this picture for you and me:


Some minutes later one of Munich's best officially licenced tourist guides arrived: My mother Renate Suerbaum (you can book her entertaining and instructive English or German guiding service by calling or faxing +49 89 283374). Obviously my message that I already found Marcelo to replace Ulrich has not reached her any more. Good for you, so you get a picture of Marcelo, the Bavaria and me:


After some warm-up laps I crossed the starting line exactly at 18:00 local time:


Lap 1 was over sooner than expected in a new personal record time: 2:46 (for 1.47 km).


2nd and 3rd lap were not significantly slower.


A dream for me came into reach: Beat 30km in one hour! My lap times stabilized between 2:50 and 2:55 at a heart rate of 165 and kept my motivation high.
Clouds turned pink, red and violett and the glowing ball of mother sun rolled behind the Bavaria statue. Soon it became darker than I had expected.


But fortunately the street lights from the Octoberfest were still present on parts of the road, so I did not felt the longing need for night vision equipment. I only had to move my virtual starting line for taking the lap times on my stop watch, because it has no built-in backlight.

With three laps to go, the 30km/h were within easy reach, so I concentrated on not falling about some Octoberfest debris in the dark and simply enjoyed the steady speed.


Faster than assumed the hour was over. Marcelo skated one cool-down lap with me, then got to his car, while I skated home, where we met again to have a nice post-24skate dinner with his girlfriend Monica from Romania and my small family.

Clemens Suerbaum