Christoph Strasser (Austria) is a six-time winner of the Race Across America and record holder for the fastest time crossing the United States by bike (7 days, 15 hours, 56 minutes). He turned to self-supported racing and won the TransContinental (4,000km) in 2022 & 2023
Georgi Stoychev will be our host du jour.
Please join us live to chat with Christoph using the comments section below the video
Be sure to click “Notify Me.”
WUCA Website: https://ultracycling.com/
Show Notes: http://ucm.bike
I’ll start the uh beginning [Applause] a [Applause] welcome to the ultra cycling magazine Show well hello everybody this is Jim loger here with the ultra cycling magazine show the show about all things Ultra cycling hey Lee hey Georgie how are we doing today hey guys I’m thank you you’re stuck with me again for another weekend hey not stuck we appreciate you being
Here as a great guest host you help us out a great deal believe it or not definitely and we’re here because of the folks who run the wonderful time stations here in Ohio Time Station uh 41 in Oxford Ohio Time Station 42 in Blanchester and Time Station 43 in
Oxford here on the Race Across America and um we want to make sure oh yeah we forgot about um his signs yeah great thing to have for a souvenir place to collect autographs for your trophy wall 10 bucks at one of our time stations you get a sign Mike gets put
One on the road definitely yeah and um we want to be sure that you are following us on Facebook and that you’re subscribing to us on YouTube and when you subscribe to us on YouTube be sure to ring that Bell to get Notifications excellent I think we got the bell ringer coralled there a little bit Jim I think so yeah definitely doesn’t go offboard doesn’t keep bringing exactly well Le I think we’ve got some updates coming for today on uh we’ll go start with a couple things Ultra cycling
Magazine show related we’re going to be at the adventure Summit at Wright State February 9th and 10th uh with all the info about our show uh RAM Race Across the East probably wookah and Spiegel and infinity seats so come on out and join us out there we’ll be there and glad to
Have you out there and talk yeah well Dayton Ohio or the MMA Valley here is one of the centers for trail activity in the nation Crossroads of bikeways Crossroads for the national hiking trail so um there’s a lot center of it all yep C all and we’re gonna try to be present
There or Jim is I I might get over there who knows you will get over there I guarantee it Lee miss it all right and uh today we had a great Ram Crew seminar uh I would very highly suggest if you are racing Ram or Race Across the west
Or Race Across the east you attend the next one which is in February 17th and 18th uh if you click the QR code or scan the QR code or look at the show notes we will have the uh links there uh join up and you learn a lot of information even
If you’ve done it in the past I would recommend joining this time because the they talk about the changes to the Finish Line since it’s moved so uh definitely check that out guys okay and um let’s see uh you want to start that ticker so we can get yes I
Will definitely comments and questions in here if you got a comment or question on Facebook or YouTube be sure to put it in the comment section um and we’ll get it up there as soon as we can and hello to you Dragon we’re GL glad to have you here with us as
Well um well it’s uh Co country Rob is in the works here and we do have a little video Jim okay from the cyers down in Jacksonville uh North Carolina who are going to come up here and do Co country all right you want me to start that or
Go ahead start it all right I’m Allison seeper I’m registered for the cold country rubet I’m really looking forward to meeting Joe in person and going up there in riding gravel and supporting his race um I’ve known Joe for a while on Facebook and he’s really inspiring
And I’m I’m really looking forward to supporting what he’s doing my name is Jeff seeper I’m register for the coold country rubbe I’m excited to meet Joe in person I’m a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant I’ve known Joe on Facebook for a little while um excited to ride in Ohio never
Been there before it’s going to be great excellent and um on on our show notes which you can find at uc. bike um you can see there my name tag there at the our address for the website in the show notes for this show you’ll
See a link to uh all of these races that we’ve been talking about now uh couple news items last week we had the U uh Team for uh Disabled American Veterans uh the news is that they have linked up with love sweat and gears the uh nonprofit that tries to
Field a team every year that’s a great thing and that’ll be a big help to them and we’re happy to hear about that uh also uh more news um and that is maybe maybe well maybe I shouldn’t say maybe no it will but just’s challenge will come back in 2024 thanks
To Larry osland who is also bringing back Sebring Sebring yes so a lot of new things happening here um and um so we’re happy to be able to tell you that uh we’ll see Calvin challenge again I’ve been chatting with Larry a little bit about that and we’re
Looking forward to have that back here in the Miami Valley area definitely we we’ll have a presence at both so lock St and barrrel definitely um next week uh we’re going to Denmark with uh Dei freeze I hope I spelled her pronounced her name right
But uh we’ll try to get that she is going to be racing Solo in the ram this year Race Across America uh she was going to be in a team about four or five years ago we had the team on the Valkyries but she couldn’t make the team
Because she was diagnosed with cancer and was in chemotherapy she has uh triumphed over that and is coming back as a solo writer this year she has a remarkable story to tell a remarkable story of overcoming and we’re going to be happy feature her on next week’s show
Along with her charity for which she’s raising money have we missed anything u i i i overlooked the Race Across the East uh updates but there really isn’t any from last week on counts but we are in the standard registration period so and we’re about half full we’ve got a
Cap on the number of writers Racers that we have this year so if you’re going to ride it please go out there and register so we get get get that filled up and again in the show notes like we mentioned before you’ll see a link where
You can find out more about the Race Across the East definitely and also to register yes well uh we’re happy to have uh Kristoff ster with us we were chatting before we went on the air B arm and um I was negotiating with Kristoff a couple years ago I was in the hospital
And not feeling too good but then the the pandemic struck and everything kind of fell apart and we just never got back together so we’re just happy to have Kristoff back with us again Christof welcome to uh well now the ultra cycling magazine I almost said the
Wrong thing uh lee you’d have to put a dollar in the jar uh put the dollar in the jar uh and we’re happy of course to have Georgie host it for us so Jim and I can relax yeah thank you both for being here definitely hi everybody uh good to see you hey
Christo you’re on Georgie all right uh I’m really excited Kristoff uh first of all uh you started uh Now supported uh Ultra cycling recently so it’s been it’s been a blessing to follow you but I mean we don’t just have any Ultra cyclist here uh so let’s give him the proper
Presentation but this is the only meant to win six times Hall of Fame uh race cross Austria twice the first man to go over 1,000 km in 24 hours on his training right in preparation for the 1,000k record and beating another 11 records world records in the process uh
The fastest Crossing in uh during Graham and P to Sydney the first man to go under seven days if I’m not mistaken so it’s pleasure to have you here today yeah it’s great uh as Lee has told told us it took quite some some time uh but now finally it’s it’s working out
And I’m looking forward to um to talking to you thank you thank you how’s been the offseason for you something that I think is really important and a lot of us Ultra cyclist underestimate but uh a lot of us end up burning out tell us how important uh offseason
Is I think it’s uh one of the most important parts uh from the year because uh you need to regain your your strength and your motivation as well so I think uh the physical recovery um could be much faster but I did five weeks without any bike ride at
All I was in New Zealand I did a lot of uh walking hiking kayaking and just relaxing and enjoying uh holidays and having a good time and after that I had a lot of motivation again to to start training and I think yeah that’s that’s the thing when people underestimate to
Take some time off because uh during the year you’re thinking about your training about your plannings about your preparation about the races all the time and it kind of makes you tired in your mind so yeah I’m really a big fan of of leaving the bike for a few weeks at home
And and just do something else yeah and and the the key word recovery and motivation because uh I know Ultra cycling is very demanding on on the body and uh sometimes you have injuries so uh this is really impressive and how do you find even motivation why Ultra cycling it’s not something it’s
Not something that the regular cyclist even do why longdistance cycling um I think it’s something completely different compared to like Pro Tour or World Tour cycling and Stage racing but uh yeah I just love it and uh in the in the last years everything was working so fine and I’m really able to
Make a living from cycling not by being a sponsored writer but uh I’m doing Keynotes and talks and I have a a German uh language uh podcast I have an online stop for sports stuff and cycling stuff so all of that is is is able for me to
To I made my hobby as to my profession and I really enjoy that and I would be very stupid if I if I leave cycling now so yeah I’m really grateful for everything and and I think if you don’t like what you do uh you will never do it
Very good and I still enjoy cycling very much even if I’m cycling for half of my life I love it and welld deserved too um one question about about Ram uh I know we’re going going talk about transcontinental but uh we have to ask few of those questions so the the the
Finish Line changed this year to New Jersey first of all obviously what do you think about it and uh do you think sub uh sub eight days is possible with the new Finish Line um I think there are some more rout changes so the distance will be quite
Similar to the last year’s as I as far as I know um but I’m not sure because I always always have been finishing when I reach the Finish Line in my nine participations I I reached the Finish Line seven times uh two times I had to to dnf and I was
Stopping in in Kansas both times um the Finish Line was always uh in Maryland so in Annapolis and I cannot really compare it with the new course but I think uh getting a new route is definitely good for for the motivation of of people who are doing Ram several times because I
Think the good thing about having the same route every year is you really get to know it you you know what is where is the difficult part where is the easy part what is a good time to take a sleeping break uh where is I don’t know
You just know everything about it you can really go in the details of planning if you have the same routs but when you have a new route it will be more exciting more ADV Ur us and I think it’s good to change the route sometimes and I
Guess everything else have to go well too it’s not just the route but I mean the weather have to be on your on your side your equipment the crew so is the whole package um okay so let’s talk about uh uh unsupported racing which you started two years ago uh during
Transcontinental tell us first why you chose this race and why did you choose to even switch to unsupported racing maybe curiosity see if this is something yes of course it was curiosity and honestly I did Ram nine times and um when I when I did my first R I was never
Dreaming of of being like there so often and and winning the race so often it was just a big dream coming through but after 2019 which was my my last Race Across America until now I was looking for some new motivation because I thought I need to try a new
Challenge um and then I did the 24-hour record I was training a whole year just for that one day a whole year of training was focused and planned to be able uh to ride thousand kilometers or a bit more um I wasn’t really expecting to achieve it on the first attempt but I
Was really riding strong and and I was I didn’t have any bad luck just a little bit of rain but generally the weather was good it wasn’t too hot in the summer and when I when I was like reaching the 1,000 case I thought I I was looking for another
Challenge in Ultra cycling and in the years before I was thinking I will never do unsupported racing I’m sure I will never do it because I thought it is it is maybe more dangerous because the support crew is here to protect you and to help you and when you are like really tired
And and sleep deprived during the night uh you can maybe have a crash or in the traffic it’s it’s getting tough maybe um you are losing your way you have problems with navigation you don’t you’re not able to buy food or drink so you’re getting like you’re bonking you
Are like suffering much more um and I also thought that maybe it’s not really a race to go unsupported it’s more an adventure and I really like racing very much I’m very competitive I enjoy having strong competitors um but then I realized that because I was following very closely I
Was reading watching movies listening to podcasts from unsupported uh Racers and I thought to myself um I think the level of competition also raised in unsupported races it was really it has increased a lot and then I thought to myself maybe in 20 or 30 years in the future I will
Regret maybe if I never tried it and so I decided to do the Transcontinental race because I think it has the it is the the best known unsupported race it’s really legendary it it has a a strong reputation and it also offers free routs planning which is a additional challenge yes
And after I was entering the race while racing I found out that the level of competition is so high and the the the Riders are so fast and so strong and I really had a lot of troubles uh to keep it up with them I was I was far behind
On the first few days before before I really learned about the details and and found my rhythm and and stopped doing mistakes yeah it’s been very exciting to watch you know the first one was TCR 8 in 22 the one going from again Belgium Czech Republic uh Italy Montenegro
Romania Bulgaria and it it wasn’t until the very last uh uh day that you took the lead uh while crossing into Bulgaria so that was that was pretty exciting and I think you only won by eight hours and uh the third guy behind was uh what half
A day ahead like uh in you know in Ultra cycling those this much is not is nothing decisive so um in TCR 9 though 2023 um you learn I guess a bit from your first time I know you didn’t had the uh experience on your end but obviously even even without it and
Making mistakes in the first TCR you won the second one it seems like you were way more prepared uh not physically but uh all the rest of it uh and the second one if not mistaken it was shorter but it was a lot a lot more climbing right
And you did mention you have to plan your own route so I figured because you like Flats you decided to go for for Flats uh there’s some really bad sections there in the parkour can you tell us a little bit more yes uh regarding the rules um in
Transcontinental race you have uh three routs between the checkpoints but there are only four checkpoints points and the distance is about 3,500 km to 4,500 something like that so the distance between checkpoints is about 1,000k and uh next to the checkpoints you have a short parkour which is a
Mandatory route so everybody has to take the parkour um and it’s nevery they are never easy sometimes they’re off-road with gravel sections and really tough and difficult and also frustrating uh but between these parkours you can you can create your own route and it is a lot of work a
Lot of planning you have to check uh different planning tools like Google Maps and straa and Ride with GPS and commode and Google Street View and Google satellite pictures uh you have to try to find out all the information and you can make make the choice um you can
Go over the mountain with more climbing and and shorter route you can go around the mountain take a detour but it’s flatter and of course everybody knows that I am enjoying flats and fast roads with less climbing so I I often took a detour and yeah um my first TCR was
Really I think the closest and and most exciting one in history because after 4,000 kilm the three leaders have been within just one hour so it was really three people on the front of the race uh heads to heads it was really really exciting and uh yeah I was I was lucky
And I was strong in the end and and so I I could I could take uh the win in my first race and I think what what really helped me was my my experience from from Race Across America and all the other races because of course it’s something completely different it’s hard
Hard to compare supported and unsupported racing um but of course I think physically I was a bit stronger maybe and I didn’t suffer as much as as the other ones in the beginning because I’m used to write uh for8 days in a row and I was really bad in self
Organization and and the logistics and the technique uh because you need to to fix your bike on yourself you need um you must try not to waste time when you when you are going to a to a gas station shop to buy food and drinks you you
Shouldn’t waste time when you take a sleep break for two or three hours and I wasn’t really good in these terms in the beginning but I was learning during the race and in my second race um yeah I had much more experience in unsupported racing and it was
Quite uh I was quite in a good flow from the beginning on I didn’t I did nearly no mistakes I was like saving some energy for the second part of the race and since uh Robin who was head-to-head with me for more than half of the race
Um yeah I think in the end I was I don’t know it was really tough and and in the end I was little bit stronger but it was very close and he always took took some adventur routes short ones with off-road sections I took the long
Routes um on the road so sometimes he was nearly catching me again because he had a a better route and and he he took some risk in the mountains uh so I think it was really exciting to watch yeah definitely usually we see you at Ram start start
Fast take the lead on day one and never give it back uh you must have answered this before but you know do you like chasing or being chased one puts more pressure on you uh this year was the same at transcontinental you finished uh you made it to cp1 in ether in the
Italian UPS 14 Robin made it 14 minutes faster than you so you weren’t in the lead after over a day of racing um yeah it’s it’s again it’s completely different because in in Ram I know that I can I have a strong support crew and my
My my support team is really great and they are experienced and they are making no mistakes and so I can really push myself to the limit uh because I know I have good nutrition I have good Logistics I don’t need to to care about anything just pushing pushing pushing so
It is possible to exhaust yourself really to the limit in Race Across America uh but in unsupported racing it’s it’s really a big mistake if you push too hard so so because you need to stay clear in your mind you you must sleep more because if you are too tired
You’re making mistakes so you always must stay on the safe side and you have poor nutrition really there is no high quality food uh along the Route when you go to supermarkets or gas stations so you are not able to dig deep like you
Can do in Ram and I always try to avoid risk I’m I always prefer to stay on the safe side so this is why in unsupported racing I have a different strategy yeah yeah I’m starting slower definitely yeah I’ve noticed that and uh you mentioned
Sleeping that’s a big big part of it it seems like you slept on well at least you were off the bike for roughly four hours a day but uh for people to understand that’s not four hours of sleeping I’m assuming because you have to undress and dress and prepare and
Check in hotel if you’re in hotel but you actually end up using more hotels this year than last year right because of the bad weather and that possibly helped you with recovery yes I think there is always two opinions from from people in unsupported racing uh a lot of
People like to sleep outdoors with just your sleeping bag and you can you can lay down anywhere you want where where you have find a a safe spot and maybe with a roof or something like a bus station or I don’t know just just anywhere while you can
Stay dry in the night and shelter of wind or something but in reality you you cannot make a plan where you go to sleep so you must look for a suitable spot and that also takes time and the rules of unsupported racing say that um it is
Allowed to use public uh services like supermarkets bike shops and hotel hotels or uh yeah small hotels so it’s not allowed to use private support but public available support is okay and in my first race I was sleeping Outdoors for one night and in a room on
The next night and then outdoor again and in the room again and in the in my second race I was sleeping in rooms always um and I think maybe sleeping Outdoors is more romantic you know uh it’s like the the fairy tale you’re sleeping under the sky you see the you
See the stars and and you’re sleeping outdoors and it’s really like a great experience but in terms of efficiency I think being in a room is better because you’re not freezing it is dry you are really much faster you can take a shower and when you get up in the morning after
In my case it was about 2 and and a half to 3 hours of sleep um you’re just ready to go you get up get your dress and go and when you’re Outdoors you have to pack your sleeping bag and your fingers are cold and you are slow and everything
Is wet and it’s really it takes more time to to get going and during the day after sleeping in the room I was I was in better shape mentally than when I slept Outdoors because after an outdoor sleep I got very tired again in the middle of the day and I think recovery
Is better when you’re sleeping in a bed y agreed and it seems like he used similar strategy as many racers going to bed around 12: midnight to 1 in the morning maybe to avoid a little bit of the the night riding and just go keep going until after Darkness but uh yeah
It was fascinating to watch um so there were strong Racers like you mentioned I think this year you won by by six hours and we said the year before by eight but even even the third guy he was uh 16 17 hours behind you which is nothing in
Ultra cycling I mean racer like Robert mu uh he wasn’t in the top three but he was three hours faster than than you to cp2 he had a rough rough start to cp1 but I think Adam obviously the year before pavl and urri who won I think T
Divide and many other unsupported races but I I agree with you I think if these guys show up to a RAC right crime they will give a lot of a lot of racers a hard time uh it was it was fascinating to watch um but but just just let me say
One thing um I I know rri very good and he he said that uh he couldn’t imagine doing a race with a crew and I think it’s really it’s really a big difference because you have to make you have to build a crew you don’t get a a crew uh
Like a Christmas present or no sponsor can give you a crew but you have to build it the crew has to grow with you and it’s a longtime process to really have a good crew in in Ram everybody of the people in the crew should have some experience so it’s like a long-term
Thing to have an experienced crew so a strong Rider Alone um will also have struggles in Ram getting used to the to his to the to the routine within the race but of course physically and mentally they are on a great level but in terms of having an experienced crew
They have to to put some time in totally different type of racing yeah yes okay um by CP3 I think uh you had a five five hour lead it seems like you picked up the pace there uh 14 on 14 hours on the third and and 5 hours on on
Robin d remember what change there although the routes that you guys take are different so it’s kind of subjective but uh it seems like you started picking up the pace there yes um I think it paid off to sleep more in the beginning of the race
So I was I really had some energy left in the second half of the race and also because I was avoiding risk um I lost some time maybe here and there Robin was a little bit faster because he took the the adventurous route and the short route but in
Bosnia he had after 2/3 of the distance he had um his tire damaged so he had to stop find the bike shop get a new tire uh he was on a tubeless system I was on tubes which is I mean tubes are old school in the meantime but I still
Prefer them because they’re easy to change and easy to fix um he was on tubless so he lost a I think about 2 hours um to get his bike uh fixed and his new tire so you always have to think when you take the adventurous route maybe you’re damaging your bike or I
Don’t know have some some consequences later in the race and I think the he had some bad luck which I did not have and also my strategy was to to sleep enough in the first half of the race and then reduce the sleep by the end so if I feel
Strong on the last two days um I have some yeah some Reserve uh in my tank and then I can reduce the sleep by the end of the race yeah and I think this is from the the section from Albania to Greece I think you had two two nasty
Parkour there if I’m remembering or this is the the very last one but and you mention tires I think you did it on a 28 mm tires I wonder what you think about that it’s always a Hot Topic it there’s some really bad stretches but the rest
Is fine so what would you choose if you do it again I think I will I would stay with the same tires because even if the parkour and the gravel sections are really really frustrating and and tough for for your body and your bike um I
Mean like 97% of the distance is on tarmak you know so if you take a big tire and off-road tire you will have a better time maybe on the on the off-road section but you will be much slower on the road so you have to make like yeah
You have to weigh it up and make a calculation um I think it’s faster to have a a fast tire and on the parkour maybe bit more suffering but parkours are short so the amount of time lost is is not that big and also for
Um I have to say safety the safety topic I was always afraid of of having like dangerous situations on the road uh without a support crew but actually you are the ma the one who decides if you are dangerous or not because you can take the big roads or the small roads um
You have a lot of flights uh on on the bike and in in the Southeast Europe count is there is not as much traffic as here in in in Austria or Germany or Italy or France so I really found out that also Race Across America can can be dangerous
On on some sections even if you have her support crew so it always like depends on on your state of mind also and that’s why I don’t like to sleep too little because if you’re sleeping too little uh you will be more uh in dangerous situations than and when you’re like
Well focused yeah agreed um another topic you mentioned was uh diet food strategy and for uh unsupported actually is way different I crossed us once and there’s stretches sometimes of 200 miles with no Services I imagine it’s not the same in Europe but you have these small
Countries in Eastern Europe how do you find food there I know it’s not like in America gas stations open 24/7 and so on so how did you manage that yeah actually it was it was quite easy to get to get to small markets and and stores uh in southeast Europe um it
Was for example nobody expects that France would be difficult to to to get uh eating and drinking uh but actually uh shops are closing down during during middle of the day and there’s closing down in the evening and even if the T to France is is the the most popular
Bicycle race in the world um in France it’s actually quite difficult to to find nutrition and in southeast Europe it wasn’t that hard because there are no big supermarkets but there are a lot of small supermarkets and a lot of of small like Farmers offering their product and and
Small um very small stores and yeah it’s it’s actually really enjoyable to write in southeast Europe much more than I was expecting oh wow very very interesting to hear um I heard you talk about buying a simple bread and making your own syrup I imagine you can find food but it’s not
The food you like so uh you know you’re forced to kind of eat junk food I I know that affects your performance so uh tell us a bit about your diet if you can yeah that was I mean I was afraid of a lot of things I was afraid of getting lost of
Having no phone reception of like your energy of of the of the Garmin and of the phone uh gets down and you have no chance to to charge I was afraid of dogs in southeast Europe I was afraid of I don’t know damaging my bike and not able
To repair it um and I was afraid of getting sick because of bad quality food or of I don’t know eating too or drinking too little but I was really thinking a lot about that and making some kind of strategy if possible and of course in the beginning I had a
Lot of coke and sneakers and all that stuff I mean you can you can finish a rate with just a race with just junk food but you will suffer a bit more and especially after my first TCR I really had very bad and very slow recovery it
Took me 3 month again uh until I could get to Serious training again and so in my second race I was planning on no sneakers and no Coke but yeah I had some electrolyte and carbohydrate powder um in my in my bottles I took some powder with me and
In very high concentration just a little bit of water and a lot of powder so it was like honey it was very thick and I could just use some water to that and I was I had a really high quality drink for the first couple of days and I was
Eating just plain bread because there is no there are no chemicals in there and and no bad stuff and you can digest it very easily and I was also eating a lot of fish so a lot of smoked salmon for proteins yeah yeah Geor we got some questions quite strange a quite strange
Diet it didn’t really taste good but it was working we have some questions we want to get to uh Georgie um I want to put well that’s my question but I I actually have another one uh are you uh are you uh electronic shifting or cables for your offer for your cross
Unsupported I am on electric yeah I prefer um Shimano to be honest um but I really enjoy the electric ones because one of the biggest problems if is getting nump Fingers um and yes in the case that you really have a bad mechanical problem maybe you are not able to repair the
Mechanical system that’s true but in all my life I never had one mechanical system breaking down so it’s a little bit of risk I take I hope for the shifting not to break but there are a lot of good things about it you yes even if your fingers are numed you can you
Can shift easily you can ask my other question Jim uh do you plan your route pretty much ahead of time or do you make some real time decisions on the route of course I doing the planning Before the Race because it really takes a long time but I have always different
Options you know sometimes I’m perfectly sure where I’m going and no matter what happens I will stay on this road but especially at the end of the race I have sometimes two or three options because maybe there is like the big fast road but I will only go there if there is
Little traffic if it’s in the in the rush hour I will take an option b taking a small detour on a smaller safe Ro um sometimes I also have two rules prepared just for case of weather situation so if it’s like raining I would go around the
Mountain and if it’s like great weather I can go over the mountain so during the race I just have to choose between these two options which I have prepared excellent and Lan wanted to know about the water supply okay you want me do that one next yeah water supply
Um actually quite easy um there are lot lots of um possibilities to get your bottles refilled just with like a fountain or a dwell I’m I’m not sure about the vocabulary but just water in nature you find a lot of them and otherwise you go to a gas station but I
Never had I really never had a problem of of no water yeah do you carry filter sorry yeah do you carry a filter or purification system with you yes I have some some medicine for like getting sick and for my stomach and for like headache
Or some some of of these things and also some pills for like clearing the water yeah gotcha and Dwayne ball ask when’s your next Ram um actually honestly I’m not sure um okay sometimes I’m thinking of doing Ram again because you know I have been there
N times and 10 would be a good number right um but on the other hand um I did it nine times so I I really need to have a good reason uh to do it again uh because it’s it’s a big effort you know also financially it it becomes expensive
Especially getting over there from Europe M so yeah I think maybe I will do it again maybe not I just can’t cannot tell it at the moment would it would it if they offered an unsupported option for Ram in the future would you jump on that um would would be worth a thought
Yes okay and what’s next Kristoff what’s next for you yeah what is next um I’m really training hard at the moment I’m I have a lot of motivation for this upcoming season but I didn’t make a final decision which race you know there is there are some options um here in in
Europe um I’ve just seen the question to be hard race which is Bosnia I really like that I also like the Race Across Italy I like transcontinental maybe I’ll try to do it again there is also a new race called via uh Crossing Europe um this is also interesting then there
There is the North Cape tarfa from the northern part of Europe to the most southern part of Europe and also the 24-hour races are still very interesting so I have to make a final decision which race but I will do again like two or three big races this year
Excellent yeah it’ll be nice to see you again at transcontinental we have uh the Belgian Kristoff alagard holding three wins so if you win again I know that this must motivate you you will match his his win so yeah that’s that’s of course uh an interesting thought and
Also it’s the 10year anniversary which is also a special thing and it the start is in rube this year in the like holy place for cyclist one of the of the great places so yeah let’s see it’s big it’s always big isn’t it yeah talking is he talking about my
Hairstyle yeah um I had a haircut like two weeks ago otherwise they would have been that long so they just like but you know I was I was growing my hair when the pandemic started MH uh so all the I don’t know the barers were
Closed and I didn’t want to cut the hair for a couple of months or it was 2 years and then now it really breaks my heart to cut my hair off I I like it the way they are and regarding Comfort it is actually quite quite nice to have hair during the
Summer because when it’s really hot and when the sun is shining bright um you can pour some water over your head yep and when you have hair it stays cool for a very long time mhm when Race Across America I always was shaving my hair mhm and you pour water and 30
Seconds later you’re hot again yep excellent tip for everybody who yes is able to have long hair I know there you go I’m I’m 40 years now so a lot of my friends they they would like to change their hairstyle with mine yes I understand that I’m jealous too I tried drawing it
And it doesn’t look as nice any more questions out there Lee I think we got them all haven’t we Jim uh yeah we’re all caught up if anybody’s got one pop one in now yeah because there’s a little delay between the time you ask questions want to say a shout
Out to those who are watching on uh Instagram it seems to be working yes although uh it doesn’t we haven’t figured out a way to save it on Instagram so if you want to see the run you’ll have to go to either YouTube or Facebook Facebook I guess definitely
Yeah definitely right now we’ll get that solved though well we’ll try anyhow thanks Dusty there’s Dusty hey our our good friend Dusty always glad to see you well listen we could go on and on here but it’s getting late in Austria I know and um we want to thank you Kristoff for
Being with us we really enjoyed your chat we just tried to relax and have fun here and I think you found that uh spirit um he wants Vic wants to know if the Race Across the East interests you um I read about the Race Across the east of
Course in the ram newsletter and on the website and I think it’s a great idea I have been there for training uh 10 years ago I’ve been um taking a flight to to Cincinnati and from Cincinnati until Annapolis I was I think it was about one
Week or 10 days I took like one stage after the other to get to know the ram route uh in the East for training and it was really much more enjoyable than in Ram because in Ram you were like tired and angry and and in some bad spirits
Sometimes uh but when you’re like clear in your mind and I was really able to enjoy that part of the route and I think it’s it’s a great idea to have Race Across the west and Race Across the East yes okay uh looks I believe we’re caught
Up again yep we’re all caught up yep definitely uh we do W to thank you yes thank you once again for being with us Kristoff thank you Georgie for uh arranging this helping us to arrange it and great great job Georgie by the way on we uh excellent the check will be in
The mail there you go but don’t look for it tomorrow um and uh with that uh Jim I think uh we’re going to thank everybody for watching thank you for all your comments I see a comment yeah that’s what I’m going to get right now yep I got it right
Now thank you saine he everybody yeah yeah it’s been a great uh great show yes and um we really appreciate Kristoff uh you’re welcome back here anytime you got something to to talk about and anything you want to promote we’re here for you yeah definitely all right let me see if
Go ahead have a great have a great evening uh I have a great evening you have a great day yes see you soon I’m gonna find I’m gonna find our outro man F this is Gregory Zuber thanking you for watching and sharing music by Kevin cloud