We're going home!

Who is „We“ and where is „home“?, you might ask.

Well, “we” is me and my noble steed aka Quintana Roo cd 0.1. and home is… the thoroughly initiated among you might have already guessed: Quintana Roo. Back in 1981 when Mr. Dan Empfield created the first bike specifically designed for triathletes he had to choose a name for his brand. For reasons unknown to me he chose the name of “Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo”, one of the 31 states in Mexico. Two or three years later I read “Quintana Roo” for the first time. It was not on a bicycle though. I played the video game:

The 40+ year olds among the readers might remember this one.

Eleven years down the road when my dad bought his first tri bike he chose a QR UltraLight. That bike was the first bike I did my first triathlon on in the 1990s:

 

One of the few pics of a 1994 UltraLight on the web. Pay special attention to the "water" bottle.

When I went to Kona for the first time to support my dad racing I saw fellow German Herbert Krabel hand out titanium bottle openers to every athlete checking in a QR (or Litespeed for that matter) titanium bike for the Ironman. I wanted one of those - desperately! Then in 2005, having raced on a soulless aluminum tri bike for five seasons I was irresistably drawn to a bike made of a strangely addictive material: Titanium. That bike was a Quintana Roo again, this time a "TiPhoon" and it serves me well until this very day. The first year I went to Kona racing with it though, there was no Herbert handing out titanium bottle openers any more.... bummer! Nonetheless the TiPhoon served me well that year and it posted the fastest bike split overall at Itronman UK in 2008 and it’S this bike on which I got my still standing PB for the 180k (4:35h) in at Ironman Florida 2010:

Just about unchanged this beauty decorates the wall of my living room.

And when I qualified for Kona at Ironman Florida in 2010 and which bike company picked me up sponsorship wise? Yes, Quintana Roo. They offered one of their cd 0.1 bikes for me to ride in Kona 2011. How could I resist? So since then the beauty that is my 2005 TiPhoon has taken the back seat when it comes to my tri bike of choice. I’ve been on a cd 0.1 for three years now and it could not have been a better ride! The 2011 edition outbiked Chris McCormacks bike split at the San Diego Triathlon Classic. The 2012 one brought me to a very good 4:26h bike split in a relay at Challenge Roth as well as the best amateur bike split at Ironman Wales that year. On this year’s edition I got the fastest bike split at a total of seven races and outbiked Faris al Sultan, Timo Bracht as well as some other pros at Frankfurt City triathlon.

So here's pic of the setup I liked best of the three cd 0.1s I’ve had, ready to race Ironman Wales in 2012:

No chicken up on the top of "Hühnerberg" near Frankfurt

Since the beginning of this year I am on the Timex Multisport Team and guess which bike manufacturer sponsors the team? QR again! Seems kind of right, right? 

So where exactly does the rather spontaneous trip to Mexico come in?

Well, it comes in via “The Most Interesting Man in the World” aka Luis Alvarez. He has been on the Timex Team for a few years now and when he came over to race Ironman Frankfurt this year we had a great time. And his “one-minute-over-the-cut off -finish” made for an epic experience for both of us. Then, Luis finished his 100^th Ironman at the Ironman World Championships in Kona last October and plans a party to celebrate this incredible feat on Dec. 7^th in his home town of Mexico City. I on the other hand was looking at how to finish 2013 off on a positive note I asked Luis whether he’d be able to get me a slot for Ironman Cozumel in Dec 1^st. Being the most interesting man in the world and with Timex Luis not only invited me to his party but also made the impossible possible and got me a spot for the already sold out race. Next thing I knew I was looking at flights and a plan in order not to get to the starting line all to unfit. All this planning has now been finished and all I have to do is to get two more weeks of volume training in and then I am off to QR!

 

So come the end of November we'll see what home is like - and Hammer the Bike!