To tell the whole story about how important the 24h World Championships in Borrego Springs 2017 was for my RAAM future, I have to start some time back. It was about 4-5 years ago that my feet problems started escalating. Before that there was an odd feet pain in the last days of RAAM, but suddenly the pain was coming sooner and sooner. So soon that during RAAM 2013 I had to stop before the descent down Glass Elevator for excruciating foot pain,  take the shoes off and dip my feet into ice-cold water. The only way I would survive that race was with taking Ibu-Profen in extreme quantities.

A big thank you goes to dr. Vince and Diane of the Infinity Bike Seat for stepping in and helping me with the race expenses. This Title is for you guys!

The preparation for the race was not exactly perfect, but I was carrying a good turn of speed after RAAM, won the Tortour Challenge in August and felt I am able to do another 500+ miles 24h race. It went a bit bad after the flight to US, as I caught a bit of a cold that got me worried before the race. With coughing, a running nose and a throat ache a couple of days before the race, it seemed my third time a charm (3rd time in a row 500 miles in 24h) might not happen after all.

A couple of hours to the start of 6-12-24 Hour World Time Trial Championships, you can follow the race via race tracking on http://my5.raceresult.com/65136/results?lang=en

More about my feelings before the race on the next page: