What's up?

Long time no update, but I promise that I will be more active on updates in the future.
It has been a busy, emotional and strange last couple of weeks before flying out of Melbourne on a one-way ticket.

Since Sunday Andy and I are back in Germany and I have been so busy, that I didn't manage to unpack my suitcase until Friday night. We had my dads 70th all day Birthday party, Andys surprise party and days of catching up with people.

What has happened during the last weeks before arriving home in short form:

I broke my hand when I slipped away in the rain with my road bike.

After 3.5 weeks already, there is only 2.5 weeks to go...but I went for my first training roadride today!

Andy and I visited Newzealand to go hiking and to see the udmost beautiful part of the country - the southern Alps.

We saw the tallest building, the biggest mall, the biggest water feature, the biggest whatever and the ugliest City when we stopped over in Dubai on our way to Germany.
This tower is 800m high.....

Exciting times!

Most of you are probably aware of the fact that my time in Australia is up and that I am leaving you to go back to Europe/Germany by the end of April.
Some of you are even surprised to still see me out on the trails, because I haven't been around much over the last ten months.
I have been travelling a lot, first to Germany to be with my family and then around the left/western half of Australia(if you haven't visited our travelblog yet, here you go: www.ozoffwego.blogpot.com ...still to be updated...).
Yes, it will be very sad to leave you all after six years; ahead of me are exciting and challenging times adjusting back to german culture and jumping right into the german recession. After all that time travelling I am very excited to get back on my bike and race in Germany, get to meet the german bike community and hopefully be welcomed the same way as I was welcomed in Australia.
Well, I have entered the Bike Trans Alp as a team of two, which means a complete traverse of the Alps from Füssen Germany to Riva del Garda in Italy in July...autsch! Covering a distance of roughly 600 km (385 miles) and a vertical gain/pain of 19,500 m (65,000 ft.) .
Unfortunately my australian race partner is injured and therefore I have to look for someone else. Anyone interested? Seriously!!
And yet another opportunity came up:
The MTB racing team 'Fiat Rotwild' is searching for one member riding the 'Craft bike Trans Germany 2009'. You can win a start position, the hotel accommodation in each stage town and a race bike from ROTWILD for the time of the race week.
Wow, I just sent my appliation in and now fingers crossed, wish me luck!!
It was always a little dream of mine to race pro in exactly THAT team.
There you go - exciting times!
You might remember that I did the challenging eight day stage MTB race from west to east Germany with my brother in 2007,
check out the race report.
'Rotwild' is a german cool designed highend bike-brand that doesn't have exposure in Australia, *except of my old Rotwild bike that brought over when I first arrived in OZ.

My first crash with a Roadbike

With the goal in my mind to get really fit again and to get back into the 2009 racing season, I had an early start this morning to go out for a morning road ride. But while turning around the corner I saw myself going down besides a standing car .
I went over my handlebars and came to an abrupt halt in the gutter.
I couldn't explain myself what had happend when a passenger got out of the car and picked up a round stick from the ground that looked like a cut off broome stick. I was really lucky to get away with bruises and(unfortunately) a dint in the top tube of my roadbike. I much more prefer to crash with my Mountainbike and have a softer landing...

In agony!

...after 10 months without training, I decided to take part in the toughest Marathon race Australia has to offer - the Otway Odyssey !
Well, I had a ball last year and managed to finish top ten, but this year...
It's been 11 Months since my last race and I probably thought I could just plug in a memory stick and ride along with the other girls the same way I did before. Not that I expected to be competitive but I didn't think I would have to suffer so much and for every km in the 100km race.
I ended up within a group of riders, which got off their bikes on every single steep looking climb, blogging of the trails for riders going past.
Walking was the only option left and I soon developed Cramps in my legs that made me feel sick... not even the hardest 24hr race has done this to me.
The single track around Forrest is just superb and the fun factor kicked in temporarily.
While pobably everybody out there improved their time from last years race, it took me 7:36:44 to finish, almost 30 minutes more than last year, where the extreme muddy conditions slowed everybody down.

There is only one solution to it: Get out and ride!

Back in Melbourne

After seven month, one day and 27000km on the road(in the car) we finally arrived back in Melbourne.

Happy to be back and anxious about what there is to come...

2009 will be a challenging and exciting year. We are packing up and moving back to Germany after six years in Australia, trying to find jobs and to establish ourselves – all a bit frightening.
But on a positive note, I already started organizing my European racing schedule and will participate in the ‘Trans Alp’ stage race.

Unfortunately my race partner got injured and I will have to find someone else who is keen on traversing the Alps.
There is a lot of training ahead of me - not having trained seriously during the last 10 month doesn’t prepare for climbing up the Alps. Autsch!

Where is Alex......???

I am traveling around Australia since July and spending very little time on my bike.
Instead I am exploring this beautiful country by 4WD, feet, water and sometimes on my bike.

You could say I am resting from training and racing for a couple of months, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss the adrenalin and excitement of Mountainbike racing. I do miss it a lot!

I miss the regular training and riding with friends and especially the social atmosphere of Endurance racing.
But it is important to get away from a routine for a while to re-energize and look back at youself from a different perspective.

I do love my 'Ay up' Bikeriding lights that -thanks to a recently developed headband- are the best travel-lights ever, though they do cause some surprised faces on the campsites because they are so bright...

By the looks of it, I will be back in Melbourne early next year.
Meanwhile if you are keen on following my trace around Australia, have a look here - http://www.ozoffwego.blogspot.com/

BYE BYE to the King

I have to farewell my Kona bikes now... the 'King' goes back to one of my sponsors(bikeshop BSC Cycles) where it will be for sale for the next lucky person.
The 'King' has helped me twice to be the Australian Champion in my age group, win the Kona 24hr race and several other 6-,12- hour and other be successfull in shorter XC races.
I called it my fun bike with the overall comfortable set up!

one last hug








By the way the Hei Hei is for sale too, please check out here: http://alexkiendl.blogspot.com/2008/06/mtb-hei-hei-for-sale.html

Farewell ride in the You Yangs

I was impressed by the amount of people that showed up for my very last ride in the You Yangs this Sunday. I very much enjoyed the ride in such a great company!!! Riding single track with such a big group is a bit of a stop and go in order not to lose each other and some of us(including me) got a bit cold due to heavy winds. But we were lucky with the weather and didn't get wet.Finished of with some moist 'Redwine-cake' (unfortunately it didn't rise in the oven, damn!) .

Thanks to you guys for coming along: Jacqui, Duncan, Vinca,Ewen, Katie, Russ,Ugly(not on the photo anymore), Dion, Dave, Sharon, Billy the dog, Rowan, Kelly, Ali, Marc, Scott, Turi, Tex, Pete and some others(which name I don't really know...sorry).

MTB 'Hei Hei' for sale

Trustworthy and well loved Kona 'Hei Hei' - tested in several XC and Endurance races











a few details:
Frame size 17"
Travel - 2.5"
Fork(see small pic) SID
Rear Shock - Fox Float RP2
Crankarms - Race Face
Brakes - Hayes
Stem Raceface Evolve XC
Headset- FSA Orbit DL
B/B - Race Face ??
Wheels(almost new):
- Front/Rear Hub FSA XC-300 Wheelset
- Rims FSA XC-300
- Tires Maxxis Ignitor
F/D - Shifters- Shimano XT
R/D - Shifters- Shimano XT
Color - silver
Price - $2000 ono NOW 1800

Please feel free to come around and check it out

Green

I am in Germany until June and enjoying some endless MTB trails around Heidelberg and Siegen - it's beautiful spring time.
Everything is green up here and everthing is in blossom and just really beautiful...
Noice........one early morning ride!!!

One early morning run in the forest around my home, with the family dog Tell - the day I left to fly back to Australia.