Competitors and Recreational Cyclists Start Their Race

Hot sun, summer in the city, everything looked fine but it could have ended less prettily. That’s the 2008 Melfar24 in a sentence. Held June 7 at Middelfart in Denmark, racers outdid themselves again, breaking distance and participation records. Celebrating was a bit hesitant though, since a car hit a rider. Luckily it seems only the bike was broken. While the cyclist, Brian Kristoffersen, was severely bruised he is said to have begun biking again.

Returning and highest-ranked riders Peter Broe and Sean Nohilly, both of Team Asmussen, were among the five riders that rode longer than the 732.5 km of yesteryear. Nevertheless they were once again just off the podium. Positions two and three were assigned to Søren Thomsen of Videbæk Cykel Motion and Henning Larsen of Kvik Bike Team respectively. They also rode 737.2 km but had used less time. Thomsen and Larsen had vowed to race together and try to stay with the fastest they could spot. Had they not mistakenly thought one of those fast guys had taken a break, who knows?

Female Podium

Given the fact that up until Melfar24 Thomsen´s longest race was 350 km, he really pushed the envelope. At 41 he has been on the bike for some 20 years competing in road cycling and triathlons. Thomsen works at the Danish post office and aims at Paris-Brest-Paris and other long-distance cycling events. Concerning Melfar24 he quotes the Arnoldian “I’ll be back”. His companion Henning, an industrial carpenter, is a year older and gets his base training by riding his bike to and from work daily. He then adds three to four sessions a week at the cycling club. He started as a runner and has 13 marathons in his portfolio. He likes long-distance cycling, the longer the better, he says. His next stop is Ötztaler Radmarathon in Sölden, Austria. His plan was to break the record set at the 2007 Melfar. He has a goal for 2009: To break the 2008 record.

And we have a winner! One rider made up for last year’s too-slow last lap that placed him outside of the group of 700+ km riders. Though he exhausted himself in 2007, trying to go over 700 km, this rider came back to set the record straight. With a total of 740.8 km (that’s 460.3 miles), Jerry Kjær Nielsen, a 48-year-old teacher in computer science, riding for Team Spectre Bikes, gained first place. He won the psychological mind game. Remember, Thomsen and the others thought he was taking a break. Well, he wasn’t.

Cyclists Bulking Up

Nielsen holds a black belt in Koykushin karate and has been on the Danish national team. He crewed for Chris MacDonald in RAAM 2005. Nielsen is thankful for that experience and now knows from Melfar 2008 the importance of having a good crew. Much like in 2007, he had a crisis halfway through the race, but coffee, cola and crew got him through and finally gave him the edge. In the future he hopes to surmount the financial and procedural thresholds and make it to the Race Across The Alps.

If your knees hurt and you have to quit handball, then why not take up ultracycling? Well, that is what Ulla Christensen of Rønnede Cykelmotion did and she turned in an impressing 599 km, a record in the women’s division. Cathrine Steffy Pater of CSP took second place with 570.6 km and Karina Wadsager of Team Bikes4Rent was third, chunking out 567 km. Back and with a much-improved mileage, but placing just outside the podium, was 2008 McSweeney scholarship winner Heidi Gabriel Jensen. She rode 526 km. Last year’s fastest woman Lene Christensen of Team Træningscenteret was at the scene, but not on the bike. She was suffering from a ski accident.

Two-person Team Podium

New to Melfar24 was a team competition. Four teams finished including one tandem. The winning Team Ox rode 779.4 km. On the tandem was blind long-distance swimmer and IronMan competitor Klaus Ursin with his partner Brian Overkær. They improved compared to 2007 completed 344.8 km.

All together 212 hardcore and recreational riders lined up to enjoy Scandinavia’s only 24-hour cycling challenge. There has been a 24-hour MTB race “Sleepless in Rudan” in Sweden, but the organizer recently announced that they have quit and there would be no race in 2008. Cycling club Baghjulet (The Rear Wheel) of Middelfart has persisted and again the organizer had reason to celebrate a success. The oldest participant was 71 years. He was celebrating in his own way. I wasn’t sure if it was his birthday gift or his gift to his female companion to do the race together. Jørgen Rostgaard and Inger Alexandersen, his companion, only took a few hours nap during the event and apologized for pedaling more miles than planned.

Male Podium

Rostgaard, a local with more than 50 years of cycling experience, liked the event. The race attracted racers from Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. We had our tent next to Norwegian Joseph Santaniello. He was originally from the USA but love had made him make the move. He used Melfar to test himself and some high-profile carbon wheels. They took him past 641 km so they may have been really good. The weather was good to excellent and mostly sunny, so you had to drink or else! I experienced the consequences of not doing so. As always in Denmark, there was wind and it chose to blow where it could cause the most damage. Also new this year was that there were three routes instead of the usual four. The route plan had been redesigned to make the start/finish area more of a center with cyclists passing through more often. The new route design meant that the former first and longest route of some 120 km was cancelled. The old second route was the base for the new initial stretch but was lengthened from 30 km to 58 km. The consequence was that riders had to deal with more motorists during the first shift. The night route was the same 12 km scenic route as before. And as before, during the last hour riders were directed to a three km sprint circle, in order to chunk out that last effort and also give the crowd a boosted experience.

Though I heard some nostalgic voices wanting the long route back I sensed that most riders preferred the new arrangements. Some wanted a route with less traffic for the first distance, but the new design allowed for a better overview of race standings. There was a computer available with instant updates, which was used by the riders and audience. The new arrangement also provided more recognition to the riders. A first this year was the use of a podium. Last year some participants finishing in the top three were surprised to find themselves “grounded” when the awards were due. Not so this time. Who will be on top in 2009?

Melfar 24-Hour Cycling Challenge is scheduled to return in 2009 on June 6-7.

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