Mike Hagen says:

I’d been looking forward to this race for a bit. Flat/gradual downhill, I’ve always done well on those; suits my strengths. But warming up, I’m thinking I don’t have legs today, but enough with the excuses! The start was virtual pandemonium. I was trying to go hard, but not so hard as to blow up, there would be plenty of wheels to grab. But my avatar kept stopping then flashing up to where I should have been; very confusing; I’m trying to figure out where I am–mid 30s? wtf? Started to settle a bit; I passed some Muckers: Chak, Mick_Michel, DonJulio, Denny (as his connection crashed), and then–DolphWader! omg, he’s having a great start. Things finally settle down, and I’m in a group of 12 or so for most of the race, including mates SwissChris, Rens_Piccavet, and, another omg! S.Ludford, who was having an awesome race and stuck around for the longest time. Really great to see. Now trying to size up who’s in the group, who’s biding time, who’s barely hanging on. It was hard to tell, we were not well organized. My draft seemed to be sporadic, especially behind leonelcunha, I don’t think I ever got a draft from him, even when right behind. Very odd. Into the last half and are we gaining on anyone? hj2010 and Andy_UP are a few hundred meters ahead (Andy having a great ride also!) and we’re gaining, but not fast and we’re probably not going to close. Now down to the last few kms, time to up the pressure, who’s going to come with me? leonelcunha and Diego_Donati do, and they pass and I can’t keep up. Then Rens, SwissChris, and kjohannessen get back on with me and we’re a group of four. Setting up for the sprint and I’m not leaving it late. 500 m and I go. Getting a gap, 4 m, 5 m, 6–is it enough? No it is not, and they all pass me back. So it goes. But what a great race, and so awesome to see 99 starters on the line!

Wouter Groenen says:

Only my third race with Muckers, but what a hard one. Not that the first two where easy, but being on the lighter side myself, a flat route with a slight downward slope, this wasn’t going to be an easy one. Strategy alla Zwift; go hard and stay with the stronger guys as long as possible. That wen’t well for the first 20 k. I then had to drop back a little to the second group (or was it third). With 15 k to go the group started to split up, people left and right trying to break away. I managed to close some gaps, but in the end I had to let go. Contstant 100% ftp and harder pulls had taken it’s toll. Finished 21nd, but ended up in 20th position because someone else NED/DNF. See you guys in race 4 next week!

Chorus says:

Hello everyone, as Svard says, when Alieno79 caught up with us, the only thing we could do was to keep his pace without dying in the attempt.

Henrik Jørgensen says:

Totally hate this route profile😆 and must also say that it is one of the boring ones I have ever driven. Straight road, only desert and no notable hills. Not my cup of tea, and then the route also went a bit smoothly downhill, hate it🙈 I was lucky enough to have to work until 10pm, so I couldn’t drive the original timetable, so I had to stay awake until 00:30 and drive ” to late for me” edition. This does not result in a number of benefits. Among other things, it is very late in the day for a person who has to wake up again at 06.00. In addition, the late race is not so heavily loaded with strong riders who can help keep the speed up and provide draft. But the route had to be run, and I had to match Adampel’s time 🥵 There were 14 riders at the start, but I am not aware of how many actually ran. I tried not to start like lightning and thunder, but kept an eye on my speed, which had to be quite precise so as not to fall behind right from the start. To my great surprise, I suddenly had a rider in my rear wheel. Christophe P was the rider in my wheel. I thought great, then there is someone who could help keep the pace high. But no🙄..Not once over 46km did he come forward and try to take his share of the lead. I have of course met that type of rider before, and I decided that I would do everything in my power to win a perhaps upcoming sprint. The course profile made it impossible to shake anyone off, so there was nothing to do but drag him all the way to the line, concentrating on keeping my average speed. However, Christophe proved himself a gentleman and did nothing to sprint. In hindsight I had hoped that he might have tried to pass me from far out and take the sprint. This might have given me the last few seconds I needed to beat Adampel’s time. But it didn’t work out that way, I was missing a measly 10 seconds over 46km. Jeez.. 🙄🙄But I can say with certainty that I gave everything I had in my legs in this lonely time trial over 46km, so I can’t be anything but satisfied with my effort. And looking forward to next week’s race, which will undoubtedly be at least as tough as this one, due to the length. Thanks to everyone who took part in the evening and night races. And admins..shame on you for choosing this route😂😂 now joking aside, thank you for making this absolutely crazy project Mucker’s possible👍👍 See you all again on Tuesday