Rhens MTB Marathon

This was one of those last minute things that popped up on the radar a few days before the actual event. After three USAF MTB Championship Series races and our first go at the Eifel Mosel Cup Series a few of us wanted to try some longer marathon/endurace races and the Rhens Marathon was the perfect opportunity. The race took place in Rhens, Germany which is about an hour drive from Spangdahlem. With a start time of 0900 we had to be on the road by 0530 to get there at a reasonable time and get registered/set up. The town of Rhens is one of those typically charming river towns a lot like Bern-Kastel complete with it's own castles overlooking the river and vineyards. The town square somewhat surrounded by the ruins of another castle and this is where they put the start/finish.
Learning the language or at least the basics is probably a good idea because the event organizers had a PA system set up to help direct racers to where they were supposed to be. Chris and I were clueless so we just looked for other riders with the numbers above 700. The start was typical for an event with over 500 racers: gun goes off and 5 minutes later we start moving. There was a bottle neck as soon as the course went off the road onto the dirt where there was a totally flat section of fire road some of the riders must have found completely menacing and dangerous. We ended up walking a bit with our bikes until they somehow found the courage to get on and start pedaling on the treacherous, totally flat section of fire road.
Jeff rode the 50k course while Chris and I took a shot at the 75k. The 75k course had a total of 2000m of climbing and after we hit the first long climb we started to suspect that it was all there. The mix of fire road and single trail was just right and the downhill sections were all really fun. The course also went along the river for a while with a nice view of a castle on the other side. Perfect weather made the course even better as most of the fire roads through the fields were hard packed, dry and fast.
We were feeling pretty good at the 50k mark thanks in no small part to the feed stations set up along the course. If you don't like the "fizzy" Euro water I'd highly recommend bringing a large hydration pack because that's what they had at all of the feeds. I thought it was kind of strange since I'd never filled a water bottle with carbonated water on a ride but it actually worked out pretty well (sodium maybe?). I still won't fill a water bottle with fizzy water prior to a ride though.
We learned a good lesson at this event: bring an extra water bottle and fill it at every station. Carrying a full water bottle in a jersey pocked is always a bit uncomfortable, but so is heat stroke.
The last 20k were kind of rough because we were running out of water. Having that extra bottle would've definitely made the difference between surviving and finishing strong. Now we know.
The 18 euro fee included a the typical Euro breakfast (juice and coffee included) as well as a pasta lunch. We stayed around a bit longer to get certificates with our names, times and distances on them, but I don't think we'll need them to remember this race.