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Finally the new year is present now, no matter if solar or lunar calendar.

For me the new year is already 30 days old, and my activity is still pretty low, somehow related to the temperatures we have out here. Today is the first day this year where the temperatures are above zero, and immediately it is raining. We are so lucky.

During the last week I had the quick idea about having an everresting attempt by the end of last week. Unfortunately it was really cold the night I started. After the second descend my toes did not really melt again, so it was only a short ride of three hours on the ice roads. Even my drinks stuck in the bottles as everything was frozen. I’ll give it some more time to go for the third attempt, hopefully not in bright conditions.

What to do on the bike this year?

Plenty of options are up on the horizon, only waiting to be well arranged and put into the calendar properly. This year won’t give so much room for riding as the last one, nevertheless there can be some really nice rides, with someone and also by myself.

Transcimbrica’s second edition is ready to go in March. Until now things are scheduled to join. Really looking forward to that race, even if it is not going to provide great comfort. March 11, 2017 first minute of the new day shall be the start.

IndianPacificWheelRace reads as if it would be a real challenge for myself. I decided this is going to be too big, at once. No experience in cycling down under, never been there in my entire life. Although my dream profession as a kid had been ‘kangaroo doc’. Long distances without chances to refuel, does not sound comfortable at all. March 18, is going to be the start. Mike Hall, Kristof Aellegaert and maybe also Frank Proud will join the race and make me jealous, at least a little.

RaceAcrossItaly won’t be on my list for 2017. Only chance is to go there by myself. I was pretty unhappy with the treatment over there, last year. Amazing scenery, cycling from Pescara to south of Rome and back again. Crossing Gran Sasso is strongly beautiful! In addition it has been a strange feeling sometimes, as the organisation allows supported and unsupported at once. I still need to get used to cars with extra strong headlights and crazily noisy speakers so the cyclist upfront does not fall asleep. For the ones who are interested in this race, starting April 29, 2017.

Mecklenburger Seen Runde may be a beautiful race. This is where I am coming from and the scenery is just breath taking. Around the lakes just very close to the baltic sea. They offer different distances, the longest one is 300 kms, only. But for meeting some people it is just going to be perfect. I like to go fast, although the last year taught myself that there are other focusses existing than only going fast.

CrossChinaRace. What will be the details for that race? Some rough checkpoint information is out already. It is going to be a ride from Shanghai to Chengdu, crossing amazing sceneries and check points. This event is organised by Tyler and Jeff from FactoryFive, which is an amazing bike shop in Shanghai. Jeff is a TCR veteran and Tyler joined the Japanese Odyssey last year. In the calendar this race might be in conflict with HardCro, but still there are no starting dates out.

HardCro, second edition. Two weeks ago I was writing with Ivan Rogíc, asking for their plans and schedules. June 19, 2017 shall be the starting date and the way it appears to me, there is not going to be a big change in routing for this year. A good option for not getting disqualified this time. Learnt a lot for border crossing preparation.

The Transcontinental Race is still the highlight of the year. Amazing experiences during last year, It was my longest ride, ever and it was the most amazing ride as well. 12 countries in about 13 days. I had great luck with the weather and last year I prepared everything for that race. For a cooked dish, you could say “à la minute”, this is how I found myself prepared for the race. Still there had been several things I would do differently in a second participation. Let us see.

North Cape 4000. Maybe the most scenic ride in Europe. Should have started even further down south in Italy. Starting date is strongly in competition with TCR, July 29, 2017. But as there had been so many applications rejected for TCR this year, the north cape race is an amazing alternative, even for myself. As I studied in Florence for quite some time, I love this city, except in the summer, when the Arno river just stinks. Furthermore it crosses Rostock, my place of birth.

There shall be a ride to Paris, visiting Patrick. At least one ride to the coast of the baltic sea and if things line up perfectly I might cycle to Zadar, for sailing. Ville got some ideas for Taiwan that need to be discussed. Taiwan shall be an amazing country for climbing!

Incadivide reads really nice. Killing climbs, for sure. I did not really get the idea of that ride, it looks more like a route that you can go anytime. Not necessarily related to some kind of competition, which makes it sound really great to me, as I feel too old for competing for the first place.

The Japanese Odyssey is going to happen this year, again. No real details yet, as I was writing with Emmanuelle. So we are exited to see happen is going to happen in Japan and especially when things shall take place, as the weather had been a really tough factor in 2016.

These are all only perfect situation line ups. We will see what 2017 has in stock! For sure it is going to be another amazing year, that is for sure!