Exposed by a Strava KOM: The Many Lives of a Fake Pro Cyclist
Phew! What a (doxxing) &quot;ride&quot;.<p>But to be honest, I wouldn&#x27;t have been curious about that climb. Doesn&#x27;t seem that remarkable to me, because I think I&#x27;ve done similar in my youth, beginning around 1981&#x2F;2, until around 1995&#x2F;96. After that time not so much anymore, because of time constraints, work, and so on.<p>Anyways, on a 27x1 1&#x2F;4 Hercules, for about 600,- DM, 10 speed only, really nothing special, but robust. &quot;Entry level&quot; at best. Err, and no doping at all!<p>I did this in 4 minutes <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;UwG86KBp1QiFuwt1A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;UwG86KBp1QiFuwt1A</a> which has parts at 8% in Quellenstraße, and 12% in Freier Weg, with only 2 short flat parts, the rest is all uphill untill the end. I remember doing 45 to 48 kph on the 8% part, and 40 to 45kph on the 12% part, otherwise short bursts up to 60kph where possible.<p>Repeatedly, this was my &quot;home run&quot; to get warmed up for zipping trough the adjacent &quot;Kottenforst&quot; (With up 70 to 75kph on flat grounds, at times, when it was mostly empty)<p>I also did <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;88dwer9hSYyHij9c9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;88dwer9hSYyHij9c9</a> in 24 minutes, which is one minute less than very progressive drivers did by car :-) Repeatedly.<p>And <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;oRvGeu41hPxeZrSU9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;oRvGeu41hPxeZrSU9</a> in 19 minutes, which is slightly downhill for the first part, but still impressive. Not alone. Together with a classmate who was member of a bicycling sports club and had a much better bike. We synced our wrist watches at the start. He was knocked out for a while, while I felt almost nothing, just elation :-)<p>Nobody believed us the next week in school. (We did this on a saturday, around noon)<p>And <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;t1soU1WKtb7UBuwA9" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;t1soU1WKtb7UBuwA9</a> in 55 minutes, less impressive, but still...<p>Oh! And <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;aV83yCj9WHFUs52FA" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;goo.gl&#x2F;maps&#x2F;aV83yCj9WHFUs52FA</a> and similar many times, in anything between 25 and 18 minutes, really strong uphilling, there is a reason for <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Drachenfels_Railway" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Drachenfels_Railway</a> :-)<p>At these times I did at least 80 to 150km daily, depending on the weather, sometimes even 300km, which I didn&#x27;t even notice at first. Other people noticed the trip distance, while I&#x27;ve been only fixed on the needle, because <i>speed is what I need!</i> ;-&gt;<p>Whatever, that were only the most memorable things where I can be absolutely sure I don&#x27;t remember them wrong.<p>So I guess what I&#x27;m saying is that when I could do these things, while not professionally trained, not member of some bicycling sports club, with only an entry level road cycle&#x2F;&quot;randonneur&quot;, not doped, just for fun, in my youth...<p>...then that piece which made others suspicious initially, wouldn&#x27;t have seemed unlikely to me at all.<p>Edit: And when my bicycle was broken, or lacked spare parts, I did a Marathon through the <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kottenforst" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;de.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kottenforst</a> , sometimes 2km less, sometimes 2 more, depending on route. Though I don&#x27;t remember the time anymore, probably fast. Running was mostly &#x27;uninteresting&#x27; to me. I could do it easily, but bicycling was more fun.