The Ahrsteig turned out to be a pretty good long trail.
Endless views across the Ahr Valley, brilliant singletrails, and plenty of fun, slightly technical sections that kept things interesting all day long. What I didn’t expect (should have done a little more planning) were the countless detours that are still necessary because of the flood damage. They added some kms to the already 100 km route and constantly reminded me that, despite the beauty of the region, the scars are still there. Talking to locals along the way made it even harder to fully grasp the scale of what happened here.
Physically, the legs were in a great mood from start to finish. The stomach, however, had different plans. At some point it simply refused to keep anything down. With no water left, I stopped fueling altogether for a little while and just focused on moving forward.
Later I carefully started fueling again with BIX gels. Luckily they were the only thing I could still get down and actually keep down. I suspect the added sodium made a real difference at that stage of the day.
Somewhere in the middle I had already written off the FKT attempt. After a detour that wasn’t marked at all, I decided to forget about the clock and just enjoy a long day out in the Ahr valley. But at km 80 I changed my mind. I threw in a 20 km race effort, and managed to get to the finish at Sinzig after 10h54 and 104 km, just three minutes under the previous FKT.
Not exactly how I imagined the day would unfold, but sometimes the best adventures are the ones that force you to adapt.