This weekend, Raphi took on the 2 Stunden Enduro at MSC Schwarzatal in St. Valentin-Landschach, Austria.
The track was a mix of high speed and technical sections, with barely any long straights to catch a breath. In a two-hour format like this, raw speed only gets you so far. Fitness, rhythm, and mental grit are what truly matter.
For Raphi, it turned out to be a race of two completely different halves.
With no warm-up lap, the riders were thrown straight into the action. It took a toll early on. Raphi struggled to find his flow and quickly had to battle both severe arm pump and back pain.
"We had no warmup lap, so we went straight into the race and I just couldn't find my rhythm at first," Raphi explained. "My arms pumped up and my back was hurting, but luckily it loosened up after a while and I finally found my flow."
The timing sheets backed him up. Once those early-lap struggles faded, Raphi’s pace absolutely came alive. He clocked his fastest lap of the race on lap four with a 11:09.2, proving he had found his groove, and backed it up with consistent 11:10.9 and 11:12.3 laps later on.
From there, it was all about the comeback. After dropping down to 19th place early on, Raphi put his head down and started slicing his way back through the field, ultimately fighting back to finish an impressive 12th in the E3 class and 25th overall, completing 10 laps in 2:03:34.
Summing up the weekend, Raphi had nothing but praise for the venue: "I really liked the track. It’s fast, technical, and keeps you on your toes with absolutely no long straights."
Strong ride Raphi!
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