King of the Lake 2024 – completely without the sport
Heads up, anyone expecting to see me with snot all over my face today is going to be disappointed! Tomorrow marks a week since the “King of the Lake” around…
Datum
Lesezeit
Heads up, anyone expecting to see me with snot all over my face today is going to be disappointed!
Tomorrow marks a week since the “King of the Lake” around Lake Attersee, known in the time trial scene as KOTL. I’ve been racing there every year since 2017 and usually flood my feed with tons of race pics, thanks to the amazing photographers from Sportograf who are out there lying in the grass waiting for the perfect shot. If you follow the time trial bubble like me, your Instagram feed has probably been full of it the past few days. And yes, the weather was incredible again this year. If you haven’t seen it yet, here are the video highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWq8df0qqFs
In 2018, I hit the jackpot and won the thing (with just two seconds over an hour) https://www.derbaranski.de/blog/september-17th-2018. Since then, I’ve tried to beat that time every year, but somehow, despite better gear and positioning, I’ve been getting slower. I guess time catches up with all of us. Over the last month, I’ve just lost all my steam. I even pulled out of the Atterbiker event and have officially hung up my skinsuits. My engine’s burnt out.
Still, I didn’t want to miss KOTL, so I packed up with my better half and our two dogs and took the road trip across Germany and over to Austria. This time, instead of racing, I focused on chatting with event folks and sponsors (since my agency brings them on board too) and was thrilled to co-commentate the livestream. First, we were at the expo, and then during the crucial part of the race, I was in the “studio” behind the big video screen alongside the legends Jakob Fischer and Walter Ameshofer, who’ve been rocking this for years.
It’s impressive how professionally everything runs at KOTL, with a Slovenian camera crew, motorcycles streaming live, and even a director from the skiing world. If you’re bored this winter or need something to watch while training, you can catch the full stream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/FdZbj6p97mA?si=22a7g7LQoeP8CKHr
Quick word on the racing: the level just keeps going up. This year, 24 riders finished under an hour. Huge congrats to everyone who gave it their all, whether they won or just pushed themselves to the limit. It’s great to see the time trial scene with aero bars still thriving. Results are here: https://www.computerauswertung.at/veranstaltung.php?V_ID=240921&lang=de
A big shoutout to the Atterbikers as well, who as a club pull off an event like this. They spend weeks preparing for this one Saturday in September, and as a participant, you don’t always notice how well-organized everything is – unless something goes wrong. But since I was more involved this year than usual, I can only tip my hat to them. And to everyone who always finds something to complain about, I suggest taking it down a notch. There’s nothing else like this event in our niche scene.
And no, I can’t get you a spot for 2025 yet. That kicks off in spring next year at https://www.kotl.at/
As for me, I’m heading into the off-season. What does that look like as a retired time triallist? Well, there are so many disciplines I haven’t tried yet, like these folks from Graz who are into bike touring or something like that.
More about aero bars, speed machines, and all that good stuff coming soon on the blog and my Insta feed: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DANr1qzuIKF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Wishing you all a great winter!
#timetrial #timetrialling #timetrialtuesday #zeitfahren #fratzengeballer #getaero #aeroiseverything #zeitfahrhacks #derbaranskishop @king_of_the_lake_attersee
