by Chris Geiser

Busy schedules abound! My own, in family, full-time work, and planning an epic GFNY Double-Double experience, and also Kenny Abel’s — the driving force behind GFNY Deutschland and my very gracious contact for informing the folks on this side of the pond about the race. We are now less than two weeks away, and with our travel plans all but finalized, that gives us some room to talk about the race- — the whole reason for the trip. I was able to catch up with Kenny recently to get some insight into the third year of the GFNY Deutschland, which is also the GFNY European Championship. The race takes place in the Lower Saxony region of Deutschland, in the legendary town of Hamln, home of the fabled Pied Piper.

I inquired about the history of the race and how Kenny got involved.

GFNY Deutschland was a huge success in its first two years, and is the GFNY European Championship race. Please tell us, how did you get started with GFNY? What inspired you to create the race?

This is a long story. The originator of GFNY Deutschland is Paul Fasse from Eldagsen. He rides a lot GFNY races all over the world and get in contact to Uli and Lidia. I met Paul and we have put the idea into action in 2016. We visited some GFNY races in NYC and France and spend a lot of time to discuss and talk with other GFNY organizers, for example, Alex from Indonesia, or Shaun from Mexico, and Jerusalem and learn a lot about GFNY and the special spirit of the races. We grow up from year to year and now we see a lot of GFNY jerseys all over Germany and we are very happy, that so many other riders like it and feel the same spirit like us.

For anyone who wondered about the town, and the area for the race, I asked Kenny to give us a feel for the region, and what to expect.

Please tell us about Saxony as the location for the race. We are very excited to visit, but what was the inspiration for having the race in this area?

The Pied Piper doing his legendary work.

The region of Lower Saxony, and the Weserbergland, are a typical kind of landscape in Germany. We have on the one side, big cities and on the other side some beautiful green areas with rivers and a hilly landscape. The northern part of Germany is mostly flat but we were able to create a hilly course in a beautiful landscape. Furthermore is the town of Hamelin a very historic town with old houses, and, of course the most important story — about the pied piper — In the near of Hamelin are a lot of castles and palaces. There is much to discover in the region.

Please tell us about the course. For instance, what is the most challenging climb? What should the riders expect in terms of challenges?

The course of the GFNY Championships Europe are a hilly course, like in GFNY NYC Championship, or the pro courses in the Ardennes. The course is flat at the first 30km and then the climbing starts. The first long climb of the day is the Roter Fuchs (in english red fox). This is a climb about 5,4km and a maximum grade of 16%. The Gran Fondo rides the Roter Fuchs a second time. After the first climb of the day the next mountain is after a short flat part. The Lauensteiner Berg is the second challenge of the day with 5km and 3,6% grade in the middle.

The Gran Fondo rides after them a second loop and the Medio Fondo goes back to Hamelin. But for all riders the last 10km before the finish line in Hamelin is the steepest part of the race. After the small village Börry the street climb over 19% to the last final kilometers. With a good endurance and the right speed the Gran Fondo and the Medio Fondo is possible to finish. (editors note: perhaps reminiscent of Cheesecote or Queensbury). Next to the track you have the whole time a very nice view in the Weser valley with a lots of green hills, small villages and a very beautiful landscape. Enjoy your race and get a small view away from the course to the nature and the countryside.

GFNY Deutschland is unique in that it races on 100% closed roads. How were you able to achieve this?

We spent a lot of time with the officials at the town, villages, the police and the local townspeople. We have a fully closed route for all riders after one hour behind the leading rider. By the second lap there are a lot more riders inside the first-rider window of 1 hour. The people here are very happy about the race, and proud, that riders from all over the world come to Hamelin, visit the Weserbergland region and spend there time racing and exploring.

Please tell us about your volunteers?

We have a lot of enthusiastic cycling fans. Germany is in the past, not a cycling sports country. But the scene is evolving, and new races are coming to the cities. Also the GFNY is a platform or tool to grow and mature the German cycling spirit. We have in every town and village a small group of volunteers. They support us and some students use the GFNY to improve their foreign language skills.

Who else is involved in GFNY Deutschland? For instance, the moto crew, volunteers, towns, celebrities?

We have, on race day more than 450 helpers at different parts of the race. A big part of the volunteers are the firefighters in the towns and villages. They are very organized groups and the have a lot of fun at the races. The police are the important part for the security at the race. A lot of officers get the security of the course by car, moto or blocking off the routes for the riders. We are very happy about the huge support and we are growing with the police, the authorities and the town. We are happy when the race is started and all riders live their own dream and their own special race on German roads.

My gratitude to Kenny for the time he took to answer my questions as we are now so close to the race, he must be as busy as the Pied Piper himself.

The GFNY Deutschland is the kickoff of our GFNY Double-Double, and will make for a great test for a recovering athlete, hopefully #ridingintoform at just the right time to put on a great performance. I know those of us that are tuning up for GFNY Deutschland can’t wait. We are wheels up for Frankfurt on August 29, arriving the morning of August 30, and then making the 3.5 hour drive up to Hameln, so that we can do a shakedown, explore the town, and hopefully host an evening for wayward travelers in one of the local establishments
Hopefully, we will see you there. If you are coming — please get in touch with me through Facebook, or through Medium, and we will get you connected with the rest of the group.

Until then — PROST!