Once again this year, the Swiss Epic race coverage is being expanded with a race blog. This time, twins Anita and Carolin Gehrig are hitting the keys and pedals for us. The latter really, because still completely unaccustomed to competing in a race as a pair, one of them already wanted a little too much in the prologue. They'll tell you which of the two almost went out of the lights themselves in a moment.

We are delighted to be reporting on our Twins Swiss Epic experience on Ride.ch this week. One thing was clear to us from the outset - the week was not going to be a walk in the park. After all, there are quite a few meters of altitude to conquer as a twosome, whereas we usually give our all as lone warriors at the Enduro World Series races. For my part (Anita), I've already competed once in the Flow category at the Perskindol Swiss Epic, whereas Caro is a "newbie" and not used to being timed in a race, even on the uphill.

The Swiss-Epic starts with the prologue in Grächen. Just as we like it, we first have to tackle a few meters of altitude on the cable car. The start is at around 2200 meters above sea level on the Hannigalp. There, the teams are sent out onto the course every few minutes and are cheered on by a Valais school class, which is certainly a great day at school for the children.

Anita and Carolin Gehrig before their first Epic adventure together.

Aspiration and reality

We decide not to start too quickly, as the route climbs steeply after just 300 meters. But Caro is already pedaling at a good pace and I admonish her several times: "Don't ride so fast!" The pace is really high, but so is the heart rate, and we soon see Nancy and Ludo, who started before us. The climb continues steeply uphill and Caro's motivation to catch up with them is great, but not for long. At the next bend, I look back and she's just getting off her bike. She's making a really bad trap.

I get a bit grumpy, because my dear sister really didn't want to listen to me! Caro spends the rest of the first ascent struggling to breathe and half-walking, or riding at a snail's pace. I offer to pull her, but the attempt fails. She almost pulls me off my bike. Two nice Brazilians then rescue Caro with an energy gel, as we don't have any provisions with us for the short prologue.

The obligatory "Füstli" before the start.

When the oxygen is also missing downhill

Finally, we reach the highest point and set off on the descent - me in front so that Caro can cling to my rear wheel. But she doesn't recover so quickly and rides down very cautiously. In a narrow singletrail section, Caro touches a boulder with her foot and is catapulted rather spectacularly and roughly into the forest. She later admits that this crash is definitely one of her top 3 falls of the season.

The rest of the descent flows beautifully past a bisse; it would be cool to really step on the gas here and sprint up the intermediate climbs. However, this is not possible today as Caro is still deep in the red zone and this affects her concentration, which leads to another fall on the gravel road.

After the long, beautiful descent, we tackle another 300 meters of altitude back to Grächen. The climb is steady and never steep, but my sister has exhausted her powder. Several times I push her or she hangs on to my waistband. A beautiful mountain path takes us towards the finish and soon the redemptive 1 km sign appears. Even Caro manages to let out a happy whoop. Crossing the finish line is pure redemption, because I have never seen Caro suffer so much in my life.

Carolin Gehrig carefully fills her burnt-out engine.

The first stage to Leukerbad will certainly not be a walk in the park. Although there are over 4000 meters of altitude to thunder down, there are also a proud 1600 meters of altitude to climb. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to it and hope that we will have less drama to report afterwards. After all, we have learned the following today:

- Don't tackle climbs too quickly, rather steadily
- Always pack enough provisions
- Listen to Anita - concerns Caro ;)