Sebastian is known as one of the best bikers in the triathlon pro field. If you watch him racing on his TT bike you feel the entity he is forming with his bike. It’s amazing, it is at if his body is melting into his bike.
And here some lines from Sebastian about his relation to machines.
“As humans we are used to trust in machines. Often we don’t even know how they work but we entrust them our lives. Triathlon was a very technical sport from the beginning on. Some triathletes seem to pray to their bikes and trust in oval chain rings, believe in their Garmin more than their feel and so on. Yes, I have to admit that I started triathlon because I was more fascinated by the bikes than by the athletes on the bike. And you still today could call me a bike geek.
I more often google for new bike stuff than for training tipps, mental advice or presents for my girl friend. Partly because I’m still fascinated by it, partly because I’m looking for an advantage another might not yet have. In long course triathlon you will never be able to control everything. So you try to find something you are believing in. It helps me and gives me confidence to have the feeling that I have the fastest bike, the best shoes etc., it’s almost like a religion. It helps to overcome uncertainty. But it also can be the other way round, if you totally trust in your equipment and if then doubts arise, you can really get into troubles. I could tell you stories about MTB races were I could not sleep the night before the race because I could not decide between two tires…
With the years I found a way to get a good balance between my know-how about drag, stiffness, rolling resistance, figures… and not to overdo it with that. I realized that I was becoming one of the guys who could talk about titan screws for an hour but not about how nice the ride was on that day. Now I tend to trust other people more when it comes to make decisions about the material. But I still get very excited about a new bike or a new wetsuit.
For me it is often very simple, if I have no fun during my training sessions I know that I have to make a break soon. It sounds pretty simple, but it is not, it requires a lot of courage not to fight against that feeling, usually you try to be tough also against yourself. I found out that this is not always the best way. But you have to find out whether you don’t like to train because you are tired or just because it is raining outside. If it is because it is raining, you have to kick yourself and go … ;-)”
I know Sebastian now since 2007, 2008 he became part of the BIESTMILCH “family”. It’s great to see a guy like him mature and slowly making his way up to the very top.
That’s way the besstet answer so far!