CeNS Cycling Team "NanoBioBikers"

Four students of the international doctorate program NanoBioTechnology, Kamila, Ingo, Brendan and Florian recently decided to team up and share some common interests beyond the scope of science, by participating in a 24 hour mountain-bike race in the Olympic Park in Munich. It was the first time any of us had participated in such an event, and the novelty added a thrill to the experience. Together we started in the competition as the team NanoBioBikers - fully motivated to prove that scientists are not all about labwork and complex theories.

The race was organized as a relay, so only one team member is on the track while the others are resting. We fought shoulder to shoulder with professional bikers and now that we have completed it, we are proud to say that we managed to cycle for the full 24 hours. Night time was critical and particularly demanding. Our strategy of forming two subgroups to get 3-4 hours of constant sleep paid off.

Our participation in the race was a much more spontaneous act than for most of the other teams - nevertheless, we were determined not to be the last ones. In the end, we fared much better than that, ranking 46 in 56 teams in our category. All in all, we rode around 450 kilometers and over 5000 meters in altitude - quite a good start! and there is already a team forming to repeat this success in 2011.

All that would not have been possible without the generosity of our sponsors: ibidi, Chromotek, Nanotemper and Nanion - thanks very much!