24MX Getzen Rodeo Race Day

The big day had arrived and Ben was as giddy as a school girl, he was so excited and so was Jess. They were up early and we all went down to breakfast at the hotel which was every salami under the sun, cheeses, tomatoe, cucumber, bread, butter and some yoghurt. Not your traditional eggs and bacon that we are used to or pancakes and hash browns but I was enjoying the change.

I really didn’t think Daniel could handle a full day out at the event from 8am until 7pm so I said to Ben to just take Jessy and then he could pick us up when there was a break in the middle of the day at 1pm. Such a great idea. Daniel and I just chilled at the hotel and did absolutely nothing but rest for a few hours and by the time Jess and Ben came to get us they had a great morning watching all the riders and running from one section of the track to the next, they even bought matching ‘Getzen black jumpers’.

Ben meeting one of his riding idols - Graham Jervis.

The winners! Manuel Lettenbichler (Germany) — 1st place. Mario Román (Spain) — 2nd place. Billy Bolt (Great Britain) — 3rd place

After the race Daniel got my hat signed by Billy Bolt and Manuel

Photo bomb with Manuel Lettenbichler. It was absolutely packed to try and get a personal photo but Daniel managed to get the other side of my hat signed.

There was a large tent with a full stage set up and several drink stands and food stands ready for the party. Jessy was exhausted from her day out at event and just wanted to go home so we didn’t stay for long but it wouldn’t have kicked off until much later in the evening.

I don’t have a photo of it but a really memorable part about our weekend away was the dinner Ben and I had out that night. On the way home the kids were starving so we found an Italian restaurant that was doing take away pizzas so we ordered 2 for the kids and took them back to the hotel. Ben and I then went down to the restaurant for dinner and had the most unexpected fun evening.

The restaurant was packed and every table was full and as we were standing waiting for a table these lovely 2 German men invited us to sit with them well how could we say no. They had also been to the getzen rodeo and were incredibly friendly.

They did say their names but I can’t remember but the impression they made was lasting. One of them had a business called Imobelien which is a property company in Berlin and we had fun broken discussions in English and part German discussing property and the differences with Australia and Germany and the other man was a roofer who had very limited English. It was so fun trying to speak German and we actually have learnt more than we thought, it really does come to the forefront of your mind when it is a real life situation and you are trying to have a conversation. We spoke about bikes and travel and culture and food and it was such a pleasant dinner.

They finished before us so Ben and I got to have some private time too towards the end of the meal to just enjoy the day and slow down and unwind.