Dankward Racing Series – Kleinkummerfeld Time Trial: Course, Route Profile & Map

Course & Elevation

Start and finish sit on the Segeberger Chaussee in Kleinkummerfeld. From there the route follows the K 114 through Willingrade towards Rickling, turns at the far point and comes back along the same road to Kleinkummerfeld. Those 13 kilometres make up one lap, and the 26-kilometre category rides it twice.

The elevation profile is about as unremarkable as a bike course gets: 43 metres of climbing per lap, 3.3 metres of vertical per kilometre, 85 percent of the distance without meaningful gradient and not a single section the profile registers as a climb. On the way out the ground rises by roughly 20 metres over a good six kilometres, hardly noticeable but measurable, and the way back gives exactly the same back.

The only real break in rhythm comes at the turnarounds, two per lap. Younger and shorter categories use the same road as a 7.2 kilometre short lap turning at Willingrade, or as a single 13 kilometre lap; the 26 kilometres are the longest individual category of the day, alongside a team time trial. This seventh race day of the series is hosted by Kieler RV.

Pacing Strategy

A flat time trial is a power problem, not a terrain problem. There is no climb to force you and no descent to give anything back: the intensity you settle on in the first kilometres is what you carry, essentially unchanged, to the line. On a course that is 85 percent flat, every watt above a realistic target costs more at the end than it buys at the start.

Pace by power or perceived effort, not by speed. The outward leg rises slightly, the return falls slightly, and on a straight out-and-back any wind behaves completely differently in the two directions. Your speed readout can therefore differ markedly between the halves while the correct power stays almost constant.

Most riders underestimate the turnarounds. Braking from full speed to almost a standstill, turning and accelerating again costs time, and the real trap comes right afterwards: the effort coming out of a turn is nearly always too hard. Better to ramp back up to target power in a controlled twenty to thirty seconds and to get straight back into your aero position.

Training plan for Dankward Racing Series – Kleinkummerfeld Time Trial: 12-week build

For an age-group rider the 26 kilometres usually take somewhere around 35 to 50 minutes. The nature of the effort is unusually clear-cut: one uninterrupted push just at threshold, with no draft, no group dynamics and none of the brief let-offs a rolling course supplies on its own.

On a course shaped like this, no single section decides the race; the last third does. Because the terrain dictates nothing, a drop in output there traces almost entirely back to the pacing decision made in the opening kilometres. Beyond that, the turnarounds are the only technical demand: brake, turn tight, get back up to speed, several times over the race.

In training the closest match is long, even intervals: two or three blocks of 15 to 20 minutes at threshold, ridden in time trial position on the flattest road you can find. On this kind of course the limiter is often not threshold power itself but how long you can produce it while staying aerodynamic. That position needs its own saddle time, not just an adjustment to the bike.

Two course-specific additions are worth the effort. First, a full dress rehearsal over race distance on flat roads, to check target power, fuelling and position across the real duration. Second, deliberate turnaround practice: braking from full speed, turning tight, accelerating away and being back in position and on target power within a few seconds. Over 26 flat kilometres those seconds add up to more than a small equipment change will give you.