January 28, 2010 (Berlin, Germany) – Jacob Schwingboth (BC) and Stephen Meyer (ON)are currently racing in Berlin at the UIV 6-Day race for the first time as a Madison Team. This is the 99th edition of the Berlin 6-Day and the two Canadians were excited to test out their legs at the German event.

Both men arrived safely, on time, and with all their luggage. The challenge then became finding lunch and dinner and getting to the Velodrome via the tram, but the cyclists proved they have not only racing smarts but street smarts too as they made it to the track for an easy roller session. The riders reacted differently to the time change the first night, with Meyer sleeping like a log for 13 hours, while Schwingboth was doing sleep intervals of 2 hours sleeping, 1 hour awake..

Racing began today with a 60 lap points race and 30 minute Madison and Meyer was concerned that “our first exchange together EVER is going to be in the Madison.” Add that to their first experience of the excitement of a 6-Day race, the energy of large and rowdy crowds, and a competitive field and it is understandable that their nerves were on high alert. Schwingboth thought the first night of racing was “a bit of a gong show, it was hard to understand what was going on and when the race even started. The racing was no different then any other high level track race. I cracked myself trying to move up all the time.”

The duo will be looking for a race result tomorrow in the same events and wanted to pass on that  Kid Rock- “Sweet Home Alabama” is currently #6 on the charts in Berlin and Will Smith’s “Summer time” is #3.

More information about the event can be found here.