Leutkirch – 270 participants, 50 bikes, 7 hours, 3,300 euros in donations – these figures already reflect that what the TSG cycling department set up and put on wheels on Sunday was extremely successful. This spinning event in the Seelhaus sports hall was dedicated to the cyclist Valentin Kegreiß, who had an accident at the end of October, under the motto “Vale roll on” and everyone was sure: “Valentine would have liked that a lot.” Everyone gave their best.
A total of 270 participants came. A good half of the participants were women. Spinning has long been established across genders, even if the Tour de France or Giro Italia suggest a purely male sport. There were also two women who set the pace up front. Spinning is not mindless, listless pedaling on a living room bike.
Spinning is a community experience, is loud music and…
….Queen’s “Bicycle” and many titles by the rock group Queen shouldn’t be missing. Spinning is pure rhythm after warming up with gymnastics. It goes uphill and downhill, sometimes you stand in the pedals, sometimes you can have a sip and relax a bit. Right at the front, spinning instructors from Rehactiv and Kraftbox call out what’s coming up, uphill or downhill, standing or sitting, gymnastics or drinking.
Hour after hour passed from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the 50 wheels hardly got cold; they were borrowed free of charge from the Rehaktiv Center, among others. Sponsors also made the supply of fruit and drinks possible.
Five hours on the bike
TSG cyclist and police press officer Daniela Baier stayed on her bike for five full hours, sparing neither her circulation nor her calves and pedaled as hard as she could, lasting until 5 p.m.
Participants from all over Upper Swabia
There were registered groups from Ravensburg, Friedrichshafen and Biberach, as well as athletes from Wangen and Leutkircher sub-communities including neighboring Bavaria.
“It’s a pleasure to see how many cyclists from all over the region came, how many TSG athletes and other participants came to take part in our charity memorial event for Valentin Kegreiß,” said Daniel Holz, the management team of the cycling department , Günter Schüle, Anke Eickhoff (organization) and Charly Wolfgang, who were of course all there. A young team from TSG was at the registration, rolled and loaded the 50 bikes, laid slabs in the sports hall so that the floor was not damaged and took care of many small things related to the event.
The spinning bikes were provided by Rehactiv, Kraftbox Leutkirch and Achtal, and by Reha & Rhysio Baienfurt. The coffee and cake stand in the grandstand was also well stocked and the all-round well-being of the athletes, relatives and guests could be guaranteed by various sponsors.
Each participant gave €10 or more
Instead of an award ceremony for the most kilometers or hours, there was a great donation sum of this pure benefit event, because each participant gave 10 € or more plus additional donations from guests (you can still donate, by the way): an incredible 3300 euros came together, so much more than the 2700 euros according to the sum of the participants.
Daniel Holz presented the social institutions with a symbolic donation check. Evelyn Mauch came from the Ursula hospice (former hospital), Ulrike Butscher from the Leutkirch outpatient hospice group and Ursula Maucher, who has been the “face of the Leutkirch table” for 20 years. Everyone thanked them very much and the Kegreiss couple were also happy about the successful event with the beautiful result. Her son Valentin died in a tragic accident with a racing bike at the end of October 2022. He was a popular and well-known cyclist and competitive athlete as well as an event co-organizer.
In memory of Valentin Kegreiß
Quoting Daniel Holz in his welcome speech about Vale: “Today’s event is definitely to his liking. A cycling meeting in an impressive format, socializing with a very large circle of friends and at the end there are still tangible results in the form of financial injections to support local charitable institutions. Valentin’s parents Inge and Sepp selected these in advance in consultation with our cycling department. As you can see from my welcome sentence, the circle of people around Valentin is huge and that is definitely no coincidence. Valentin was a great figurehead who made a name for himself in a positive way on many levels and in a wide variety of areas. Not least for this great commitment, from which we in the cycling department particularly benefited, this event should also be a thank you – a sign of our appreciation!”
Text and images: Carmen Notz
Information from TSG
The next main meeting of the TSG cycling department is the big bike fair on Saturday, April 1st, at the HMG Leutkirch, and on May 6th a driving technique training session on the fitness trail at the end of the Krählohweg.
All information at www.tsg-leutkirch/Radsport
opening hours of the TSG office in the TSG clubhouse: Monday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Below are impressions of the big benefit cycling event:
3300 € for a good cause. Our picture shows from the left: Daniel Holz (head of the cycling department), Ms. Maucher from the Tafel, Ulrike Butscher and (in front) Evelyn Mauch from the hospices, behind the couple Inge and Sepp Kegreiß.
Daniel Holz thanks the spinning instructors for their hours of hard work.
The TSG cycling board team that organized the event, from left: Günter Schüle, Daniel Holz, Anke Eickhoff and Charly Wolfgang.
The young team at the registration.
Gisela Wagenseil, 90 plus, came as an honorary member of TSG, donated to a good cause and stayed for a long time as an interested visitor. She founded TSG women’s gymnastics in the 1950s.
Daniela Baier spent a whopping five hours on the bike and afterwards “still looked pretty fresh”. Here in conversation with Sepp Kegreiß
Food was well taken care of – here vitamin bombs.
Teams from Friedrichshafen and Biberach.
The DRK was also on site. For safety. They weren’t used. But it is always reassuring when such specialists are on hand at the sporting event.
