IM Germany 1995 was my first. I'd had the advantage of living only 2-3 hours from Roth, Germany while in the Air Force and was able to train on

and become familiar with the course. One memorable part of the race was one hill on the bike that was steep, but only a couple of hundred yards long. The crowd support on the hill was awesome - they closed in on you so close that there was only room for bikes to go single file and the people were chanting and hollering - almost surrealistic. One another part of the race was a section you cycled by that was lined with beer tables for about half a mile; somewhat distracting... I'd made friends with a German family in Roth who owned a bike store and still stay in contact with them. The son road a mountain bike in the last 10k with me and the wife met me at the finish with a bouquet of flowers. Good people.