That's actually true," she says and nods with a smile. "I'm surrounded by bikes 24 hours a day, seven days a week or I'm busy with the subject of bicycles." Her two racing bikes have just as much space in her apartment as the table and bed.

Your cross bike too - at least when it's cleaned.

It is in constant use every working day.

Nadine Groß manages her commute from Königstein to Frankfurt-Rödelheim by bike, at any time of the year, in any weather, 20 kilometers and 420 meters in altitude each way.

Arriving at the iQ athletik office, a few bikes are leaning against walls and shelves.

Almost all employees of the young team practice "bike to work", sometimes commuting from crisp distances from the surrounding area to Frankfurt in the saddle.

And in everyday work?

The wheels keep turning.

iQ athletik is a provider of performance diagnostics, training control, bike fitting and the like.

Customers, amateur athletes with good intentions as well as triathlon professionals on racing machines costing thousands of euros, are measured, tested and often made fit in the rooms.

Groß studied fitness and health management and is also a trained group fitness and personal trainer.

Among other things, she oversees projects with companies in which the (electric) bicycles of the employees are correctly adjusted to the respective measurements of the riders so that knees, backs and hips are not damaged by incorrect strain.

There is hardly an aspect of cycling that Nadine Groß is not involved with.

No wonder she's toying with the idea of ​​purchasing a mountain bike to add to her two-wheeler fleet.

In addition, she does her own intensive cycling training – 14 hours a week according to a fixed training schedule.

New territory for the 26-year-old, who previously only got into the saddle for her approximately 10,000 kilometers a year for three reasons: "Passion, fun, keen on it," as she says.

For the joy of exercise, for the joy of experiencing nature, especially in the morning at 6 a.m. when she is already driving through the Taunus.

As a schoolgirl, she used to ride her bike a lot to get from A to B.

In preparation for the Abitur in 2014, she often climbed the Altkönig and always sat on the same tree trunk to study.

"It's still there," says Groß.

"I sit professionally at the source"

So far, the athlete has only dealt with fat metabolism, anaerobic threshold and so on professionally for others.

For months now she has been reconciled to the fact that for her basic endurance, she has to ride longer than three-hour units at a relaxed pace.

Although she actually ticks differently from her cycling nature.

“I always prefer to be banged up for 90 minutes or two hours.

Whether on the road or off-road or through mud and snow in the Taunus,” she says.

In addition, it wasn't easy to get one of the friends with whom she rides regularly to go for three-hour rides in the drizzle and November cold - because the training schedule dictates it.

A well-groomed ride with friends is still part of it for her.

But the plan to prepare for a race, her home race this Sunday, in the best possible way and to the point, almost professionally, motivates her.

"My job is at the source," she says.

And she has had a lot in common with the Eschborn-Frankfurt cycling classic from an early age.

She was born in Frankfurt and grew up in Königstein not far from the track.

On May 1st, even as a child, she was fascinated by the racing drivers who suddenly populated the streets once a year.

At home it's a tradition on race day that her mother rolls her eyes, says Groß with a laugh, because the car can't be moved due to the road closures.

Her father was there last September when Eschborn-Frankfurt had to be postponed until autumn due to the corona.

They stood together on the Ruppertshainer Berg and awaited the arrival of the professional field.

That's when Groß came up with the idea of ​​raising her passion for cycling from the level of "in the mood" to "cycling, but let's do it properly" with the target of May 1, 2022, she says.