Hi all
Have not updated my blog in while..(bit too long). Better late than never.
Here goes. I arrived in Europe about 3 weeks ago and drove straight to Houffalize after the 30 hour flight. We were getting a bit too sleepy towards the end. Aroha and I met up with Karen and her Dad in Nadrin (15km from the Houffalize world cup course), then went to sleep for about 10 hours. The week leading into the race was freezing cold, getting as low as -0.5 degrees C but the course was fun with heaps of steep ups and downs.
Race day came by quickly and I was pretty excited to be back at another World Cup race with a stacked field of 108 riders, because the weather was cold I started warming up about an hour before the race.
Unfortunately we were called into our seeding boxes way before race start so warm up didn't help too much. Anyway the 15 sec warning was called and the gun was fired, I was seeded in 40th and was doing well to keep the spot for about 50m, then my chain came off when changing up gears causing me to go back to 107th in the pack. From then on I was working my way past riders every lap which was pretty fun and had a good solid ride into 60th by the end.
mr frosty
Automatic lawnmower omg
Exotic weather, good training
The next weekend I traveled with Jerome Luthi in his parents' camper van to the next race, a BMC Cup in Tesserette. We pre rode the course on Saturday and I liked the course, it was rooty and had a lot of steep pinches, That night it poured down with rain and completely soaked the course for the race, I felt good for the race. But as soon as the race started I couldn't hack the pace at all and went to the back again, was hating the ride on the climbs and the descents. The course was super muddy and slippery from the rain the night before and some bits of the course were unrideable which made it even worse, finished up in 38th.
Today I raced again in Neuchatel (french part of Switerland) in the La Zeta Bike Race (first round of the Jura Alpe Cup). The weather was mint for this race, a bit overcast with temperatures of about 25 degrees ( soo nice).
The race start was neutralized for 500m, then about 10 of us left the pack on the first climb on the start loop. After 10 min we came to a bridge and everybody jumped off and the pack of 10 riders split up into two packs, I was at the back of the 2nd bunch and was trying to regain a bit of energy from the start, 3 riders tried to bridge the gap and succeeded. When we got to the biggest climb on the course I tried bridging the gap and was about 20m away by the top but was just a bit puffed and they were out of sight again before I could think twice. From the top we had 20 min back to the bottom where I got two riders in sight. They stayed in sight part way through the second loop but I lost it a bit and they got away. On the last loop I was battling with a Swiss rider and managed to gap it on the last climb to seal 8th place. Was a lot happier to have decent ride compared to last weeks nightmare.
Also Aroha has been making delicious food. Yum
I will also make sure to update the blog after every race now.
Thanks for reading
Cheers
drink bottle
Have not updated my blog in while..(bit too long). Better late than never.
Race day came by quickly and I was pretty excited to be back at another World Cup race with a stacked field of 108 riders, because the weather was cold I started warming up about an hour before the race.
Unfortunately we were called into our seeding boxes way before race start so warm up didn't help too much. Anyway the 15 sec warning was called and the gun was fired, I was seeded in 40th and was doing well to keep the spot for about 50m, then my chain came off when changing up gears causing me to go back to 107th in the pack. From then on I was working my way past riders every lap which was pretty fun and had a good solid ride into 60th by the end.
Automatic lawnmower omg
The next weekend I traveled with Jerome Luthi in his parents' camper van to the next race, a BMC Cup in Tesserette. We pre rode the course on Saturday and I liked the course, it was rooty and had a lot of steep pinches, That night it poured down with rain and completely soaked the course for the race, I felt good for the race. But as soon as the race started I couldn't hack the pace at all and went to the back again, was hating the ride on the climbs and the descents. The course was super muddy and slippery from the rain the night before and some bits of the course were unrideable which made it even worse, finished up in 38th.
The race start was neutralized for 500m, then about 10 of us left the pack on the first climb on the start loop. After 10 min we came to a bridge and everybody jumped off and the pack of 10 riders split up into two packs, I was at the back of the 2nd bunch and was trying to regain a bit of energy from the start, 3 riders tried to bridge the gap and succeeded. When we got to the biggest climb on the course I tried bridging the gap and was about 20m away by the top but was just a bit puffed and they were out of sight again before I could think twice. From the top we had 20 min back to the bottom where I got two riders in sight. They stayed in sight part way through the second loop but I lost it a bit and they got away. On the last loop I was battling with a Swiss rider and managed to gap it on the last climb to seal 8th place. Was a lot happier to have decent ride compared to last weeks nightmare.Also Aroha has been making delicious food. Yum
I will also make sure to update the blog after every race now.
Thanks for reading
Cheers
drink bottle
