Last race of my European season

Yo

So we rolled into town on Monday earlier this week,  after a long trip from Czech that we split into two days.  The weather was good and I went for a ride. The weather was horrible for the rest of the week, even snowing at one point and rain was forecast for race day.

The view for our hotel window

Come race day the weather was mint and the hottest day we had had in weeks (six days actually). I was looking forward to a mud battle on the big climb and downhill but the track was practically dry, and race time came around fast.

Last race La Bresse world cup:
The start was good for me this time, I kept my eyes up and avoided the main crash just, after that it was a clean run back to the start/finish and onto the real track. As soon as we hit the first climb, the climb hit my legs, I was a bit more tired than I thought but luckily there wasn't any passing so I kept my spot in the top 60 and stayed around there for most of the race. Then like usual I started getting faster on the last laps. But punctured on the 5th lap, luckily the Stanz kicked in and I had a Co2 handy so pumped it up quickly and was off again but had still lost a lot of time and places. In the last lap I managed to get back to where I had been in the 5th lap and even passed one more rider to produce my fastest lap of the race and finish in 48th, my best result so far. Am going into Holiday mode now for a couple of weeks and then will start training again and will come back next time around a lot stronger and faster!

crazy hard rock garden

Cheers

Sam

Czech World Cup

The week leading into the 3rd XC mtb world cup in Czech Republic was a good one with lots of sun and warm weather, getting as hot as 25 degrees (really hot after living in the snow). The track was awesome with a bit of everything, root, rocks, and the dirt was just like back home as well.
Unfortunately it was forecast to rain on the Saturday, race day, and be the coldest day as well which so far had been the same for all the races I have done in Europe this year..
Race day came and it was cold.. and raining, lucky for us though the rain stopped and the dirt on the course had soaked it all in nicely not leaving much mud behind. Warming up took a while and I stayed out of the seeding boxes as long as possible to keep warm.
When we all got called up to the start line everybody took there jerseys off and all the goose bumps came out, it was freezing.
Race start wasn't too fast and I could handle the pace but 200m in the World Cup leader got chain suck and came back through the field, the guy in front of me tried pushing him and slowed me down as well, but I was still in an alright place in the pack. But when we got to the first climb another rider in front of me had a problem with their chain and started turning to the side, I tried to pass but he led me into the side barrier and I came to a dead stop, the field had pretty much gone past when I started up again. Luckily the start loop wasn't short and I could get back into 80th by the end, but this had ruined any chance of a top 20 for selection into world champs. I spent the next two laps struggling and feeling a bit gutted, but then in the 3rd lap I got some sense back and started going back up the field, the downhills on this track were heaps of fun and they were wide enough to sneak past riders as well, I managed to finish in 54th by the end which is my best result so far but I know I can do so much better.
Which will hopefully be proven this weekend in the 4th World Cup in La Bresse, France.

Cheers

Sam

BMC Cup Solothurn Bike Days.

Yo

This week I raced in another BMC cup which was also combined with the Bike Days festival, an awesome festival that has all sorts of events that run until 2 in the morning and a whole lot of tents handing out free stickers!

The course was a good roadie course combining about 60% road with a steep rooty single track climb and a fast descent.

The night leading into the race it poured down which left a couple of big puddles on the first 300m of the course. The woman and juniors races before our 4pm race start and the mtb part of the course was by then well ripped up with some parts were unrideable.
The start of the race was quick as (like usual) and went straight through what was now a couple of mud baths and then straight onto the road for a couple of kms for some bunch riding. When we got to the first hill I felt like I was keeping my pace and passing a couple of people. But coming round to the 2nd lap I was feeling the first and dropped back a bit, On the start of the 3rd lap I took a gel and started feeling strong again catching up to a bunch on the road. But when we hit the climb I changed down from my big chain ring and got chain suck, I tried running up the hill and getting the chain out but it was stuck pretty good. I finally got the chain out after stopping to deal to it. Unfortunately once back on the bike I noticed straight away that there was something wrong with the chain as it kept skipping very badly, enough not be able to ride anywhere strongly. I took a second look at it and saw that it was bent.. I didn't know what to do in this situation so I rode to the end and was lapped out/dnf'd which sucked big time.

                                                                    Yeah buddy

                                                                Frick sake

                                                                   Down time

Since the race we have travelled to Czech Republic so I can start getting ready to finally have a clean sweep at the World Cup this weekend in Nove Mesto na Morave. Just had a mean pizza and am off to bed maybe...

Cheers

Sam

Europe update

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

Oceania Super D Title run

Oceania Super D Title run