14 Sep 03 - World Cup Finals, Kaprun, Austria 11th
Hi there, we just finished the final round of the World Cup here at the 2002 World Championships site in Karpun, Austria. It was a dreary week, with almost non-stop rain from Monday through Saturday.. so bad that they even ended up having to cancel the Mountain Cross!
Our race conditions were almost identical to last year, the same steep course and mud like peanut butter. At least this year I had better tires for the job, 1.5 inch Maxxis Madusa's cut through it all very well. Unfortunately my legs didn't have the power on the first climb, so just like last year I was off the back from the start.
After a couple of laps I decided that if nothing else, I would atleast have some fun on the descents, so started ripping it up a little for the crowd. (almost crashing many times, but in the end making some good time!) This got me going pretty good, and my steady lap times paid dividends, as I was passing blown riders one after the other. Finally I finished the race 11th, and had a fun time doing it!
Filip Meirhaeghe showed that last week was no fluke.. not that he had to prove anything, but now there is no question that he is the strongest guy at the moment. Christoph Sauser and Julian Absalon had a nail biting battle for the World Cup overall...but Julian won, giving Christophe 2nd for the second year running!

I will be in Como the next few days doing some fun riding with Whitney, before attending the Milano bike show... then its back to Annecy again! I will do two more races this year.. a Swiss Power Cup in 2 weeks, and then the Roc d'Azur in 4 weeks. And maybe some road races in between... but all is just for fun now!

later,
Kashi

7 Sep 03 - WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, Lugano, Switzerland. 7th


I started to get excited for these World Championships when I pre-rode the course at last years Swiss Cup. This was completely different from the normal style courses we are used too. The longest climb would have been 2min, and all the decents were steep and rocky. To do well here, technic and power was key. It was extremely dry and rocky. Probably one of the most technically challenging courses in years. I like to think of it as a play park because it was just a lot of small climbs, and fun technical descents. After a few hours of riding this at full speed, this gets pretty tough!

The atmoshpere at the race was incredible. Most of the course was lined with people, and they were very loud! It really gets you going! I was really aiming for a medal, but I knew that to get this I would have to be with the first few into the first piece of singletrack. Right of the gun, I got stuck behind Bart Brentjens, who was slow to react. This put me back into around 25th-30th, and then I had only about 800m of narrow road and a short 100m climb to get back up there.
I entered the singletrack in 17th place, and although this section was just 200m long, it stretched the field out so much that I was already about 20sec behind the leaders, and I was not strong enough to bring them back.

Coming back to the start/finish after the first lap, I was in a pretty big group of about 6 riders back around 15th. The key on the this course was to get ahead before the tricky sections, otherwise it was easy to get stuck behind slow riders. So I just kept riding ahead at the right time, and putting gaps on the others instead.

Ryder Hysjedal had a great start and was off the front from the beginning, with the new European champion, Ralf Naaf in second. By the second lap, the technical sections had singled out almost everyone. I was riding with Cedric Ravenal for a while, but then he dropped me. For most of the race I was alone, which is harder. I just focused on steady pace, and not crashing! Up front, Filip Merhager caught Ryder on the 6th lap, and went on to win his first ever World Champs!
I rode smooth race with consistent lap times and finally finished 7th. I only crashed once, but it was a goodie... a huge superman dive over the bars, right in front of 100s of spectators!

For tyres I used the Ranchero on the back, and a TT on the front. Both were the 2.0 Exception series, which I mounted tubeless using Stan's "No tubes" sauce. I rode both at 30psi. Like this, I saved probably 400g of rotation weight, and this feels amazingly fast. I really do like the TT tread pattern.. I have learnt to trust it and I know it hooks up well under most circumstances. It rolls well, so overall, a great tire. The Ranchero has great rolling resistance, which is why I run it on the back, and it has a consistent feel.

The big "worlds" party was on Saturday night, as usual. (so annoying) We had a great dinner, so we went to Luganos central square for gelatos. Many riders had the same idea, and then we managed to find an open club, so we made our own party there.
It was pretty decent for a XC party... good dancing, everyone buying everyone rounds and having a good time. I guess none of the same excitements as the DHers .We ended up home at around 6pm, and it didn't drag at all, so it must have been okay!

Monday was pay back time though... driving to my friends place, my rear tire blew on the van, and I had a nightmare fixing it because my spare wheels bolts were a different size!!! I had to go to a garage to get a new tool, and finally the spare was not fitting well, so I had to drive very slowly. All this with a hangover!

Catch you later
Kashi

PS. AWSOME JOB SCARLETT HAGEN !!! New Zealand's first medal in the DH event ever... 2nd in the junior woman event, just 5sec behind one of the worlds best riders, Emmeline Ragot (FRA). With 2 more years left in the junior catagory, i'm sure she will have a huge future.

World Mountain Bike Championships Lugano, Switzerland
Men's XC
1. Filip Meirhaeghe (Bel) 2:25:02
2. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) 2:25:48 at 0:46
3. Roel Paulissen (Bel) 2:26:54 1:52
4. Ralph Naef (Sui) 2:27:43 2:41
5. Bas Peters (Ned) 2:27:53 2:51
6. Cedric Ravanel (Fra) 2:28:04 3:02
7. Kashi Leuchs (NZl) 2:29:36 4:34
8. Lado Fumic (Ger) 2:31:06 6:04
9. Bart Brentjens (Ned) 2:31:27 6:25
10. Martino Fruet (Ita) 2:31:46 6:44
72. Stuart Houltham (NZl) -3Laps
78. Tim Vincent (NZl) -4Laps