19 April - Bikes
We're in Houffalize now, preparing the first world cup. It seems like everyone is here, including many national federations who are clearly chasing UCI points for Olympic Selection. From NZL its just me, Rosara and Fiona MacDermid. Normally there are more kiwis, but it seems that BikeNZ no longer wants to support MTB any longer!
Despite this, the atmosphere is really buzzing, with tens of thousands of specators humming around. Many of our sponsors have been showing up with nice new parts for us to ride too... yum yum :)
My Scalpel with the new SLR wheels from Mavic, Black Pantha tires from Vredestein, new ti bottlecage from Cannondale...
The new Lefty fork does not use ELO (electronic lockout), so my friend Michel made me a custom dial. The new fork is 80g lighter and with this longer lever, locking out is easy enough.
After training and eating, we spent the afternoons sitting around weighing bike parts and discussing the bikes with Cannondale...
15 April - German Cup in Munsingen
Finally back into 'normal' racing again and back to a venue where I last came in 1998! I had bad memories of snow and suffering, so the summer conditions felt extra good. Saturday we raced a short track, which was one of the most bizarre short tracks i've done. The course was fully man made, sort of BMX style, but way to narrow for passing. With just one super steep 30m climb per lap to pass on, it became a sprinters race, which is not my forte. Still I managed 5th which is not too bad.. at least until you know there were only 9 starters!
This was also my first time I have raced the new Taurine. I decided to make the switch directly after the Cape Epic, as the geometry is a little different and I knew it would take time to adjust. Sure enough I struggled on my first few rides, hitting the cranks on the ground (due to a 2cm lower BB), but the light carbon rear end felt incredible up steep technical climbs! Once I got my light parts on it, the weight came to exactly 9.17kg... but there's still lots more we can do, so I hope it to be around 8.5kg by the end of the year. The steering tube angle is slacker then the Scalpel which makes for a strange feeling at first.. but now that I'm used to it I realize it must be ridden very aggressively, leaning into corners a little more and then its really tracking well.
The XC was high speed, with just short climbs. The UCI have made a real mess out of the starting positions because all rankings are back to zero at the start of each year. This means that those that have not done the pre-season races, such as in Cyprus, have very few points and have to start at the back. It's a stupid system and created a lot of ciaos as the stronger riders started far behind and had to make dangerous passing to get through the field. I was in this situation, starting 4th row. I burst my balls trying to pass riders in the first lap, but was still in 17th place. The legs were okay though and I ended up racing just behind the main front group of 7 riders and finished 9th.
We're in Houffalize now, preparing the first world cup. It seems like everyone is here, including many national federations who are clearly chasing UCI points for Olympic Selection. From NZL its just me, Rosara and Fiona MacDermid. Normally there are more kiwis, but it seems that BikeNZ no longer wants to support MTB any longer!
Despite this, the atmosphere is really buzzing, with tens of thousands of specators humming around. Many of our sponsors have been showing up with nice new parts for us to ride too... yum yum :)
My Scalpel with the new SLR wheels from Mavic, Black Pantha tires from Vredestein, new ti bottlecage from Cannondale...
The new Lefty fork does not use ELO (electronic lockout), so my friend Michel made me a custom dial. The new fork is 80g lighter and with this longer lever, locking out is easy enough.
After training and eating, we spent the afternoons sitting around weighing bike parts and discussing the bikes with Cannondale...15 April - German Cup in Munsingen
Finally back into 'normal' racing again and back to a venue where I last came in 1998! I had bad memories of snow and suffering, so the summer conditions felt extra good. Saturday we raced a short track, which was one of the most bizarre short tracks i've done. The course was fully man made, sort of BMX style, but way to narrow for passing. With just one super steep 30m climb per lap to pass on, it became a sprinters race, which is not my forte. Still I managed 5th which is not too bad.. at least until you know there were only 9 starters!
This was also my first time I have raced the new Taurine. I decided to make the switch directly after the Cape Epic, as the geometry is a little different and I knew it would take time to adjust. Sure enough I struggled on my first few rides, hitting the cranks on the ground (due to a 2cm lower BB), but the light carbon rear end felt incredible up steep technical climbs! Once I got my light parts on it, the weight came to exactly 9.17kg... but there's still lots more we can do, so I hope it to be around 8.5kg by the end of the year. The steering tube angle is slacker then the Scalpel which makes for a strange feeling at first.. but now that I'm used to it I realize it must be ridden very aggressively, leaning into corners a little more and then its really tracking well. The XC was high speed, with just short climbs. The UCI have made a real mess out of the starting positions because all rankings are back to zero at the start of each year. This means that those that have not done the pre-season races, such as in Cyprus, have very few points and have to start at the back. It's a stupid system and created a lot of ciaos as the stronger riders started far behind and had to make dangerous passing to get through the field. I was in this situation, starting 4th row. I burst my balls trying to pass riders in the first lap, but was still in 17th place. The legs were okay though and I ended up racing just behind the main front group of 7 riders and finished 9th.
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