Engleburg Race Report

This weekend we had another Swiss Cup Race in Engleburg. We knew this was going to be a tough one from the race profile. The course went straight up and straight down. Unfortunately at the same time it was horrifically muddy. On top of the mud, the downhills were super steep and had lots of roots and rocks. The mud was that caky stick to your tire stuff. These downhills were much more treacherous than anything in the US. Also the uphill was very long and we had to do 8 laps of it. In this race I crashed 3 times, which for most of the racers was nothing. People were crashing all over the downhill.

So I ended up getting 27th, which was a big improvement from the first race. I was the first best American. Once again all of us Americans started in the very back of the group. I was happy for the improvement though. These races are much different than any of the US races and every Swiss rider is at the top of their game and super fast. As I said before, mountainbiking for the Swiss is like football for the US. My one down thing though is I did not know how many laps I had left. Because this course was I think a little under 2 miles a lot of people got lapped. Unfortunately I got lapped too. The first race I was down 18 minutes on the leader, when this race I think I was down like 14 minutes. Because of the shorter course like half of the riders got lapped. So as I said I did not know how many laps I had left. One guy told me two and then another told me one lap. I wanted to blow it out on the last lap but I was not sure if my 7th lap was my last lap. I ended up pushing it a good bit more on the 7th lap, which did end up being my last lap. When I looked at the results I saw that if I like even got 2 minutes off my time, I could have jumped like 5 spots, because the gaps between riders were so small. So if I knew it was my last lap, I think I could of gained some spots but that is kind of irrelevant. Overall it was a decent improvement and I hope to improve much more in the future of Euro racing. As I said before this type of racing over in Europe is a totally different thing. The intensity throughout the race is much higher and there is much more competition.

Next weekend is another race in Frieburg, Germany.

Winterthur Race Report

Well the Winterthur race was an experience. Not quite how I would have liked it to go, but I ended up getting 43rd out of a big group and finishing as the 2nd best American, not far behind the 1st. All of the Americans had to start at the very back of the race and at the start I was able to build myself up to 40th out of the group of 60 or so. Eventually, on this huge steep climb, I was able to move up to 20th. From that first steep climb though, unfortunately, I was feeling my back. As I went on, it built up. Eventually on the 5th and 6th laps I cramped hard. On the 6th lap the racer who ended up being the 1st best ranked American at this race passed me. I lost a good bit of spots on the last lap mainly because there were so many people and the gaps weren't big at all between even 10 people. The type of race, though, was totally different than our races in the US. The starts are intense and every Euro just goes all out even if they're fighting for 40th place. There were lots of super steep long climbs, like Jester, and the downhills were muddy, rooty, and steep. As I said, it was super intense and the whole first 2 laps I was breathing super hard. My breathing never subsided on those first 2 laps. You were just going so hard at all times. I figured out what to do with the next race though. It was really a shame to cramp at the race and for my back to hurt, but I figured out what I did wrong, and need to do at the next race, to do well. But we'll see. :) And also, by the way, I got to see Absalon race in the pro class, so that was pretty sweet.