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| 30.08.2010 |
Appends to race/event: 28.08.2010 // World Cup Windham, USA
and here a race report in the perspective of our marketing manager Bobby the Behan:
Five seasons have pasted since the World Cup Circuit has hit US soil with Windham in New York state hosting this weekends World Cup. The venue is good and the event timed very well within the calendar given that the World Championships are taking place just across the US / Canadian Border in Mont Saint Anne, next weekend.
Specialized had a strong showing this weekend with Specialized Czech Republic rider Jaroslav Kulhavy taking his very first world cup victory, while Christoph Sauser also featured on the podium with a fourth place position. Although rain prevailed early in the build-up week as the weekend loomed, the sun started to shine down, leaving very fast, dry conditions.
The course has been describe as an old style course, with a long climb and long descent making up the six lap men’s event. The pace was high from the start with the usual suspects of Stander, Kulhavy, Schurter and Absalon at the front. “The race kicked off to plan with a really good start” according to Burry, while Christoph said “that I’m not good enough at an uphill start and I lost way too much and there was a crash as well with a standing queue, which did not help”.
On lap one Stander, Absalon and Schurter traded pace making at the front with Schurter’s team mate Vogel and Kulhavy present, who has had a good presence at the front of the World Cups this year, culminating in a third place in the overall rankings coming into this final round. Christoph and Todd were further down the field within the top 40. As seen in the women’s race where mechanicals, specifically flats, were high the same was true for the men’s event. Wells was one such victim on lap 1, and was eventually forced to run part of the way to the tech feed zone. Once Wells was back into the action he had a big chase from approximately 75th position. Placing 24th given this mishap was a pretty impressive ride from the US National Champion.
At the front as the four man group started to distance themselves from the pursuers two things happened. Double Olympic Champion Julien Absalon punctured, while Christoph Sauser quickly rode through the field and looked at ease in successfully bridging to the leaders and then taking control at the front of the field. “I felt one to one between my bike and body as we rode into the final lap” commented Sauser. As Sauser made his mark at the front, team mate Burry Stander flatted and a series of stops to re-inflate left him inside the action for top 10, but not podium positions.
On the final descent Sauser tried to pass Schurter, but lost control meaning a fight back to the group, while Kulhavy, who has shown big watt form on the last laps throughout the season broke clear to take a well deserved win. The sprint for second involved three Swiss riders with Schuter coming ahead of team mate Vogel and Christoph.
Nino Schurter was crowned the overall World Cup Champion, while Specialized Czech rider Jaroslav Kulhavy finished a very respectible third in the standings.
Our riders felt strong in Windham meaning that confidence is high in the team ahead of next weekend’s world championships.
Bike Specs:
Burry Stander:
S Works Stumpjumper Stumpjumper 29er Hard Tail
Tire: Renegade 1.95 Front (22psi)
Renegade 1.95 Rear (23psi)
Weight: 8.25kg
Christoph Sauser:
S Works Epic
Tire: Renegade 1.9 Front (27psi)
Renegade 1.9 Rear (28psi)
Weight: 8.7kg
Todd Wells:
S Works Epic 29er
Tire: Renegade 1.95 Front (29psi)
Renegade 1.95 Rear (30psi)
Weight: 9.5kg
World Cup Results:
1 KULHAVY Jaroslav 1:39:28
2 SCHURTER Nino +00:14
3 VOGEL Florian +00:15
4 SAUSER Christoph +00:17
5 FLÜCKIGER Lukas +00:44
6 ABSALON Julien +01:11
7 HERMIDA RAMOS José Antonio +01:19
8 STANDER Burry +01:57
9 FONTANA Marco Aurelio +02:31
10 MANTECON GUTIERREZ Sergio +02:41
12 KILLEEN Liam +02:54
24 WELLS Todd +07:05
World Cup Overall Final Standings:
1 SCHURTER Nino 1136
2 ABSALON Julien 1040
3 KULHAVY Jaroslav 1040
4 VOGEL Florian 795
5 HERMIDA RAMOS José Antonio 795
6 FLÜCKIGER Mathias * 710
7 SAUSER Christoph 590
8 FUMIC Manuel 570
9 STANDER Burry 567
10 RUZAFA CUETO Ruben 494
19 WELLS Todd 341
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| 29.08.2010 |
Appends to race/event: 28.08.2010 // World Cup Windham, USA
6 laps, 1.4h racing time
4th place, 17sec down to winner Jaroslav Kulhavy
Man it has been a long time since I could fight for the win in a World Cup again.
At the beginning it did not look though. I hate uphill starts, did not clip into my pedal right away, plus was almost in a crash too. So I was off for the first 3 laps completely.
With two laps to go I closed the air between the leaders and me during the downhill. I went to the front right away. That was good for the moral!
On last lap it all came down to Nino, Vogel, Kulhavy and myself. I did not have it in the sprint for going into the single trail before the long downhill, but passed Vogel soon after. I risked too much when I also wanted to overtake Nino and crashed out :-( That was it! I mean I still came back, but in the sprint I was already behind, so that then was it for sure...
On the day before the race I felt ultra kak, and I started to worry if I would have to go around the course walking... Sometimes it is amazing how my head can change to the important thing when it comes to racing.
Now with that race I have a big reason to be nervous about for Worlds. I will be on a mission and that is good for me!
Hopefully Burry and Todd will be more lucky at Worlds. Both showed great form, but had flat tires. They were in good company though. The rocks here are super sharp and edgy.
  
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| 23.08.2010 |
Appends to race/event: 22.08.2010 // Racer Cup Muttenz, SUI
2 start plus 9 laps
5th place, 24sec behind winner Florian Vogel
This race course is different to a "normal" one. Good fun though!
Technical riding in the horse stadium, asphalt flat, one short steep climb and single track back to the stadium.
As you can imagine it was pretty tactical. Only Näf and myself tried each a attack on the flat asphalt, but we were not lucky.
With only less then 2.5 laps to go, Schurter crashed hard on his 29er, in the single trail. Absalon any myself were just behind him, and the big wheels were blocking our way. Näf and Voglel were gone, since we had to wait until Schurti came down from his loopings in the air, got the dirt off and ran back to his bike again.
In the final sprint I had no chance, and I was just spectating the two from behind.
Next destination train station Basel then Zürich airport-Chicago-Albany-Windham
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| 21.08.2010 |
I am almost on my way to the Racer Cup Basel, then from there straight to World Cup Final Windham/USA and Worlds Mont St. Anne/Canada.
Had very good intensive training days since Marathon Worlds, although the days after Words I was lacking motivation.
That fifth place in the sprint finish was a very big disappointment. My brain was still rotating for days, thinking what else I could have done better towards the finish. Tactics... would not like to be a roadie!
Tomorrow's Racer Cup will be like a mini World Cup. We are 7 top 10 riders at the line, but I guess we all won't be fully recovered from the last hard training days, since the focus is for the upcoming two weeks.
I have been asked to post pictures of me new bike. Here we go!
        
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| 08.08.2010 |
Appends to race/event: 08.08.2010 // Marathon World Championships St. Wendel, GER
108km, 3.50hrs, 27-28km/h average speed!!
5th place, 5sec off winner Alban Lakata
It was too flat, too drafting for me... but I did not expect that there will be so many guys coming together to the finish line.
During the whole race I felt great and did not have to suffer for longer times. Only at some stages when you had to do the switch from cruising on a flat road to a short sprinting uphill.
Naef, Burry and I we had some mini break aways at some hill combinations, but on the long straights we always got caught again. Sure I have also tried it by myself on the very last asphalt climbs, since I knew I will not win when it comes down to a sprint finish. But those two attacks did not get much air in between me and my competitors since it neutralized it again on the next flat section.
Alban who was dropped from the beginning on had a incredible come back and somehow just managed to get into be battle in time. He made a great move on the last big tar road close to the finish, and made like 10-15sec into us. I could not react any more, so as in the open sprint into the track & field stadium. I had no chance against the ex roadie sprinting missile Celestino.
Very glad for Burry who had a goood sprint on the track, even he was slightly off just before the last corners. Very well done mate! I wish I could sprint like you, then I would not have had to do any desperate moves on the last 10kms :-)
By the way I was on a 1x10 drivetrain. 40 rotor blade in the front, 11-36 cassette rear. Only one time over a rooty uphill I would have liked a small chainring, but it was only a short section.
     
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| 06.08.2010 |
Appends to race/event: 12.11.2010 - 14.11.2010 // Wines2Whales, RSA
Like to ride Wines2Whales with African kid Burry Stander, caveman Conrad Stolz, pretty boy Dan Hugo or myself?
Songo.info is official charity of this beautiful 3 day stage race in the Cape Town region.
Please have a look at link 1!
Link 1: http://www.wines2whales.co.za/News/DisplayNewsItem.aspx?niid=6093
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| 05.08.2010 |
I-am-Specialized clips from the last two world cups are online!
Link 1: http://iamspecialized.com/xc-mtb/
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| 01.08.2010 |
1 start plus 6 laps, 32km,1.56h racing time
63th place, 12min off winner Nino Schurter
Had a good week here in Val di Sole which was all about recovering and training only a little bit.
Wait, not everything went that great. On the drive up here to Val di Sole we got rear ended just 20km before reaching our hotel. My brand new Multivan "butt" got damaged quite a bit, but most importantly nobody got injured seriously. Just the passenger lady of the small Dacia car needed a ambulance rescue. But I think it was more the shock, since she was buckled up and did not hit the window.
The race then was not cool at all. I was so much of suffering for the first 3 laps racing around 8th. I hardly could not see straight. My body was somehow not on, even I felt nervous and good during the warm up. I could not eat, drink or sweat, but what you save you have left towards the end. Suddenly I felt switched on, left Burry and Milatz behind, and Kulhavy was only 10seconds away, which would have been 6th place. Unfortunately would have been... on a sharp right hander I hit my rear derailleur on a rock and the cage broke.
I was walking and freewheeling towards the tech zone. Many thanks to Todd who gave me a big push. It is great to have such good team mates out there!!
My tech zone stop took some time. New derailleur, derailleur hanger and chain. Unfortunately it was more a "handicraft" build together. I only had a few gears for finishing my last lap. But really that was was not a big deal any more.
By the way the course layout was not close like the Wold Champs 2008. Even it would have, I would not won today anyway.
My head is really focussed on the Marathon World Champs, which will take place next Sunday in Germany. I am thinking of this race since weeks. The course is really suiting me. Lots of up and down, left and right. Won Euro Champs a few years back there.
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| 28.07.2010 |
Don't miss to check out link1.
My team mate Todd Wells talking about our travel crash from Champéry to Val di Sole. He is my fave diary writer!
Link 1: http://yotwells.typepad.com/todd_wells/
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| 27.07.2010 |
A songo.info update:
Sanibonani,
The Spur High School Mountain bike League has kicked off on Saturday in Contermanskloof.
We left Kayamandi at 08:00 on Saturday for Contermanskloof and we got there in time for the registration and warm.
We had 3 kids on the 13-14; 4 kids on the 15-16 (youth) and 4 on the 17-18 (juniors).
They all did very well and they had lots of fun.
Azukile and Sipho did very well on the juniors as they did the race last year as well.
Sipho finished on the 3rd place.
It was a great day for our winter as it was not raining.
They are now looking forward to the Die Burger Challenge on Saturday.
The mountain bike group consist of school going and lost of unemployed young mans that we are doing our best to keep them out drugs and crime.
It is not easy for those young man to just do sport and stay out of trouble as in the Township is always a challenge for these young man as it is seen as a cool thing to do drugs or to be drank but I do believe that with God there is nothing impossible.
 
Link 1: http://songo.info/
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