Sunday 26 June 2016

XCup #4 - XCO racing at a bike park! FUN!

Result: Ninth place (overall, no age categories)

Bike: BMC Teamelite XX1. Specialized Fast Trak Control (front and back), 1.5 bar. NoTubes ZTR Valor wheels.

Today's XCup race was held at Vallåsen Bike Park. This means real downhill racing. Lots of action!

I decided on the Teamelite over the full-susp Fourstroke as I wanted the lightest possible bike for the climb up the hill. Sure, the full-susp would've been a bit better downhill, but I felt it wouldn't make up for the 1kg advantage in weight going uphill.

I was a bit worried if I had fully recovered after the Bike Four Peaks race which ended one week ago. It turned out I was!

Results


The start went well but going up the first part of the long climb was terrible. I was getting passed left and right. But, magically somehow, this only laster for a couple of minutes, and then I was passing the people who had just overtook me.

I ended up behind Luke and Björn. But as we got to the downhill section the went away from me. I ended up having a bit of a battle with Anton for the first two laps before he tired in the uphill. Then Daniel Grass on the last two laps. I managed to stay just ahead of him across the finish line. I finished ninth. Very happy, mostly with the fact that recovery has gone well.

Heart rate data looks good (while not brilliant): 172 average, 185 max.