After Dalby, team-mate Carla and I spent a few days sightseeing and training on beautiful flat, cold, windy roads around York before a major overnight roadtrip down to sunny Strasbourg (France) where the team would be based for the next round of the World Cup in Offenburg (Germany!).
Offenburg is a well known name for anyone involved in xc racing and has a reputation for great crowds and a technical course so to actually be there was pretty exciting. The course didn’t disappoint, it is an awesome combination of flowy fast trails, singletrack climbs and some super steep potentially head wrecking drops, all based around a small area of forest surrounded by pretty hills and vineyards. There were a few parts of the course that you role up to initially and peer gingerly over the edge thinking ‘oh god! how am I going to get down there?!’ but once I’d picked a line and got my head in gear they weren’t so bad. Then it started to rain torrentially turning the dust to greasy mud and making the roots wet and sketchy but a fast pace wet lap was a good confidence booster to know it could be done whatever the weather.
The next day we hooked up with Mel Spath and Maxine Filby for another couple of laps to get the lines dialled in, and since practice was limited to a 2 hour time window, everyone was riding at the same time and there was chance to ride behind some of the top riders in the world to see how they did it (fast!). After soaking up the atmosphere and hot sun watching the u23 men’s race it was back to the hotel to get the legs up and make some final race preparations.
Race Day
A good warm up, herded into the pens, hanging around trying to stay calm and focused, finally called to the start line as hundreds of people stand watching. 15 seconds to go, ready to snap into action. Bang, pedal hard, oh theres a crash beside me, get past them quick. Argh shit, suddenly I was sucked into the crash and on the floor, ending up watching the pack disappear in front of me as I was last out of the start field. I got back onto the last riders but stopped myself getting sucked into blowing my lights trying to get back up there, instead trying to settle straight into my own pace and pick people off gradually.
Supporters lined the course the whole way around and with beer tents, loud speakers and pumping cheesy euro music at each of the major technical sections the party atmosphere was incredible. Germans certainly know how to put on a mountain bike race. I took a while to get into the race, the bad start messed with my head, but as it went on my legs came around a bit and I had some good battles with a few girls around me. The highlight of the course is around the feedzone zone where two parts of the lap pass by each other, the ‘wolfsdrop’ a massive rooty drop on one side, and the ‘snake pit’ a technical maze of bit roots on the other. It forms a big arena area for spectators and the roars of the crowd as you come into it gave me goosepimples. It required concentration though as its a spot for lots of crashes, the first aiders had a busy weekend and hearing ambulance sirens midway through a race was a little worrying!
I felt a bit better than last week, at least I was actually racing, but still felt my legs weren’t performing up to standard. A very short lap meant the chances of getting pulled before the end were even higher so on lap 4 I put in an extra effort in an attempt to stay in. Coming towards the last steep climb I saw the evil 80% people blocking the way at the top so realising it was over got ready for one last sprint to get past a girl I’d be racing since the start. My tired brain somehow made me shift into the big ring rather than dropping a gear and I came to a standstill, loosing a place and finishing 69th about 40 seconds off staying in for the final lap – doh! (results here). I think there is still something wrong with my calf muscles and its time to get them sorted, I’m sick of not riding at full speed.
Watching the men’s race in the afternoon was impressive, the speed they hit the technical sections is incredible, Absalon especially seems to float around the course on a cushion of air making everything look so easy. That evening Mel and I joined pro American rider Krista Park and her husband for a German bbq feast up in a crazy old house in the hills surrounded by forests and vineyards. The next day after a lazy breakfast on a hot sunny terrace, a tour of the Black Forest and yummy icecream, it was time to head back to Dublin where the pro-racing bubble was quickly burst with a return to reality and a 20°C temperature drop. Its been an amazing couple of weeks not just for the racing experiences but seeing new places, catching up with friends from uk races and meeting loads of friendly like minded riders from all over the world.
A huge thank you to WXC World Racing for all the support and assistance over the weekend.
