Kashi's MTB Journal
15 September 2004
12 September - World Champs, Les Get, France
Result: 7th
For the first time since 1997, New Zealand had a real XC team for the World Championships. Thanks to BikeNZ, a chalet had been reserved, and we all stayed together. With a great support team, things ran smoothly from start to finish. We even had uniform's given to us, which before we normally had to buy!
Helena had offered to come and be the soignee to gain some experience. She ended up giving every XC rider a massage, and a few DH riders, plus she was in the feed zone for almost every race.
New Zealand also managed to put together a relay team. Robyn, Nick, Clinton and myself did the flying one lap to finish 12th out of 16 teams, not too shabby! It was a great way to get a feel for the course at race speed, and I definitely came out feeling more confident. They had done a heap of great work to make this course more technical, and much of the climbing was now on gravel, which was much better incase of rain.
Saturday dawned, and we were off to watch Scarlet in the DH junior woman. After last years second place, and some awesome rides in Europe this year already, she was clearly the hot favorite. Still, that pressure can turn many people off... but not our Scarlet! She came down 11 seconds ahead, and took NZ's first ever worlds gold!!!
At this point I didn't even realize what was brewing up in the senior woman's class. Anne-Caro, the 11 time world champion had crashed and broken a leg and shoulder. As sad as this was, it opened the door to the other girls, and unbelievably, New Zealand's Venissa Quinn had done the 2nd fastest seeding run, so now became the one to beat! I went and watched together with a bunch of other kiwis in the main stand. And when Venissa hit the half way split with 2sec up, everyone was jumping and screaming. Then when she crossed the line, no one could believe it. The rainbow jerseys are coming to NZ!!! And what a better way to promote the 2006 Worlds?!
So, after all that craziness, I was getting myself pretty motivated. I knew I had a good ride in me, and I just needed to avoid crashes and punctures, and anything can happen! Of course, after a perfect week of hot, sunny weather, it then pissed rain for our race day! Gunn-Rita did her thing from start to finish in the woman's field, but I was more happy for Alison Syder, who rode a nice race to 3rd place. The kiwi girls managed okay, but were all pulled with one to go. By the time we got to the start line the rain had stopped, and the mud was getting sticker. After my typically bad start (I was 26th after the 1.5km start loop), my legs came right and I passed many riders to finish lap one in 13th place. From here I rode as conservatively as possible, but I was still catching riders. I had forgotten to look at the lap board, and at 2 laps to go I actually thought I had only 1! At this point I was in 5th, and had 3rd place in sight. I was getting excited pulled away from Frishy, who I had been with the whole previous lap. But then I was told "2 laps to go!" and I realized I better slow up, or risk blowing completely. That was the wrong move, because at this moment I started feeling bad. So Frishy went on to finish 3rd, and I struggled through the final laps just to get passed with 1km to go by Lado Fumic !*&!*&! So, in the end, the same result as last year. Not too bad I guess.
This weekend is the world cup finals in Livigno, Italy, and then I still have 3 more weekends racing after that too.
All the best
Kashi
The XC team outside the teamNZ chalet
Result: 7th
For the first time since 1997, New Zealand had a real XC team for the World Championships. Thanks to BikeNZ, a chalet had been reserved, and we all stayed together. With a great support team, things ran smoothly from start to finish. We even had uniform's given to us, which before we normally had to buy!
Helena had offered to come and be the soignee to gain some experience. She ended up giving every XC rider a massage, and a few DH riders, plus she was in the feed zone for almost every race.
New Zealand also managed to put together a relay team. Robyn, Nick, Clinton and myself did the flying one lap to finish 12th out of 16 teams, not too shabby! It was a great way to get a feel for the course at race speed, and I definitely came out feeling more confident. They had done a heap of great work to make this course more technical, and much of the climbing was now on gravel, which was much better incase of rain.
Saturday dawned, and we were off to watch Scarlet in the DH junior woman. After last years second place, and some awesome rides in Europe this year already, she was clearly the hot favorite. Still, that pressure can turn many people off... but not our Scarlet! She came down 11 seconds ahead, and took NZ's first ever worlds gold!!!
At this point I didn't even realize what was brewing up in the senior woman's class. Anne-Caro, the 11 time world champion had crashed and broken a leg and shoulder. As sad as this was, it opened the door to the other girls, and unbelievably, New Zealand's Venissa Quinn had done the 2nd fastest seeding run, so now became the one to beat! I went and watched together with a bunch of other kiwis in the main stand. And when Venissa hit the half way split with 2sec up, everyone was jumping and screaming. Then when she crossed the line, no one could believe it. The rainbow jerseys are coming to NZ!!! And what a better way to promote the 2006 Worlds?!
So, after all that craziness, I was getting myself pretty motivated. I knew I had a good ride in me, and I just needed to avoid crashes and punctures, and anything can happen! Of course, after a perfect week of hot, sunny weather, it then pissed rain for our race day! Gunn-Rita did her thing from start to finish in the woman's field, but I was more happy for Alison Syder, who rode a nice race to 3rd place. The kiwi girls managed okay, but were all pulled with one to go. By the time we got to the start line the rain had stopped, and the mud was getting sticker. After my typically bad start (I was 26th after the 1.5km start loop), my legs came right and I passed many riders to finish lap one in 13th place. From here I rode as conservatively as possible, but I was still catching riders. I had forgotten to look at the lap board, and at 2 laps to go I actually thought I had only 1! At this point I was in 5th, and had 3rd place in sight. I was getting excited pulled away from Frishy, who I had been with the whole previous lap. But then I was told "2 laps to go!" and I realized I better slow up, or risk blowing completely. That was the wrong move, because at this moment I started feeling bad. So Frishy went on to finish 3rd, and I struggled through the final laps just to get passed with 1km to go by Lado Fumic !*&!*&! So, in the end, the same result as last year. Not too bad I guess.
This weekend is the world cup finals in Livigno, Italy, and then I still have 3 more weekends racing after that too.
All the best
Kashi
The XC team outside the teamNZ chalet
05 September 2004
05 Sep - SwissPower Cup, Bern
Result: Short track 2nd, XC 3rd
Its been a tough week having to accept that my Olympic dreams are over, and trying to find the motivation to continue focusing 100% for worlds next weekend. I decided to do this Swiss Cup to try and gather some confidence back. I didn't realize how strong the field would be though! There was Christoph Sauser, Cedric Ravanell, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Stephan Sam, Sid Taberely, Thomas Frischknecht, just to name a few. We started off with a short track, held on a nice grassy course, which was just slick enough to have riders washing out all over the show. With just 20min to race, and a lot of prize money up for grabs, everyone was fighting hard. I managed to avoid a few spills, and came into the last lap with a group of four riders. I was in 3rd on the final hard climb, and just as I tried to come past Sid and Susi almost crashed together. I had to slow up, and Sid got a gap. Finally I sprinted past Susi in the home straight for a 2nd place, my best to date in these short track races!
The XC was a super nice course with great single track descents and steep gravel road climbs. My legs were good, but when Cedric put down the hammer on the first lap, I decided it was too hard. Instead I paced myself, dropping back for the 2nd lap, but then on the 3rd lap I managed to pull them back again. Finally the efforts got to much, and when Susi attacked on the last lap I had nothing to respond. Still, I am happy with the form... if only I could have had this race last weekend! Oh well... this weekend will be fine as well!
At this stage I am unsure if I will race the team relay on Wednesday, as it depends on my recovery from this weekend. Otherwise we race on Sunday afternoon after the woman.
Result: Short track 2nd, XC 3rd
Its been a tough week having to accept that my Olympic dreams are over, and trying to find the motivation to continue focusing 100% for worlds next weekend. I decided to do this Swiss Cup to try and gather some confidence back. I didn't realize how strong the field would be though! There was Christoph Sauser, Cedric Ravanell, Fredrik Kessiakoff, Stephan Sam, Sid Taberely, Thomas Frischknecht, just to name a few. We started off with a short track, held on a nice grassy course, which was just slick enough to have riders washing out all over the show. With just 20min to race, and a lot of prize money up for grabs, everyone was fighting hard. I managed to avoid a few spills, and came into the last lap with a group of four riders. I was in 3rd on the final hard climb, and just as I tried to come past Sid and Susi almost crashed together. I had to slow up, and Sid got a gap. Finally I sprinted past Susi in the home straight for a 2nd place, my best to date in these short track races!
The XC was a super nice course with great single track descents and steep gravel road climbs. My legs were good, but when Cedric put down the hammer on the first lap, I decided it was too hard. Instead I paced myself, dropping back for the 2nd lap, but then on the 3rd lap I managed to pull them back again. Finally the efforts got to much, and when Susi attacked on the last lap I had nothing to respond. Still, I am happy with the form... if only I could have had this race last weekend! Oh well... this weekend will be fine as well!
At this stage I am unsure if I will race the team relay on Wednesday, as it depends on my recovery from this weekend. Otherwise we race on Sunday afternoon after the woman.
