Perfect end to a great season!

Here's a short update and a brief 'over and out' for the 2016 season:.......

Last week I set my alarm for 5.30am and pinned on my final race number for the 2016 season. Roc D'Azur is a massive festival with a party atmosphere but there's also some serious racing on technically challenging and fun trails. For the last two years I've missed this season finale - last year because of a fractured hip and the year before because of vascular surgery for Iliac Artery Endofibrosis. Spending a week with the team in the sunny South of France was a perfect way to celebrate a year that's been filled with many highlights, including becoming European Champion, Vice World Champion and winning 4 UCI World Series races as well as the Transalp and Leadville 100. Winning the Roc Marathon - making this my 5th victory - made the mojitos taste a little sweeter and has given me a positive feeling going into the off-season.

Over the next several weeks I'll be enjoying some downtime as well as some different sports including hiking, running, windsurfing and surfing - and sampling some fine wines and cocktails. This winter were are heading somewhere completely new for our 2017 season preparations, I can't wait to share our adventure with you! Stayed tuned!

sportograf.com

sportograf.com

sportograf.com

sportograf.com

Behind every success stands a dedicated and passionate support crew! As riders we depend upon our mechanics, managers, massage therapists and chefs. No job is too great or too small: from spending hours in tech/feed zones, washing clothes, cleaning bikes and even shoes! We cannot thank you enough for your hard work behind the scenes. Big thanks to all of our crew for your awesome support this year! Here are some nice photos of the team behind the riders. Thanks to Olivier Beart, Mojo Mag:

Here's a link to the full article in Mojo mag. If you can read French then you'll enjoy the words but if not then you can just look at the nice images!

Thank you for following. I wish you a great winter season filled with many fun times and new adventures!
Sal

Leadville 100

At 4am on Saturday morning I was struggling to eat a breakfast of oats and gluten free bread forcefully washed down with very strong coffee - I've been intolerant (to gluten as well as eating at 4am) for the last 10 years. It's not easy to eat in the middle of the night but with 100 miles of racing ahead it's essential.  

Warming up on an indoor trainer helped to raise my body temperature in anticipation of the fast downhill start in zero degrees celsius at 06.30am - a chilling experience when wearing only a skin suit and arm warmers. Fancying their chances a number of pro and ex-pro roadies took to the start and it appears that 'full gas' from the line is not a concept that they're used to! Teammate Jeremiah Bishop (JB) initiated an attack almost straight from the shotgun, a pace that the chase group - consisting largely of said roadies - did not want to follow, allowing JB and MTBr Todd Wells (eventual winner) to ride out of sight within minutes! Now if JB had made me privy to his race tactic I'd have been sure to position myself favourably but he kept his cards firmly to his chest! The initial leisurely pace allowed the roadies chance to have a good old natter amongst themselves but it cost me 2 minutes relative to the previous year before the first steep rocky climb of the day up to Carter's Summit.  

Racing 100 miles takes careful preparation and a meticulous nutrition plan which must be adhered to! With an approximate race time of 7 hours and a target of 90g of carbohydrates per hour that's a lot of eating and drinking!

This distance is only one challenge, the biggest hurdle is the altitude: 10,000ft of climbing all an a elevation in excess of 10,000ft commands the greatest respect! Leadville 100 has become a world famous mountain bike race with it's 100 mile out and back course, the turning point is at the highest point: Columbine Mountain at 12,500ft.     

The terrain is pretty mixed with smooth dirt tracks and some long asphalt sections as well as steep rocky climbs, which given the out-and-back nature of the course also become fast, puncture prone descents on the return journey - especially when descending Columbine at high speed whilst dodging a long procession of on-coming riders who are usually gazing at the ground in utter exhaustion! I chose to ride my Canyon Exceed CF SLX (hardtail) with 2.2 Continental Race Kings front (19psi) and rear (20psi) - opting for a lower starting pressure to allow for the increase associated with increasing altitude and air temperature.

With two previous wins (2013, 2014) my aim was undoubtedly to win my third title but at the same time I also had my eye fixed on a sub-7 hour race time. To break 7 hours requires many factors to fall neatly into place including having a good group of riders working together along the flatter sections of the course - although I often had a group not everyone was happy to pull through, which caused group morale to collapse and the pace to slow. At the top of Columbine - the 50 mile turning point - I was on 7 hour pace though I didn't know it because my computer had long stopped working. My legs felt strong back up the notorious Powerline Climb and all the way to the red carpet back in Leadville town centre but alas the big clock showed 7 hours and 5 minutes. Upon seeing the time initial disappointment gradually gave way to pride at having won my third Leadville 100 title while finishing 14th overall of 2000 riders and ahead of some pretty well known roadies 

Congrats to JB for his 3rd place (6 hours 28 minutes) and big thanks to Topeak Ergon for top race support!

You can see my finish here (disappointment mixed with fatigue!):

Here's a link to Pinkbike race report.

Full results here.

Photo credit: Eddie Clark

Never forget where you started!

At 7.30am (far too early in the morning!) last Saturday I lined up on the start of the 22nd Dolomiti Superbike, which is a brutal race in the truly spectacular Italian Dolomites. It's a very special race for me because in 2008 it was the World Championships and my first ever international race - a baptism of fire! - where I finished 28th. Returning as the current European Marathon Champion and Vice World Marathon Champion to take my 4th victory was magical. The race and region, South Tirol, remind me of where my journey started and how far I've progressed in my 8-year cycling career. After 119km with 3800m of vertical ascent and 5 hours and 33 minutes in the saddle I had goose bumps when I realised that I had just become a 4x winner of the race which first captured my heart, inspired my passion for this sport and sparked my love of the mountains. 

Next up is the Bike Transalp: 7 days racing across the Alps (520km with 17,750m of vertical ascent) with Ben Thomas where we'll be looking to repeat our 2014 win in the mixed category. Follow us on my Facebook page or Twitter! 

Thanks for following!

Sal :) 

World Marathon Championships, Laissac, France

Last week I wrote about how in 2013 I raced and won Sellaronda Hero and one week later I won my first World Championship medal - Silver in Kirchberg, Austria. This year I decided to try to replicate this, well actually the goal was a medal of any colour with Gold being the obvious preference! Coincidentally, I matched 2013: winning Sellaronda Hero and a Silver Medal in Laissac, France last weekend. I'll take that as 'mission accomplished'!

The course in France comprised of technically challenging descents and climbs - a real MTB course in the Midi-Pyrenees - not too dissimilar to the riding in the UK. The course was pretty much 70km of slippery, muddy trails littered with rocks, roots, drops, jumps, log piles and river crossings. I liked it! The most difficult part was the first half but the latter half had a sting in the tail so it was pretty important to make sure there was something left in the tank.

The rainbow stripes of the World Champion are hotly contested so it's not unusual to see top XCO riders lining up to fight for the prestigious title. Preparation went really well and the week leading up to the race was pretty chilled. We have such a great team of staff and riders and it's so cool that as well as being focused and professional we also spend time relaxing and having fun together. This I believe is part of our success. Taking 3 World Champs medals (Alban: Silver, Kristian: Bronze, and me: Silver) is testimony to that! Jeremiah Bishop and Erik Kleinhans performed a great feat when they came from the back of the field to finished 23rd and 29th!  Here's a nice link to our team story.

Chilling with rum and coke in the days before the race

The race went smoothly for me with no mechanicals or crashes. Luck obviously plays a role but excellent preparation in terms of course reconnaissance (thanks to Ben Thomas for his company) and equipment plays a huge part too! I don't underestimate or take for granted the importance of our staff in our success. We have the best mechanic (Peter Felber), the best physiotherapist and massage therapist (Torsten Walter and Craig Gerber), a meticulous team manager (David Padfield) and soigneur extraordinaire (Robert Novotny, aka Gio).

Starting with race plate number two perhaps was a sign of what was to come! Finishing second to multiple XCO World Cup winner Jolanda Neff is a result that I can live with - after 4 hours I crossed the line 2 minutes back. However, as a marathon rider the World Championships is the most important race - marathon is not an Olympic discipline - and it is this rainbow jersey that I'd dearly like to pull over my head.

Thanks for following!
Sal

Last weekend was one of my favourite races: Sellaronda Hero. It's a special race not least because of the dramatic location - possibly the most spectacular mountains I've ever seen - but also because the organisation and media coverage is exceptionally good (2 hours of live coverage on Eurosport!). 

Set in the Italian dolomites the race circumnavigates the infamous Sellagroup sending riders up and down four unbelievably steep mountain passes that require the smallest of front chainrings! The altitude - between 1600m and 2300m - also adds to the challenge of the race as does the weather! Heavy rain and thunder storms in in the days and night before softened the ground and made the climbs even harder -soft ground sucking the power from the wheels - and the descents more slippery and tricky.  Starting at 7.10 am is another challenge; its not so easy to eat breakfast at 4.45am! However this only makes the race even more appealing to the thousands of riders who love to tackle and conquer it. 

Here's a link to the Eurosport TV coverage.

In 2013 I raced and won Sellaronda Hero for the first time. One week later I won a Silver medal at the World Championships in Kirchberg, Austria. This year the timing is exactly the same with the World Championships this coming Sunday in Laissac, France. I'm hoping that my second win in the Italian Dolomites will set me up for similar success this weekend in France! 

Keep your fingers crossed for me this weekend!

Photos: www.sportograf.com 

Silver Spell is broken!

After 4 Silver European Championship medals (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and one Silver World Championship medal (2013) there really was only one goal in Sigulda, Latvia last weekend: I wanted GOLD. Badly!

After training on the course - 80km with just 1300metres of climbing - it was clear that it'd be a high speed race with riders staying together in groups to avoid wasting energy riding alone in the wind on the long open sections. Staying together in the peloton and sprinting for the finish wasn't really how I wanted the race to pan out but I knew it would be risky to ride alone in front while the chasing group worked together behind me. But not being one to turn an opportunity down I made a break from the group after about 25km leaving only 55km to go alone! When I knew that my lead was gradually increasing my attention started to turn to not making any mistakes and avoiding punctures! Riding up the final climb, hearing the incredible support from the crowds and knowing that I'd finally broken the Silver Spell was awesome. European Champion. Finally! 

© LenaXol 2016

Congratulations to Jennie Stenerhag (Sweden) and Katarina Sosna (Lithuania) for their Silver and Bronze medals both well deserved! 

Here's a link to a nice video: https://www.facebook.com/ErgonBike/?fref=nf

Now I'm back in Austria for some quality time sleeping in the same bed and eating great food before the next big goal: World Championships in France on Sunday 26th June.   

Three weekends, three race wins!

Three weeks ago we packed our van and started our annual Euro road trip. We'll be driving around Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and France for the next 3 months. Our trip started with the UCI World Series Race, Roc D'Ardennes, in Houffalize, Belgium. In the weeks before the race heavy rain meant we were faced with a mud-fest and very challenging conditions! Despite the cold my legs and body worked well and I was able to win ahead of BH Suntour rider Helen Marcouyre (France). At the finish I looked a little bit like a Belgian mud-chocolate - and it took more than 30 minutes in the shower to wash off the Houffalize mud!

The following weekend I was eating dust rather than mud at the UCI World Series Race, Rothaus Hegau Bike Marathon in Singen, Germany. It's a fast 80km course with only 2000m of climbing so it's not easy to make a break but after 40 minutes an opportunity came and I grabbed it building a lead over the chasing group of 8 riders. Riding solo for so long on such a course is a bit of a gamble but fortunately there were light winds and the gap gradually increased. After just 3 hours I finished almost 4 minutes ahead of Swiss rider Esther Suss with German Silke Schmidt a further 3 minutes back. 

Last Friday we headed back to the stunning Ardennes for the 3 day Belgian Mountainbike Challenge. Stage 1 kicked off on a beautiful warm sunny day BUT it was Friday 13th - and our hotel room number was 113 - so perhaps it was unsurprising that after less than 5km I heard the heart sinking sound of air and sealant leaking from my tyre. A huge sidewall cut which was tricky to fix saw me sidelined for more than 15 minutes during which time the whole field of pros and then amateur riders passed me. Chasing back lost time while over-taking hundreds of riders was a big challenge but I tried really hard to regain some lost time. I finished 5th with a 20 minute deficit. The next two stages were all about chasing and trying hard to see how much time I could recover. Amazingly, on the second stage I closed nearly 8 minutes, leaving 12 minutes to try to recover on the last day - a seemingly impossible task! On the final stage I gave everything and crazily managed to take the lead in the last 30kms! How cool is that!!!???? I felt a bit guilty taking the leader jersey from Serbian rider Jovana Crnogorac after she wore it for the whole race but that's bike racing! After 13 hours and 15 minutes I won with a lead of 6 minutes over Jovana, with German Stefanie Dohrn finishing in 3rd. 

Thanks for following!

Sal :)