Specialized

Another season is over! Since Schladming a good bit has happened.

Lene did some local races in Norway, but has been feeling tired. Slowly but surely her symptoms revealed "shingles", which is essentially a form of Chicken Pox. Doctors orders and Lene was to rest up, which put an end to her season and Roc D'Azur, the season finale.

Liam has been pestered with injuries following his fall in Beijing, but specifically a bad wrist injury, which turned into tendonitis. Liam barely made the start line at Roc D'Azur and in the final hour of racing his wrist gave him a lot of trouble - he still finished! Liam now needs to rest up.

The team arrived in Schladming, Austria on Wednesday for the final round of world cup racing. It’s been a long world schedule with nine rounds in total, plus world championships in both marathon plus cross-country and of course the Olympic Games. As always, despite some weary bodies at season end, spirits have been high all week, as they usually are.

Lene 6th overall in the World Cup series showing steady progression

The lady in pink (courtesy Gary Perkin)

Earlier this year Christoph partnered with South African rider Burry Stander in The Cape Epic, a gruelling 950km MTB Stage Race from Knysna to Cape Town. It was more than just a mountain bike race for Burry, Christoph and the team. In the background a major fundraising effort was underway in partnership with the Jag Foundation and under the name SONGO, which would change the childhood of many young under privileged children. So how did all of this happen?

If I have to be honest my mind has been lost since yesterday afternoon. I am totally and utterly gutted for the team. Deflated is the best way to describe it, but I am still very proud of Lene, Liam and Christoph and reckon tomorrow we will already be thinking positively ahead!

Lene's goal was a top 8 and she was on target despite crashing. Then on the final lap another crash followed by a puncture left her in 13th position. She was of course very disappointed, but Lene can look positively forward towards a bright future.

I was very happy for Sabine Spitz the new Olympic Champion, who was a member of Specialized Factory Racing in 2006. Both Sabine and her husband Ralf are sound people …. It was great to see both of them smiling from ear to ear.

In 24 hours time we will know the final outcomes of both women's (at 10am Saturday morning, local time) and men's (at 3pm Saturday morning, local time) Olympic MTB Races here in Beijing.

The women's race was re-scheduled from today until tomorrow, due to heavy rain yesterday, leaving parts of the course apparently unrideable. As most of you know there was an Olympic Test Event here last year (Christoph won, Lene was 3rd and Liam did not race), but the course has changed considerably since. The original course was deemed to be not technically challenging enough. Well the riders requests have been taken into account, because the modifications have resulted in a "true mtb course". More specifically two very steep descents have been added, coupled with other climbs including a switch back climb etc. One girl broke her colarbone in training on one of these descents - apparently there is nothing steeper featured on the world cup circuit.

Benno, Claire and I arrived early Monday morning with Ryan a little later in the day. So far life is good and we are enjoying the entire cultural experience. Thanks to the accommodating hotel manager Michael in our fantastic hotel we have managed to get Susi in with us. Lene & Liam had to stay in the village with their federations, but Susi wanting perfection opted to stay with the team. To be honest, this has been a positive move. The village can be noisy given that many athletes have finished and are in party mode, while also being over 40 minutes by car from the MTB venue, whereas our hotel is just a 5 minute walk.

All photos by Gary Perkin

Rafa wins again; Lene has another consistent result with fourth; Liam makes the top ten (ninth) while further disappointment for Cody and Kyle .... meanwhile Christoph is back home in Switzerland recovering. 

Saturday July 26th (All photos courtesy Gary Perkin)

Men’s Downhill:

Kyle Strait was on the line for Specialized and unfortunately for Kyle a crash in the finals resulted in a 51st placing – as we all know Kyle is capable of much more.

Kyle Strait

Meanwhile at the front, there was one hell of a race. Over the final five finishers the hot seat changed four times: Steve Peat, Gee Atherton, Sam Hill and finally Greg Minnaar, who was unstoppable. Minnaar took a very well deserved victory at a venue that he has failed to win at before.