XC Racer Blog Post
UCI XCO World Cup Round 1,Albstadt, Germany
Share on Facebook Share on TwitterBY: Maxine Filby
Published: 17th May, 2013
It's that time of year that sees the start of the World Cup series and I'm very excited to be a part of it again for 2013. I arrived out here in Germany on Wednesday afternoon, I have the company of Hannah Barnes (MG-Maxifuel) for this round. It's great to see her pushing herself to this level after only returning to mountain biking this year. We got settled into our hotel, it's rather quirky but very friendly and full of fellow competitors from Latvia, Switzerland and Georgia. We checked out the course in the sunshine that evening, it's a demanding course with steep energy sapping climbs and tricky technical descents. The first of which you come round a tight corner to a steep sections that bends round leading you to a steep drop, lots to catch you out. You've just recovered from the adrenaline rush of surviving that when you're presented with a mighty big drop off into a shap corner, it comes at you thick and fast! Other features include rock gardens both up and downhill and a nice little bridge. It all rode beautifully in the dry however waking on Thursday morning to rain we knew it would've all changed. With the rain it made slippery and the technical sections even more demanding. We both had the odd crash but dusted ourselves off to go round it confidently. This morning saw us both do a lap no problem albeit in the pouring rain!
This afternoon is the Eliminator which I'm doing for the first time. There is a time trial like qualifying over the 500m course then heats leading to the final. Only the top 32 go through to the heats so keep your fingers crossed I make it. You can watch the race at redbulltv.com hopefully I'll be in the heats and you can cheer at your tv! I'll update this evening on how it went.
Eliminator.
This was my first experience of the Elminator in the World Cup Series although I watched with envy the rounds last year. It was based in the market square just up the road from the XCO course. We decided to walk it before I rode it just to see what it was about. It was reasonably flat with an uphill finish. There were two wall rides, some steps, a little pump section and three jumps. It looked fab! I did a couple of practice laps and felt pretty confident. To get through to the heats you have to qualify in the top 32 in the time trial. I finished 23rd so was pretty chuffed. After quite a bit of waiting around the heats were announced and I was up. Normally my starts are pretty good but this evening I was on go slow and missed the jump settling into fourth place. I was right on the wheel of the girl in front when it came to the first wall ride, she braked heavily and I had to miss the wall and just turn on the flat corner which meant I lost a lot ground. I never really got back on terms with them and finished fourth not qualifying for the quarter final, gutted! I think I need to practice being quicker out of the start and a bit more aggressive. I can't wait until next weekend in the Czech Republic to right the wrongs!
Hannah races in the under 23 race tomorrow with Beth Crumpton. Both have looked good in practice so I'll let you know how they go.
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Maxine Filby
XCRacer team rider
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