Solothurn Swiss Power Cup

6/5/12

It was quite a scenic drive down from Heubach in Germany to our accommodation in Egerkingen, Switzerland.  For a lot of the journey we drove along the foothills of the Alps, stopping off for a quick coffee in a town called St Gallen.  I reckon the coffee must just get better the further South you venture in Europe as this one was certainly the best so far.  Anyone keeping in touch with my blogs would think I’m on a coffee tour!

Determined to get the virus out of my system once and for all, I made sure to have 2 days total recovery and literally just turned the legs over on the trainer for half an hour each day.  I made use of the extra time by fitting in a few touristy things. The highlight of the week was a day in Bern.  This city is quite beautiful with some awesome views of the surrounding hills and river through the centre.  Many of the shops showed off the famous Swiss watches and knives.  However after viewing the price tags, Ed and I decided we were out of our league, and these were strictly for viewing only!

On the list of things to do in Bern, was to find a Laundromat and get a load of washing done, not the most exciting I know! Our hotel in Egerkingen, did offer laundry services, however at $9 a tee shirt, we decided our funds would very soon disappear with a bag of dirty bike Knicks to clean!  So, the laundry adventure actually turned out to be the highlight of the day as we found a Laundromat with a cool little café attached serving great coffee and which offered free internet…bonus!

Wednesday came along and it was time to lift the heart rate a little and get the legs going.  The lungs had felt clear for the previous 24hrs and I could finally hear out of my left ear once again.  So, I headed out onto some trails that I had previously sourced out. After a good 45min of warming up I decided the legs were feeling quite good so continued on to complete a solid threshold-based session.  After making sure to recover well for the following 3-4hrs, I was able to get out for a second recovery based session in the afternoon.

Thursday was mainly recovery based once again, to make sure I didn’t over-do things.  Then Friday I headed out to Solothurn for some course practice.  The race was going to be a particularly tough one for me, with around half of each lap on asphalt. It was certainly going to favour the roadies and those with some high power, not so much the chicken-legs of a pure mtbiker!  I was at least confident my body was completely healthy once again though and I was keen to get some quality racing in.  This Swiss Cup was certainly shaping up to be of high quality with many of top 20 ranked riders due to be in attendance.

After the sunshine of the previous few days, it rained all of Friday night and most of Saturday morning.  Tyre choice was a difficult one, as the course was half asphalt and there was nothing too technical in the forest, so full mud tyres may have been a little sluggish and slow.  I opted for the faster dry weather tyres as I knew keeping up on the road was going to be the most difficult section for me.

The race started near the centre of town and a huge crowd of reportedly 10,000 had formed to watch the racing as well as enjoy the massive festival.  It was fantastic to see the huge emphasis on the kids racing with a small circuit set up just near the start/finish area.  It’s no wonder the Swiss are ranked number 1 in the world, when they start them off so young!  As well as these events there were bmx trick shows, crazy dirt-jumpers and endless tents of bike-related displays.  There was in fact so much going on, that I got distracted and had to remind myself to concentrate and get a decent warm up in!  I found it quite odd, when I finally did hop on the wind-trainer, that people would crowd around and take photos of a little-known rider from Australia!

As with all European races, this one kicked off right on time and I headed out over the start ramp along with the 48 other female starters. The start proved to be a real shock to the system as we fought hard on the road to get into the first group.  I had missed the front bunch by around 10m but sat comfortably in 2^nd wheel of the next bunch that had formed.  The first climb into the forest was very steep and in the wet conditions proved un-rideable.  So as we all dismounted to tackle this short hill run, I made sure not to push too hard and ruin the legs for the remaining 6 laps.  Once back on the bike and for the rest of the climb, I tried to settle into a good rhythm.  I was definitely feeling a lot better than the previous 2 weeks; however the sudden intensity was a bit of a shock to the system!  Once out of the forest, I had settled into a small bunch of girls who unfortunately didn’t seem to want to push too hard on the road and work together.  So I mustered up a bit of roady strength and tried to push a little on the front myself.  Into the forest for the 2^nd time, I was finally getting some good rhythm and working my way past some riders.  Into the decent I forced my way around a few riders.  I was just thinking to myself, that this ‘aggressive’ style was working for me, when a rider to my left side decided to ride straight into my back wheel and we both crashed down pretty hard.  While this other rider continued to yell abuse my way, I quickly straightened the handlebars and climbed back on the bike.  However I pretty soon realised that something more was wrong, when none of the gears seemed to work.  I jumped off again and found that the rear wheel had come right out and so clicked down the gears to get it in as swiftly as possible.  With all the mud clogging up the rear derailleur, this proved difficult and time consuming, however I eventually got back up and riding.  Looking back at the results I think this mechanical time-out must have set me back around 10 places and being the type of course it was, I found it very difficult to make up those places.  I did however get to finish off the full 6 laps and if anything got some great training in before next weekend’s World Cup race in Czech.

The only other riders flying the Australian flag were Rowena Fry, who finished in 17^th and Lachlan Norris who claimed 20^th in the elite men’s race.  Well done guys on a solid result!  It was incredible to hear also that Karen Hanlen from New Zealand sprinted home in 2^nd place behind Swiss favourite Esther Suss. Just shows that the Euros are only human and can be beaten!

Thanks so much to my many supporters back home; all your messages of support make a real difference!  In particular, I’d like to give a huge thanks to my main sponsors Anytime Fitness, Trek and Momentum Energy.  I reckon now I’m about due for some better luck and plan to give 110% in the next 2 world Cup races to be held in Czech and France.  I shall keep you all posted on the outcome…