New Sponsor For The Mega!

The registration for the Megavalanche 2009 has opened. The Rivette Mulisha has already claimed three spots and are in hard training. For those not familiar with the Megavalanche it is a race down the Alpe d’Huez. That’s right – down. The start is at the top of the mountaing on July 12th while qualifying races take place the day before. The fastest 500 will compete in a timed race while the rest get to enjoy the downhill in relative ease. As seen in the picture above the start is in snow and it is chaotic.

Team Rivette has landed a big time American energy drink sponsor and is collaborating with another bike company in an effort to win this year’s race. The veteraned, hardcore part of the Rivette Mulisha was the only ones with cahunas big enough to take on the challenge. We thank our sponsors backing us up in this “do or die” project.

To assist us in training and racing, Rivette-hang-around Flemming Tanghus, has accepted in tagging along on this journey. If you are thinking “Flemming who?” ask Team Web-Ike soigneur, helper and very friendly man, Bo “Terminator” Christiansen who he is. Together they are part of a very small select group to have participated in a UCI Downhill World Cup race. Yeah baby! I’m not sure whether Flemming was on his Kona Hei Hei or the neon yellow Wheeler that came after the Kona once it got stolen. Terminator on the other hand, I’m pretty sure was riding his red Ritchey P-22. Could it actually be that Terminator started what is now known as the “Michael Grønbech rigid fork trend”? Oh man – those were the days. Anywho, stay tuned to learn more on our progress. Come July we will be at the front of the pack. 

For more info check out lasts years Mega-experience: http://www.rivette.dk/index.php/dev_log/artikel/megavalanche/

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Vinter Cups Fun

The past weekend saw 2 races in the now traditional vinter race series. 1 in the SlushCup in the area around Copenhagen (the unofficial World Championships according to some and 1 in the decidely more relaxed vinter cup in Jutland. Team Rivette had a modest showing in both.

Race 1: Urban Slush, by Peter Bech

The 5th round of the Slush Cup took place in Copenhagen right outside the door of the relatively new build media/television headquarters of DR.

We knew that it would be a big event with lots of competitors, spectators and media coverage, so even if we still have a good time until the season really hits off we decided to go and have a fun day riding on paved roads for a change.

This round was named Urban Slush but it seemed to me that there was more slush than urban once we got going. Actually it turned out to be one of the more muddier experiences I’ve had in a long time.

The gun went off and people went crazy like always, and after the first couple of turns and accelerations I found myself in the front group consisting of Bonne, Tarp, Jessing, Grønbech and a few others. After the first lap my chain and cassette was packed with mud and I started to lose ground and had to see the front pack disappear. A little later I was passed by Vesterlund, my nemesis from last weekend. He seemed to be handling the tough conditions a little better than I did.

Bonne faced the exact same difficulties and also had to deal with a jammed chain.

Rasmus Jessing took the first spot and a disillusioned Thomas Bonne rolled over the finish line in 6th place with me a little further back in 10th.

This season Team Rivette have signed the 23 year old Swedish rider Max Öste Macdonald and he also took part in the race. He finished a respectable 13th. Max, despite his young age, already has a remarkable number of accomplishments on his palmares, including a couple of victories in the Swedish Langloppscup. Thomas and I spend the weekend with Max and he is a very nice and easy going guy who will be a valuable part of the team this coming season.

/Peter Bech

Race 2: Glamour in Copenhagen or mud in Århus, by Niklas Bangsbro

While a lot of riders where fighting to get TV-time in Copenhagen, well over 100 riders had chosen 5 times up the double-hill near Århus. The track was part of the UCI-track used last year and consisted of a lot of funny, muddy single-track and some long climbs, partly gravel-road and single-track.

The start went up-hill and Allan Bachman set a blistering pace, I had a hard time on the gravel-roads but managed to hang on a group consisting of my teammate Kristian Axelsen, Simon Q and our national-trainer Michael Borup. In the end Kristian had pulled away and took a very fine 2. place after Allan. I was fighting to the end and took 3. place in a drag-race with Simon and Michael, so Rivette Juniors 2 and 3 on the day was very satisfying.

/Niklas

Results http://vintercup.1900mtb.dk/

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In my mind the season doesn’t really kick off until late March/beginning of April, but at this time of year the calendar is packed with races and winter cups with Slush Cup as the biggest and most prestigious. Every area of the country seems to have their own little series of races going on.

I set off to one of these races this weekend to test my winter form or lack of it! The destination was Varde in western Denmark. And I mean western in the sense of cowboy country. Out there it looks just like a shot from “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” with tumble weed blowing around and dead coyotes in the road side. Maybe not a coyote, but there was a big peacock on the highway out there. Very run over and very dead!

Symbolically it was in Varde I rode my last race of the 2008 season and this was the first of ’09. The circle is closed!

I drove together with ex-team member and arch rival Klaus Vesterlund from the newly founded Pronghorn Racing. He took the top honour and I had to settle with second. Like many times before! But this time I really thought I had him.

To stay in the spaghetti western terms I consider myself “The good”, Vesterlund obviously is “The Bad” and “The Ugly” must be the battle we had going on for 1st place. Believe me, it was not pretty. For the last 25 minutes of the race there were only 5-10 seconds between us, with Klaus in front and me chasing like an insane. I tried and tried to close the small gap, but every time “The Bad” just pushed it a little bit more. He held the lead until the finish line and we both agreed afterwards that the pace was too high and it was too early in the season to feel this much pain.

Actually I really don’t care about placings right now. What is more important is that I had a good feeling all the way and that everything seems to be going in the right direction.

The only thing I want to ask Vesterlund is: Do you feel lucky, Punk! We’ll see next weekend where we’ll clash again in the above mentioned Slush Cup’s Urban edition in Copenhagen.

For more information on the race, visit: http://www.vardecykelklub.dk And thanks to them for the excellent picture by Daniel Rabæk.

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Nothing Rotten in the State of Denmark

The Danish CX-nationals was held in the town of Elsinore. With a view of Elsinore Castle from the highest point of the course a more beautiful setting was hard to ask for. The spectator crowd was fairly large and fielded several former cross-stars like Jesper Agergaard and Thomas Nørup. The field counted around 30 riders and the course was a genuine cross-course with broad well prepared trails asking for high speed action. In good company I also headed towards the hometown of Hamlet with high expectations for the afternoon. As a spectator that is!

Favorites for the title was defending champion Christian Poulsen, former champions Joachim Parbo and Tommy Nielsen with Jannik Hyldgaard as a dark horse. Another strong contender was also former champion Kim Petersen. The starting pace was fierce and a select group of three riders quickly formed at the front. Parbo went all out in an effort to loose Poulsen and Tommy. Within the fist lap both closed the gap. Poulsen took initiative and accelerated further causing Tommy to loose contact. For the second year in row, it seemed that Poulsen and Parbo were the ones to be battling it out for the title.

25 minutes into the race, Parbo made a series of attacks causing Poulsen to work, what seemed just a little to hard in order to close the gap. Tommy was alone in third place, while Kim Petersen looked strong in the four-man group fighting for fourth place. Then he crashed big time on a high-speed descend. Luckily nothing serious happened, aside from bruising to the nose. It turned out that a broken handlebar was the cause. It is a true nightmare for anyone riding off-road to have this happen to them. It was real shame for Kim as he looked on the charged before crashing.

In front, Parbo’s tactics finally worked as he gained a small gap of 10 seconds, quickly growing to 15 seconds and then 25 seconds. Poulsen suddenly found himself racing Tommy for third instead of being in the title match. Three quarters into the race he composed himself and forced safely margin on Tommy lasting to the finish. Parbo took the win meaning no surprises on the podium.

Even though the race for the title was between only the three riders predicted it was cool to see the action. There was absolutely nothing rotten in the state of Denmark this Sunday. Cyclo-cross is such an intense discipline. From a spectator point of view it is one of the best disciplines in the sport. Pure action from start to finish. In countries like Holland and especially Belgium the sport is just as big as soccer. If you want a taste of the action try looking at http://ccx.nathanspear.com/ or live action on the 8th of February at http://www.vt4.be/superprestigelive.php

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160 Minutes of X-Mas Le Mans

Klaus Vesterlund showing his true colors.

It is clearly time for an update. Not much has happened the last month or two. At least not in a sporting context. The only exception being one of the most important contest of the year with bragging rights beyond that of any other. I am of course talking about Tom Kristensens annual Christmas get together. For those not familiar with the event it is a go-karting race of 2 hours and 40 minutes sporting ten teams of 4 riders each.

Fittingly for an event of this magnitude it was held in same place as the XC-nationals the town of Aalborg. It is also the hometown of Directeur Sportif, Jesper Skriver who was flown in from the far east only hours before the start. On a side-note several new things were in his bags. More on this later Needless to say the pressure was on for the man. The rest of team Rivette consisted of Peter Bech, Klaus Vesterlund and yours truly. All on separate teams of course. The experienced Tom K knows a threat when he sees one.

Thanks to Tom K for the invitation - it was great!

The duration of the race was (as mentioned) 2 hours and 40 minutes including eight pit-stops, ten push-ups and a “hit the Tom K action-figure” challenge. For those not competing on the race track a tremendous buffet of culinary goodies invited to a true feast. Entertainment other than the actual race was Audi’s newest documentary on the preparation for the 24H of LeMans with loads of behind the scenes commentary.

On the race track things went in all kinds of directions for the bike riders. Directeur Sportif was the only one who delivered and went all out for the highly prestigious win. I for one was not surprised. Speed has always been in the blood of Jesper, as you can see on the photo taking while he and I visited Peter Riis in 2004. The car sponsor of Peter lent us an Audi RS4 and the other two went nuts in a genuine speed-rush.

All done by professionals on open speed german roads of course. Do not attempt at home.

The other pictures were taken by Peter Bech who was assigned the very important task of managing the pit-board within his team. It was quite fascinating to watch the real race-drivers deliver lap-times within 2/10 of a second each lap. Including Tom's son, Oliver. The next generation is definitely ready take over. It has definitely inspired me to pay more attention to this aspect in my bicycle racing for the next season. Tom K was even kind enough to make a gesture whenever overtaking one of us. In general it is unbelievable how humble a guy he is. Not only one the best race-drivers of all times but a real class act too. Thank you for a real good event and best of luck in 2009!

Peter Bech doing what he does best.

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