Tue, March 24th, 2009
New Wheels
The team had its first get-together of the year this weekend in Silkeborg. The local youth hostel, the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bech and the challenging terrain of the surrounding forests set the perfect frame for the team gathering. It was a weekend full of pimping the new wheels, flashing the new kit, and getting blisters from the new shoes.
Everyone arrived during Friday afternoon and evening. Even Max from Göteborg arrived before dark, despite having missed the ferry which forced to spend half a day driving across Denmark. Spare parts, clothes, swags etc. were handed out and it must have been like Christmas for the youngsters. It still is for me. After a good solid meal and a bunch of backyard story’s it was time for some shut-eye.
Saturday morning dawned on us with the arrival of former team member Klaus Vesterlund. The guy just can’t resist a good opportunity for some quality riding. The first aim of the day was to get familiar with area where the second round of the mtb-liga is being held in May. We then headed of for a long ride on some of the best trails in the country. Young gun Nicklas seemed to run out of steam and must probably have wondered how he would cope in Sunday’s training race. The energy stores were refilled with some home baked Danish and later on chicken a’ la Stine Bitsch. It was compliments all round for the head chef.
Sunday’s traditional 76 km marathon race in Silkeborg sported a competent field of riders. Even Mr. Cool himself, a.k.a. Michael Grønbech made an appearance. And won the race of course! For team it was a “so and so” experience. The youngsters proved themselves with a strong performance. Especially Nicklas made a strong comeback from a good old bonk on Saturday. Strongest team rider was our Swedish connection, Max. He’s been racing for nearly a month now and seems really strong. When the going gets tough, Max gets going. Wait until the real marathon races kick in. I’ll leave the further race details to one of the young ones.
Next official team appearance will be the season opener at April 5th. Most of us will probably do some more race preparation next weekend so check back later for more.
