Scandinavian Championships 2009

Peter Bech on the podium with his shiny new medal.

Updated with new pictures.

Well, in all honesty maybe it should have been the Danish National Championship since Denmark was the only nationality represented in the elite class. Nevertheless, it felt a bit international since the race was held “abroad” on the island of Bornholm.

Old dog Klaus Vesterlund came out on top as winner and can now add Scandinavian champion to his palmares.  Skinny man Jessing took second, while our very own Bech Peters was showing form in third place. Yours truly was the first man off the podium with M. Laustsen trailing in fifth spot. Let me give you a short recap of how things went down.

The course was somewhat more demanding in terms of technical skills than your average Danish xc-course. A climb of at least five minutes, with the finish line half way up made sure to take out any strength not lost in the technical parts. Particularly one descent was nasty. It started with a fast section of small drops and football size rocks here and there. Then came a long steep wooden stair with steps so far apart it would make the rear end kick sideways like an angry bull. The only thing sensible to do was to release the brakes and keep a firm grip on the saddle with the thighs. Once down the stairs, a rocky section would test balance and stamina. I don’t think anyone stayed on the bike all the way through that part. The organizers certainly delivered a decent piece of race course.

The riders that chose to make their way to Bornholm did their part too, I think. At least I tried. The first lap felt good and I got away with Jessing and junior rider Jonas P. It was my first race in a while and I honestly thought things were going great. At the start of the long climb, Vesterlund and Bech had closed the gap while I struggled with a chain suck. I quickly bridged back to Vesterlund and Bech and we chased after the two T-bikes in front. At the wooden stair we had almost closed the gap but wasn’t quite able to get those last meters. Well, in the third of six laps Vesterlund closed by himself and I was suffering to stay with Bech. He would put small time gaps into me on the climbs which I closed on the long descent, but in the fourth lap even that came to an end. Up front, Vesterlund said goodbye to Jessing and we were racing in that order to the finish-line. Simon Tarp was the unlucky guy of the day. While leading the race on the first lap a crash forced him to change wheels in the tech-zone and came in sixth after Morten Laustsen. With the nationals three weeks away the podium all showed that they are medal-contenders. Vesterlund has got the diesel engine running, Jessing keeps improving and the serious off-season training and race participation this year, has made Bech possibly stronger than ever. I find myself with a bit of work to do. Throw in a week of Megavalanche and I am myself starting to doubt that I will peak in three weeks time. I think the roadbike will be brought along to Alpe d’Huez.

Racing on Saturday left us with a day of fun riding on Sunday since no ferries were departing on Saturday. The island has an enormous amount of quality terrain to offer and we made good use of it. The highlight of that day was a crash as a result of Peter Bech’s confidence in his abilities as a downhill-rider. Those drops that required a bit handlebar-control can be a real bitch.

Sam Hill’s downhill run from the 2008 World Championships inspires Peter Bech to try his hand at some DH action later on.

The weather was a bit gloomy in the morning, but cleared up nicely.

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Dusty Race in Varde

Peter Bech racing hard in Varde. Picture courtesy of Varde Cykel Klub.

Niklas from the Junior Team wrote in:

After a super trip to the mountains in Polen with 4 hard stages it was time for some XC-race in Varde near my hometown, Bramming. The track in Varde doesn’t have many altitude meters, but a lot of turns and small steep climbs, so it is draining your energy. After a crowded start we ended up a Rivette junior trio chasing the T-bikes junior duo. Kristian was clearly the strongest and made small gapes the whole time. He finally got away and I started chasing, but I never caught up.

At a time when I was about 10 secs behind Kristian, and we were going fast at a sandy road were riders meet on the track, two guys on the other side crashed and Kristian was nearly taken down by at back wheel, but luckily he managed to duck ☺ Our “teacher” Bech was long gone and took a fine 4th place in the elite class. Kristian was the strongest Rivette junior, and took 3. place on the podium after Frederik and Jonas. Now it is time to prepare for NM on Bornholm next weekend, where the good training in Polen hopefully will show.

/ Niklas

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MTB Trophy Stage 3 and 4

Niklas and Frederik on the podium in Poland.

After the debacle of stage 2 the Rivette Team was pretty fired up for the remaining 2 stages. Out of the overall, the hunt was on for a stage win.

Max came close on the 3rd stage, a 4-hour beast of a stage with a mountaintop finish. He was 2nd to Marek Galinski, the polish rider with quite a World Cup and Olympics palmares. Unfortunately Peter Bech crashed out pretty hard halfway through the stage while riding in the front group.

Stage 4 was less spectacular for Max and Peter, both of them being dropped from the front group and finishing a bit below par in 12th and 14th.

But the Juniors continued where they left off in stage 1. Frederik won stage 3 in front of Niklas and the last day Niklas reversed the result, winning in front of Frederik, both of them finishing the last stage with their best overall results - 16th and 19th respectively. Very good recovery, which is a good sign for the future.

The MTB Trophy is a hard, hard race - just finishing is a true test. The individual stages are monsters, and stringing 4 together without any mental, physical or technical breakdowns is quite a task. So Team Rivette will try to be back next year for the overall if possible.

Polish adventures over, the Team will look to the Scandinavian Championships in 14 days as the next race.

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MTB Trophy Stage 2

Well, everything started out really well - Peter and Max both made the selection for the first group, staying at the front for the first hour and a half. The everything went really pear-shaped.

The front group and around 50-75 riders behind them was mistakenly sent down a long decent. When they reached the bottom everyone realized that this was the wrong way, so they rode up again.

Allan Bachmann of the Webike team was the only other Dane in the front group, but others were picked up soon after, going in the wrong direction. All in all there were 9 Danes, and Team Rivettes Swede, Max sharing common language. No one could figure out where to go at the. So the Danes made a collective decision to head back to find the race course again. Groups of the locals went different directions.

After 30 minutes of searching the merry group found the race course again, and entered the race towards the very back of the field. At the first feeding station they found out that the local Polish riders had also found the race course again, but were now upwards of 45 minutes ahead.

So a decision was made to collectively abandon the stage. Everyone will start the race again tomorrow for the 3rd stage, but out of the overall ranking. For Team Rivette this is especially bitter for Peter who is going very well, and has now lost his chance of the final overall podium. And Niklas and Frederik were 20 minutes ahead after the first stage in the Junior category, so that looks like a pretty sure-fire overall victory lost for them.

But spirits are high at the hotel, so Max and Peter will try to make a good stage result in one of the last 2 stages.

Today’s stage was a real killer though. At the time of posting this, there are still riders out on the course - more than 11 hours after the start.

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MTB Trophy Stage 1

MTB Trophy Stage 1

The Polish MTB Trophy stage race started today. Team Rivette put Peter Bech into 6th overall and finished 1-2 in the Junior class with Niklas and Frederik.

Peter Bech rode a steady race to finish 6th for the day, apparently without digging too deep. Setting himself up nicely for the rest of the race. Niklas and Frederik - in that order - dominated the Junior category finishing 1-2 with nearly 20 minutes to spare on 3rd.

Team Rivettes Swede, Max Öste-Macdonald, was initially very, very strong according to Peter, but suffered from no less than 3 punctures and lost a significant amount of time today. Peter has wowed to make sure Max has some Pythons - also known as the best tire ever - mounted for tomorrow Needless to say Max will focus on stage results for the rest of the race.

Our old friend and former teammate Klaus Vesterlund, had a great race for Team Rivette last year in Poland. Not so much this year though as he also suffered from an early puncture, eventually ending the day in 16th.

Almost 60 Danish riders have made their way to Poland for the MTB Trophy - and no wonder. The race is easily accessible, starting from the some town every day. The organizers are super-friendly. The 4-day format is just right - not too little, not too much. The trails are great. And it is relatively inexpensive. Highly recommended!

Results here: http://sportchallenge.cz/extra09/mtbtrophy/vysledky.php?id_zavod=1

Race website here: http://www.mtbtrophy.com

Tomorrow’s stage is a monster - 95 K with almost 3000 meters of climbing. Good luck to everyone!

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