June 28, 2010

"Muddyeval" Marathon Medias 2010

It took i wile for gathering my thoughts about the Medias race. A lot of impressions circled in my mind after that muddy race. After getting there at  6 in the morning i waited 2 hours for the arrival of the officials. Then i  called Dan to bring my bike and until his arrivel i walked a bit around the courts to see the litle bike expo. Meanwhile i talked to other racers also about the prognose and opinion about the race. So Dan came, brought my RAM, i put it together, ran a bit wit it to see if everything's working. "Magnifico", i thought the gearshifters went well the brakes were okay, so i was ready for race. I said good bye to Dan and went to the other racers from Oradea, the Velo Sport riders. - Thanks guys for bringin me home!- Did my warm up and went to the start line. I started from the second line, lucky me! Before the start we had some medieval entertainment, with knights and bikes. 10...9...8...7.....3...2...1, Start. Went off, took a city tour about 3 km's. After that a massive climb with mud. Were in the first 20-30 riders. I was fallin back a bit cause of the mud.  My 1.9 wheels were like 2.4-2.6. I was tryin to keep my pulse at a normal level, and not to force at the begining but was hardheaded and pushed and pushed, passed by the first CP and kept on goin. There were sections were i had to push cause of the mud, but made it trough and went on. At second CP i stopped for water and to cool off my legs a bit. Had a very dirty section after that, i was just pedallin and pedallin, never cleaned the bike. After CP 3 the bike took its revenge. My gearhanger broke along with my chain. I had the hardest climb in a front of  me, 3 km of mountiiiiiin climbing . No chain no gear. Didn't want to quit so i decided to push the bike and run with it till the end. I lost a lot of time and places but finishing was my second goal, i mean Plan B. After the climb i got up the bike and went downhill. After the downhill section i had about 3km to the finish so i ran along the bike, sometimes got up the bike with on foot and pushed it with a leg, really painful. Well i arrived in the city and  ran into the finish. My cramps just killed my legs, so i stoped and laid down. I came at 39th place in my category and 93th in overall from 283 racers. Well, better luck next year, till then prepare myself for the next race.
In the right you can see a slideshow with some pictures from the race.=> => => => => => => => => =>

June 23, 2010

On the road part II

22:05, i did the track profile on a piece of paper, at 23:09 i was already in bed. 1:50 am, wake up call. Ate a banana, washed my face, brushed my teeth, called a cab and went to the train station. Took the ticket got up the train. No sleep on the train. 6.07 am the train arrived at Medias. The weather was awful, rain, that means mud on the track.
At the train station saw a biker with a bike, thought to stop him. He was a 19 year old boy from Resita, a rider with licence, Dani C. was his name. He didn't knew the start location so i helped him out, we had 2 hours till the officials arrival so we talked about past present and future and about mountain biking. I really admired him as he was 19 year old and already sponsored, and contracted to a club. Respect man. In this country you hardly can make it till here. I think he's a promising rider, he later confirmed my assumption and came in 2nd place. So the hours went by, we took a nap about 5 minutes. After we got up the sun came out and the weather turn in to summer. Dan brought me my bike. Thank you again. I assembled it and took my warm up laps up and down the streets.

June 18, 2010

On the road to Medias Marathon

         I took a day off from work to prepare myself for the road and race at Medias. 3 p.m. we left  Oradea with a friend (Joco) of mine who took me almost to Cluj. After he left me 40 km before Cluj i stood on the road with my luggage and hoped to stop a car who will take me to Cluj. Well after 20 minutes waiting a minibus took me safely to Cluj. I met my sister and nephew and my mother also. After a walk with them in the park we came home at my sister, in the hope to take a short  a nap, cause my train will leave at 2:37 am to Medias.
I want to thank Dan, who transported my bike from Oradea to Medias, and he did the registration also, thanks man.
Tomorrow: Medias Mediavel Marathon

June 16, 2010

First time in Romania

This weekend took place the first Extreme-Triathlon race in Romania. It had to happen in Oradea. 3800 m swimming, 180km cycling and 42 running. Well i didn't participated, i was just a simple spectator,... lucky me. It was hot on Saturday, all day long, the cyclists had the toughest part of the race, and those who competed in the individual category were in the toughest situation. I saw the start of the swimming and the first finisher, a 22 year old skiny guy who later won the race(the "save the animals" guy). I took some pictures about the bikes, swimmers, cyclists. After that, i went to the finish line to wait for the cyclists. Well the skinny guy came first. No wonder, i think he was the only professional in the individual category. Some teams had, pro members, like swimmers, or runners, but this guy beat them all. He had a girlfriend, with her together they ran the marathon. I stood there and helped the runners, cheered for them and i also gave them water, oranges and what they needed from the supply table. Alltogether it was a fun day, all my respects to the competitors who took part of this event. Till next year. Here some of my shots.












June 9, 2010

Tuesday madness

Yesterday i took a day off from my job to go practice with my Kona Coilair. My friend Andras came along to show me whats right and wrong with my pedaling. We went to "Crater Mountain" near the city the best place here if you want to practice DH or XC, i mean best place near the city. It was damn hot outside and we did the 13 km to Crater on bikes, with 2.4 tires on....fun i say, not. We arrived at the top of the hill and Andras explained me how to deal with my fear in corners how the handle the brakes to not lose speed. Btw Andras was an ex-cyclist, i mean he was competing in XC races and DH races also, thats why i listen to his advices cause he knows some shit:P. Then we took off..... maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan he was in front off me and a second later he was gone. Well i had to pedal after him. Was a bit scared cause it was my second time on this track so did not so well. The tight corners were my biggest problems and the trees scared the crap out of me. After the first run i explained to Andras what was i afraid of and the sections were i had problems. He explained me the technical part how to turn and also not to lose speed, gave me a short demonstration. We started again, he waited for this time to see if i can handle the track.......well not but i did better on the corners. So far from tuesday on bikes, it was hot outside and we took our asses home. I'll come back and practice more and more, run a lot more to race better.
Next race Medias.

June 1, 2010