Paltinis Stage Race – XCO / XCP

This time I am writing faster than I was riding but I hope that not for long.

Paltinis has one of the best XCO courses in Romania and for a few years held the Romanian National Championships. As for almost a year there are some misunderstandings and fights inside our Cycling Federation and I don’t know if UCI will recognize this race as the National Championship or I will have to run again at Izvorul Muresului on 27th of July again, on a course that is no even close to a XCO track. (personally I don’t care about this fight and I hope that things will get back to normal as this kind of fight affect only the athletes  who wanna ride).

I’ve arrived in Paltinis on Thursday with Marius. Right after we got on the bikes and went for a course check. Everything was pretty good except some new elements. Some rock gardens and  drops that tried to imitate the World Cup courses that didn’t came up to well (and not to strong either). It was obvious that the guys out there worked a lot at it but I believe that they should offer a little more attention to details and it will be just perfect.

Another few laps on Friday, just before the rain shown me how the track can look with all the rock and roots slippery. Then I tried to relax and think about the race. In the evening we went for the technical meeting and to pick the racing number plates.

On Saturday morning the amateurs had their race, riding mostly in rain and modifying the course a bit. The rain continued at our race also for a few laps but wasn’t too bad. It was getting harder to pass over the rocks and roots lap by lap as the fatigue was installing into my body. I tried to stay focus on what I gotta do and not crash. During the whole race I tried to maintain a steady pace and even if some riders had a strong start I caught them during the following laps. It’s a pity though that even when I was behind them on the technical sections and they were running off their bikes, some of the riders didn’t let me pass them even if I was faster.

Anyway I’ve managed to finish 8th at Men Elite. It’s not the result I was hoping for but considering that I was pretty tired I can say that for the moment I couldn’t do more.

On Sunday we had the Point-to-Point race, but basically it was just a 30km loop race. I wasn’t really motivated because I was too tired to try something so I just want it to finish the race.

Once again I didn’t had my fastest lap and more riders passed me, riders who on the first descend where going very slow. In the upper part I tried to pass several ridesr, on a wide path, but one of them started swearing and cursing (way to go! this is the fair-play spirit). On the single trail I tried to pass the riders where it was possible, where it wasn’t I’ve waited. On the steeper section another guy crashed in front of me pretty bad, but I hope he’s fine. Right after the longest uphill started. Once again a more guys pushed harder but I managed to keep a constant pace, passing the in the upper part, motivated by Simona and my dad who were cheering me (louder than everyone). I had some problems on the next technical downhill but not because of the course, I’ve lost twice my pump and stopped to get it back. Then I’ve hit some thick branches and I’ve lost my GPS, but I was so damn lucky, because Catalin S. from BikeXpert found it and gave it back to me during the race.

Another rocky uphill, another rockgarden and the race was almost finished. Crossed the finish line on 19th place, finishing overall on 14th at Elite, the both races.

Now let’s see what race will UCI consider as Romanian National XCO Championship… From my point of view, I hope that things will get on the right path as soon as possible.

Until then I will try to recover and do the best to be in a better shape for the upcoming races.

For this event I would like to thank to Simona and my dad for cheering, helping and supporting me right on sight. Also I would like to thank to everyone who cheered me during these two days of racing. It felt almost similar to a World Cup and I am really proud for that.

Many thanks also to all my sponsors. Having a great support motivates me to go further even when things aren’t going so well.

More photos made by Marius and Simona can be found HERE.

Cheers,

Vlad