Romanian National XCO Championship

29 Jul

The National XCO Championship is a special race for me. From 2003 I didn’t miss it not only once, as a rider of course. So this was my 11th edition.

I’ve prepared pretty well and I was confident but nervous. The course was still at Paltinis but was slightly modified since last years. Got there on Thursday with the most of the team to check and learn the course.

It was pretty dry so I’ve stayed on my Conti Race King tires. Another good decision was to keep one ring in the front combined with the X.0 Type 2 RD and 11-36 10speed cassette. I prefer to ride 1x when is possible because the whole thing is simple and lighter. Besides this I run a chain guide because I don’t have the XX1 style rings. Like this I am 100% sure that the chain won’t fall off.

Race day: I was so nervous because a lot of people came to the race and I had my dad, my girlfriend and other friends that came to cheer me up. For me was something special. The race started at 3pm, a bit unusual for Romania, but something absolutely normal for other races like the World Cup. I didn’t had my fastest start and right after I couldn’t find a decent pace so I’ve decided to push it wherever I can. The technical descends where helping me out to gain some time but I wasn’t happy with my uphill speed and pace. At the end I finished 8th, a bit disappointing for me after all the efforts during the season.

My Cannondale F29 was amazing, I din’t had any technical problems but I simply couldn’t do more. Now I am looking forward and I’ll do my best to get faster.

As a novelty the next day was a XCP (point-to-point) race around 30km. The time from both races contributed for a general ranking in another championship called “Triada MTB”. I tried only to enjoy the ride so I had an easy pace on the uphills but a lot of fun on the descends. Was an excellent course that I’ve enjoyed it too. Many congratulations to the organizers for this nice even.

In the end I would like to thank a lot especially to my dad and girlfriend for being next to me, to everyone else that cheered me up before, during and after the race (made me feel like in the World Cup).

Also many thanks to all my sponsors, because of them I have the best equipment. In the end but not at least, I appreciate my team support.