Far away, up to Hafjell

World Cup racing is a totally different experience from any other race you can imagine. Riding next to the big guys, that you usually can see only on the online broadcast is huge. The last Mountain Bike World Cup in Norway was 16 years ago in Christiansen. The only XC riders left since them are Gunn Rita Dahle and Miguel Martinez, both living legends. So when I saw the World Cup schedule for this season, I told myself that Norway should be a good destination.

My good old friend Mihai, who is living in Trondheim convinced me to come and race in Hafjell. He was a great support for this trip and thanks to him I’ve managed to get along, no matter the situation.

After a 20h trip with a bus to Budapest, then a plane to Oslo and another plane to Trondheim I’ve finally arrived at Mihai’s “crib”. The next day had the chance to visit the town and get an epic ride on the trails. Simply awesome. Friday evening me, Mihai and his girlfriend Ana arrived near Hafjell where we had our “base camp”. Next day in the morning I got on the track and I was stocked. It was technical and physical.

Rockgardens on the uphill, on the downhill, huge BMX jumps, moving stones, nice switchbacks and hard climbs. A great recipe for a great course.  Had the chance to meet and ride a bit with the CFR “brothers” Manuel Fumic and Marco Aurelio Fontana, an awesome opportunity to learn a bit. You don’t face this every day.

I had another few more laps then I’ve decided to check the “perfect” lines. Everything was checked.

Then was the BIG race day. I was nervous because during the training I saw some big crashes and I knew that the sharp rocks will cut some tires. I had my Continental X-King Protection, because was the only thicker tire I had available.

13:59 – some warrior soundtrack started and I was really but really nervous.

14:00 – race started and I was on the last line for the start I couldn’t see to much because of the dust.

The “GO PINKIE” banner, the supporters, even they were fewer than during other World Cups gave me some extra power. Little by little all the riders I was chasing and I knew that I can pass them crashed or had their tires cut so I’ve finished alone on the 66th place out of 89 riders who started the race.  My medium heart rate was 189 and the maximum was 201 so you can figure it out that it was a pretty intense experience.

The CFR guys Mani and Marco finished 3rd and 5th which brought them the “BEST TEAM” title. I was very happy because after all the problems that they had lately, they’ve shown up that mountainbike is a TEAM sport. So once again many congratulations. Anton Cooper their U23 rider finished 2nd, which is also an outstanding performance, Keegan Swenson had a nasty crash and broke his nose.

Even though that I didn’t had an exceptional performance, a lot of people want to have a photo with the bike. Also some kids figure it out that my autograph will have a great value in a few years. Hope that they will be right.

In the evening I was invited to CFR truck for a dinner that transformed in a great end-of-the-season party having the best guests that you can imagine. I will tell you only a few riders to picture it out: Nino Schurter, Jaroslav Kulhavy, Jose Antonio Hermida, Ralf Naf, Lea Davidson, Tereza Hurikova, Gunn Rita Dahle. Did I said enough?

Overall I must tell that was a great experience, I’ve learned a lot, especially that the XCO courses in Romania aren’t even close, to the ones in the World Cup (the difficulty grade) but hopefully things will evolve.

This trip couldn’t be possible without the support of my sponsors, especially the one from Extreme Riders, the Cannondale distributor for Romania and without the help of Mihai Udvar, I couldn’t get over all the difficulties. I would like to say a big “thank you” to my family (my dad and Simona) being next to me. So these 3 UCI points earned, one is for the guys at Extreme Riders, one is for Mihai and the last (but not least) is for my family. You deserve them more than I do!

I would also thank for the support from the CFR staff before and after the race (Daniel, Stefan, Giacomo, Larry).

More photos, made by Mihai can be found HERE.

Hear you soon.

Cheers,

Vlad