Mud, sweat and tears!

Mud, sweat and tears could sum up this weekend’s activity down in Lugano, Switzerland.

Early Saturday morning Stephan (the logistics manager) and I set out into the sunrise on a long drive back down to Tesserete/Lugano where I spent my training camp two weeks ago. We arrived at the rather wet race location and set up the Fischer team camp ready for the youngsters that were to race today. I didn't spend much time going over the route as we already did this in the training camp, so Eric and I abandoned the rest in the rain and headed to the 50’s  Original style Hotel in Lugano.

 Much to my surprise we noticed that the BMC Racing Team was booked into the same hotel and that the World Champion, Julian Absalon, was staying only a couple of rooms away (I didn't end up knocking on his door asking for an autograph if you were wondering). At supper and breakfast I made sure to order the exact same meal as Absalon (except for a milkshake, I wasn't sure if it was for his child or himself) in order to get the same nutritional values as the world champ for the race start at 14:00.

Everything went as planned and I was ready to pull on my one-piece racing suit and give the others a run for their money. Now before I explain the actual race there was one big factor that played a huge role in Sunday’s race: It was raining cats and dogs.... and none of the riders seemed overly motivated to head out into the wet/cold to race. Unlike the others, coming from Namibia, I embraced the rain and was really excited to finally start a race in real European weather.

On my warm up I reminded myself about the 'Absalon breakfast' I had (surely that would give me an advantage over the others) and the preparation I have done until now to get some extra motivation into the system.

Standing on the start line (in my blue Fischer kit I stand out like a sore thumb) all focused, still clean and freezing the gun went and we were off. I once again had a brilliant start and settled into a steady pace slipping, sliding and partly swimming through the really fun but muddy track.

During the first few hundred meters of muddy singletrack all my laws of mountain bike skills went into the bin together with the advantage of having practiced the route two weeks ago in absolutely stunning, dry weather. I couldn't stop myself from laughing mid race as I and several other riders just suddenly lost control, sliding down the hill into the wrong direction, it was total chaos. My vision was halved partly by all the mud shooting up into the eyes as well as the glasses that were fogged up, so in the second tech zone already I decided to abandoned them. No more than 300m after this tech zone, still on my first lap, my chain had the last word (apart from my swearing) and broke, together with my hopes of completing my first European race. Not being allowed to turn around I rolled/pushed/ran back down to the finish. On the way down Absalon also rolled past me with chain problem to quit the race, so I wasn't the only one (although I’m starting to think it had something to do with our joined breakfast).  

Even though I only did a fifth of the race, I still learnt a lot about new weather conditions and the intense, but amusing, racing in them. I think this will help me in two weeks’ time for the African Champs in Rwanda as the weather forecast looks like another cats and dogs situation. Luckily with the great support from Shimano and Fischer I've already got a new chain and fully serviced bike ready for the flight on Saturday towards Kigali, Rwanda.

Once again the support at the race was absolutely incredible. So I want to give a big thanks to all the parents and team mates that stood next to the route, at the tech zones and in this weather to support me, it makes racing so much more exciting and enjoyable.

From my side all the best and till next time,

Martin

P.S. Congrats to the Namibian team that spent the weekend in Mankele, South Africa, competing in the SA-Cup series and giving the locals a run for their money. I think it’s great that the Namibian Cycling Federation is giving the opportunity and supporting our riders to race internationally; as this is the only way we can gain real experience. Thank you NCF, and well done on those podium places.