I love nearly everything about this photo taken by Marius Maasewerd at the 2014 Men’s UCI XCO race in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Nearly everything. Let me “dissect” the photo and explain why…
Tag Archives | Mountain Bike Racing
Neffness III
Here is another fine example of Jolanda Neff (Liv Pro XC Team) showing off her badass Jolanda Neffness on the way to winning the first elite world cup race of her career at the opening round of the 2014 UCI XCO series in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa*.
A Broken Pendrel
Bad luck (again) for Catharine Pendrel! It seems the Luna Chix rider broker her collarbone while training this past Tuesday, April Fools Day. Sadly, this was no bad April Fools joke and there will no racing for Pendrel for the next six weeks. Fortunately no surgery is needed and she is quoted on teamlunachix.com as saying she is “feeling pretty pain-free so far” and “optimistic for a speedy recovery.”
The Return of Jaro
2010 UCI World Mountain Bike Champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jaroslav Kulhavý is back on the bike training and racing after breaking his kneecap this past February when he fell on ice (walking).
Ira Found
You may or may not remember the February 28th Soiled Chamois post In Search of Ira, where I contemplated the whereabouts of pint-sized, Russian XC racing badass Irina Kalentieva. Well I am happy to say that today, for those race fans who may care, I received official word of her whereabouts (thankfully not in a Siberian gulag) and a hint of her 2014 race plans.
Epic Epicness
The Absa Cape Epic is another one of those races to make my list of things that “would be neat to do.” The conditions this year seem to be a bit wetter and a bit more “epic” than we are used to seeing from the legendary South African stage race. One thing that is not unusual is the quality of the images and video coming from the race, including the photo above of Annika Langvad and Ariane Kleinhans during today’s wet and muddy stage 2 captured by Samp Clark of Sportzpics.
I have to say I do miss posting the updates, photos and video each day from the Cape Epic on xxcmag.com, but they are still out there for those of us who dig seeing it. I recommend checking out the Cape Epic’s video channel, for stage highlights and recaps. Amazing stuff as always.
Photo © Sam Clark/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS.
Back To Racing (Sort of)
As I drank a couple of beers late last Saturday afternoon I somehow convinced myself to go ahead and enter the Barry-Roubaix’s 36 mile race, a distance– at the time of entering–roughly 15 miles longer than any ride I had done in 2014 due to the relentless and brutal winter we’ve had. It would also be only my second ride not to be completed on fat bike this calendar year. “This could be bad for me, but other than a few out-of-staters, everyone else will be in the same frigid, snow, ice and shit filled boat as me,” I thought as entered my credit card information and took the final draw from my pint of Founder’s Imperial Stout. So let it be done… it’s God’s will… it is what it is. Pffft! Whatever, it’s just bike ridin’.
And with that, I now give you yet another race ride report, in a long history of Soiled Chamois race reports, that didn’t need to be written…
Neat To Do
I’m pretty against the whole “bucket list” thing. Mostly because I already lie awake most nights obsessing about the life I’ve wasted and its inevitable demise, I don’t need to add in a list of unattainable things I want to do before I die to all that self loathing and mental drama. I prefer just to say “yeah, it would be neat to do that.”
Case in point: The Sudety Mountain Bike Challenge. This is a race that I think would be really “neat to do.” I’ve talked about it before here and on the late xxcmag.com but that won’t stop me from briefly doing so again.
That Had To Hurt
As you can see from the bike carnage above, junior racer Denisa Bartizalová (Kona Cycling Team) of the Czech Republic took quite a spill during Stage 3 of the Cyprus Sunshine Cup. The story on mtbs.cz reports that she suffered some bruising and scratches and needed a few stitches. I suppose it could have been WAY worse given the state her bike is in.
Photo by Michal Červený, mtbs.cz.
More Jolanda Neffness
Brrrrrrrrap…
I totally dig this photo of Jolanda Neff (Giant Pro XC Team). She appears to be in early season beast mode as she blazes down the descent on her way to winning the GC at the 2014 Cyprus Sunshine Cup.