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FRENCH NATIONAL CHAMPS July 23, 2007

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The French National champs were held in Mongenevre last weekend. 21 and 22 July. As a contrast to the British champs the week before, it was dust, not mud that covered everything! It was a hot dry weekend and the track was loose and dusty, with some high speed sections, steep shoots and technical turns. This was not the type of terrain that suits Fabien’s riding, every corner was a lottery, there was very little grip and nothing solid to turn against. The track was short and physical which made it difficult for Fabien with his broken ribs and Injured foot. Training was difficult as it was very limited due to the different catagories that had to share the track, getting a full run was near impossible. Fabien had decided on an unorthodox tyre choice of wet screams and we setup his suspension pretty stiff to carry speed.  

The seeding run was on Saturday and Fabien was the last man down due to his No1 plate, he managed a good clean run and posted the fastest time, however the top five were all very close, so he needed to make sure he could go quite a bit faster in the final to be sure of the victory. Sunday’s final was going to be tough for all the riders, the track had deteriorated and the wind had picked up, making hitting the last few big jumps like running the gauntlet!Fabien had regained his confidence after battling a bit in the training and having a crash that worsened his foot injury. He was ready to take the start!I watched him fly out of the gate and knew he meant business, he really attacked and started over jumping and blowing through turns, he was pushing hard for the top section and was already 2 sec up at the split. Shortly after the split he over shot a turn and lost traction, he went down! But in true Fabien style he stayed firmly attached to the bars and managed a quick recovery.He decided to attack the last section like his life depended on it and hit the last few turns like he was on rails. He crossed the line 0.7sec up and took the win! He was really pleased to retain the title. He commented after the run, that he did not ride very well, but that he passed a big step by being able to attack 100%, he also said that this was the first time since his injury that he was back in his race mind set. The preparations for the worlds are now well underway and with a few more races to come and some bike and component improvements, he is going to ready for another world champs title….. 

WORLD CUP 4 schaladming AUT July 16, 2007

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This world cup started really badly for me, with a broken down vehicle on the way, the gearbox, clutch and flywheel all destroyed just before the Austrian border.I received a fine for having the wrong papers in the truck by the Italian police when they came to see what was going on, then they arranged a tow truck to take me to the border. I waited there for 6hours until the Austrian towing service to take me to the closest town about 6km away. I then spent the night in a hotel and went to see the garage where the truck was parked the next day. I wasted most of the morning waiting for them to make an assessment on the damage, they concluded that the flywheel had come loose and so damaged the clutch and Gearbox. They ordered the parts and promised the truck would be ready by Friday evening. Training started on Thursday so I had to get a rental Van, load all the stuff into that and continue the remaining 140km to the race (Thanks James and Tracy for help with the loading). I then set up the tech site with the rental on Friday morning. The Truck was ready on Friday evening so we went and got it, came back to the race, moved everything from one vehicle to the next and then all was ready for Saturday……. I took the rental back on Monday with the help of a friend.Just want to let you know that this was a major pain in the ass!!! And wasted lots of time and money. We really need to look at a new vehicle. This was a perfect example of where I really needed a helper, ended up having about 6 hours of sleep each night with a 1000km drive each side! If it was not for the Help of Tracy’s Boyfriend I would not have been possible for us to get everything done….. So, for the raceTraining went well on a really difficult track which was wet for the first day but dried out by the race. The riders were not very confident at first but as it dried and lines started to form, they got the speed.The seeding run went well for all 3 riders.
Tracy had a good run event hough she was not at full speed and managed to take first place ahead of Tracy Hannah.Fabien also went well, made some mistakes and was tired by the end, but managed to keep focussed and finished 3rd behind Sam hill 1st and G. Atherton 2nd. Kamil was not very happy with his run as he felt he had ridden really badly, however he was happy to see he qualified 47th. 

The final was dry and rough, there were huge holes everywhere and hanging on to the bikes was going to be the biggest concern for all the riders, especially Tracy who was suffering with her grip after injuring her hand in Training.Her run went well in the top section and she was on the pace, however by the last minute of the nearly 5min track she was showing signs of fatigue and getting hung up on the rough sections, she was taking the safe option to avoid crashing as some of the other girls had and ended up being a bit off the pace at the finish. This put her in 4th place. She was not very pleased with her result as she had been riding well and it was not her skills that her let her down, but her hand strength instead. This track always tests
Tracy, so she was relieved have had a clean run in the final.  For Fabien, it was a very close call with the rain, if the start had been another 20min later it would have been another wet race. As he prepared at the top, the clouds were building and there was a calm, still atmosphere. He was feeling good and confident before that start which was a big step for him as it was the first time since last season that he was feeling this.The run went really well for him and he was riding better than ever before in the technical sections, he was hitting his lines and avoiding the rough to keep his speed up. By the end of the technical section he was physically exhausted and started to make some mistakes, instead of slowing down to keep control, he stayed in full race mode and decided to try keep it wide open to the finish. Unfortunately for him a small mistake left him hitting a high speed jump unclipped, his foot blew of the pedal on the landing and that caused him to roll over his foot and loose grip, he did and amazing roll, refusing to let go of the bike and managed to get right back on, however he had lost time and that pushed him back into 11th place. He was disappointed but also pleased that he had finally found his race form and speed – just not the result this time. 

Kamil had a solid run and improved his time by nearly 5sec and managed to get into the points in 48th place. He was really happy with his ride and was glad to have ridden to his potential in this race.  4XKamil had a good qualifying run and finished in 9th place on an extended track from 2006 where he won.He was confident and went through the first round easily. His second round saw him between Prokop and Longden on the gate, he had a good start and was in the thick of it on the first turn, Kamil and longden came together and lost speed, allowing 4th place to come through to third and Kamil slip into the opening. After 2 more turns, Kamil had clawed back to 3rd and was ready for the attack onto second, about half wat through the track he saw Longden hit a flag and was sure that he would be disqualified, so he decided to guard 3rd place and not risk making a pass and losing a place, he rolled down in third expecting to be pushed into second due to Longden’s mistake. Unfortunately the the
Marshall did not see what the cameras showed on the big screen so it was ruled in Longden’s Favour and Kamil was out! He was really disappointed with this and could not believe the attitude of the UCI commissare. He ended up 18th. There is now a break from world cups, and only the final remains.The good news for
Tracy and Fab is that they have both improved there overall position with 2nd and 5th respectively. Kamil is having a good DH season and standing 53rd overall.4X for Kamil is not going as well as last year and is 10th at the moment, however the gaps are not hat big so he could move up with a good result in the final. 

WC 2 CHAMPEREY - SWISS June 14, 2007

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Champerey was challenging for all the riders, everyday brought changing weather conditions and the DH and 4X tracks were very technical. My travels started as always, with a little trouble. I got stuck on the swiss border for 5 hours because of 150kg overweight in the truck. I had to get somebody to drive up to the border and collect the excess from the truck before I was allowed to proceed! I got to the race half a day late late so I missed walking the track, that put me a at a bit of a disadvantage because this was probably the most technical track ever in World cup history, certainly the steepest! Tracy, Fab and Kamil all found it challenging just to make it down in the first days training. Brakes were of the utmost concern and we went through various combinations of the shimano components to get a system that worked well for each rider. 

Saturday night brough a big storm to the valley and lots of water came down on the track, making the mornings training a nightmare for the riders. Also the chairlift was broken so it took a long time to get to the start using another lift.The qualification run did not not go well, Tracy crashed 3 times in her run and had a dual with emiline ragot who set off behind Tracy, but also crashed a couple of times.Fabien had similar problems, crashing twice due to the conditions. The final, saw a much drier track for Tracy and she was ready for a solid run, she had been riding amazingly all weekend and was disappointed with her qualification run. The result from the qualification had made her change strategy just before the start, she was going to try have a safe run and not push to make sure she got down ok and kept in the points. Unfortunately this did not work as she found herself hesitant and not getting her lines, she had a small crash at the start due to being off line, then it just snowballed for her, she had another 2 crashes which left her fighting to get her bike untangled from the crash netting and eventually crossing the line with a very disappointing 7th place. Marielle Saner had a home victory which was well deserved.  Kamil was again riding a fine line in his qualification and managed to squeeze into the top 80, This was a very challenging track for him so he was very pleased to qualify! His race went well and he did not make may mistakes, no crashes for him so he was happy! He finished 28th, which is his 2nd best finish ever in a world cup.  For once, it looks like luck was on Fabien’s side. As we were preparing at the top, we saw the clouds rolling in and air getting cooler. We had everything ready for wet or dry conditions, tyres, pedals, fenders… about 15min before the start we decided to take the risk and go for full dry setting, it had not started raining and the track was getting dry. About 10min before the start, it started to rain, just a few drops at first but then getting heavier as Fabien got into the staging tent. It was too late to make any changes so Fabien decided to run the same lines at the same speed, it was a risky decision as we could already see the track starting to shine with moisture. He had a very aggressive start and relised after few turns he would have to slow down to stay upright! He took it easy on the top section and lost 5sec to Matti. After the split, the track was dry so he managed to attack again and pull back a second to cross the line in 3rd.Then it really started to rain and with only 30 riders left it looked like he would stay in place. However, Sam Hill rode amazingly, and came down in a time that pushed Fabien back by 1 place. Overall resultsWomen DH1st - Marielle Saner

2nd – Emiline Ragot

3rd – Sabrina Jonnier

7th – Tracy Moseley  Men1st – Matti Liehikoinen

2nd – Steve Peat

3rd – Sam Hil

l4th – Fabien Barel

28th – Kamil Tatarkovic Four CrossQualification did not go well for Kamil due to some mistakes and he ended up with a high number wich would give him bad gate choice all night. The race was stopped after the first round due the torrential downpour that soaked everything. We did a quick wheel change and Kamil was confident. He had decided to change his start technique a little which seemed to payoff as he had good start on his first round and proceeded to the second. In his next round he was up against Cedric Gracia and Michal Prokop so it would be tough! He had a good start and was along side Prokop after the first turn, then Cedric caught kamils back wheel which made him take his feet off the pedals just before the rock garden, Kamil lost 2 places and went back to 4th. He could not get back to the leaders so was out in that round. Prokop went on to 2nd place with Brian lopes taking the vitory. Kamil finished 17th.  Next Stop SDA in fort William. RegardsPaul

WC No.1 DH/4X VIGO - SPAIN May 21, 2007

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Vigo, Spain The venue for the 1st world cup was the same as the previous 2 years, a small hill just behind the city on the west coast of Spain. I was due to depart on Monday to arrive by Tuesday Evening, then setup everything on Wednesday ready for Thursday morning Training. As I have now come to expect, it is very rare that things go to plan!I ended up leaving on Wednesday afternoon after finding the team truck had some electrical problems and with a public holiday in France, my delay was extended. Wednesday morning was spent collecting a back-up vehicle, unpacking the team truck and re-packing the other van. Obviously this was done in a rush so most of my 18hr drive was spent thinking about what I had forgotten and then what I was going to do to get around not having it…..  The drive went surprisingly well and I made it here mid afternoon on Thursday. Too late for walking the track, but in time to setup with the help of Tracy and Fabien who had arrived the evening before. 4X training was on Thursday evening and I had plenty to keep me bust well into the night. Training went ok for Kamil and he decided to use his Cowan HT for the event, even though the track was rough and loose, the start was critical.DH training on Friday was going well with only some small setup changes needed on the bikes, until Fabien had a big crash and injured his leg. This put him out for the rest of the day. Thankfully it was not too serious and with some excellent work from Martin (therapist) he was able to ride again on Saturday.  Due to a slightly different format the DH semi-final was to be on Saturday, this was to allow for an early finish on Sunday for the Spanish GP.
Tracy and Fab were both happy with their lines and ready for the semi final
Tracy was off first as she holds the No.1 plate from 2006 overall win. She took the start with serious aggression, and actually ended up over cooking it on the first section, fortunately she managed to get it back under control and ride the rest of the run to a safe 3rd place. Emiline Ragot and Sabrina Joinier took 2nd and 1st.  The loose fast track suited Fabien but he was properly focussed during his run and ended up making a small mistake which sent him off track and put him well down the finishing list. When I spoke to him afterwards he was reallyu disappointed with his result but was happy that his split time was good and showed he had good speed.Kamil had an OK run but he was not really satisfied with his performance and knew it would be tough to qualify with such a large field of riders. Fortunately he managed to squeeze in by the narrowest of Margins and take 80th place! The DH final was on Sunday and it had rained lots over night, during the training it continued to rain in showers and then the sun would pop out and dry the track really quickly, so the weather was going to be a large factor in the results.The riders decided to go with intermediate tyres to play it safe. For Tracy this paid off as she went down in the dry with only some parts of the track still wet.She had good run and rode the technical sections well, however was well down on the pedalling and eventually loosing nearly 5sec to Sabrina all in the bottom of the track. Tracy knows she is not yet at 100% physically and now has a few weeks to really push her training. She finished second so was happy to get some good point at the first race.Kamil was the first rider down in the mens race, he had a good run but rode at 95% due to not knowing how dry the track was going to be and eventually did a safe clean run and ended up 32nd place. Fabien started 61st due to his placing from the previous day, unfortunately for him, the weather moved in after the first half of the field went down, it rained, hailed, and left us running for shelter. The track turned into a swamp and we did not have mud tyres so Fabien was left with an ice rink as a race track, some other riders like Nathan Rennie who started at the same period also suffered the conditions and ended up with a poor result. Fabien was happy with his ride and he made the best out of the bad conditions to finish 24th. As Fabien said “ the race was a lottery and I was not the winner”. The riders were overall disappointed with there results, but still happy to have finished where the did given the circumstances. Results DH WOMEN1st Sabrina Jonnier = 2:52.722nd Tracy Moseley = 2:59.99

3rd Emiline Ragot = 3:02.28 

MEN 1st Marc Beaumont = 2:37.212nd David Vazquez = 2:38.57

3rd Greg Minnaar = 2:39.09

24th Fabien Barel = 2:45.95

32nd Kamil Tatarkovic = 2:48.00   4X Kamil finished the qualifying in 6th place event though he made a few mistakes which last him valuable time. It was tough track which was closer to DH than BMX and was a refreshing change, also the new random gate allowed for some interesting results. Kamil rode really well all through the heats, winning every race up to the quarter final, he hesitated on the gate and lost a pedal stroke which caused him to be squeezed out on the first turn and had to brake hard, this put him down to fourth in the heat with no way of getting back. Results 4X1st Gee Atherton2nd Brian Lopes

3rd Michael Prokop

4th Joost Wickman

9th Kamil Tatarkovic

SAN REMO DH CUP 22 APRIL 2007 April 22, 2007

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Just Back from the 13th Annual SAN REMO DH CUP in
Italy. 

At just over an hour from home it was one of the few races where I do not have any crazy travel stories, well other than the small roads and sketchy Italian Driving! 

The weather made for a loose dusty track and the riders scrambling for grip on the fast and technical downhill. Day 1 was a lot of bike setup challenges with the fast track which grip and rolling were of equal importance and the suspension was crucial. The track is long and rough so we decided to go soft on the suspension to make sure the riders had control all the way down the track and keep the tyre pressure high for rolling and avoiding punctures on the rocky sections.The day ended up well with both riders content with there lines and confident for Race day. 

Run 1 went well for
Tracy, (still nursing a finger injury she suffered a few weeks ago). She found it difficult to keep a good grip on the bars and really fought the pain to post a solid time, 8sec ahead of Emeline Ragot. Sabrina Jonnier was Tracy’s main opposition and she was down last in the girls, Tracy sat at the finish watching the clock, Sabrina was on form and on a track that she knows well so she managed a big lead over
Tracy. Tracy was surprised at the gap because she rode well and did not make many mistakes, however in the end it was her hands that let her down, this is always a tough track for
Tracy so she was content to have a solid second place….. 

 

The men’s field was crammed with top names so Fabien needed a clean run to get a good position. This track is also the early season training ground for many teams so Fabien did not have any home ground advantage. During the previous few weeks we have worked extensively on the suspension and we had the right tools for this track! The grip was unpredictable due to the loose terrain, but it was not only a low tyre pressure that would get you down fast. There was talk in the pits of really fast times being set earlier in the week by teams testing so Fabien was a little concerned that he was going to have a tough race. He prepared really well and rode everything like he wanted, he pushed hard but not too hard, he wanted to have the flow of the track and not fight for grip. Everything worked out and he smoked the other riders by a big margin. He was the only rider to go Sub 4min. 

Unfortunately, the second round was plagued with crashes and was eventually cancelled due to long delays caused by attending to the injured riders.So, as the race was to be decided by the faster of the 2 runs,
Tracy was placed second in women and Fabien first in men.Both Tracy and Fabien were disappointed to not have completed the second run as they knew they had more to give, but that’s Racing….. 

 

Next Stop
Vigo! 

RegardsPaul