The first Enduro race of the year was up North in Xanthi, 9 hours drive from our home in Athens.
Alessio and Irene where defending the racing team honor and Momentum academy student ( ex F3 and Kart Greek champ ) Stoyan was ready to enjoy his first mtb race ever! Along with them for the trip was also Alex, a good friend and experienced rider.
Friday:
Leaving Athens in the late morning didn't gave chance to the team to do any practice on Friday, but just have a walk on the 3stage and realized that this race was a serious business ! Was time to test some local food :P
Saturday:
Early wake up and ready to test the 25km course wile the weather was constantly switching from clouds to sun and light rain.
In this Xanthi race no motorized vehicle was allowed for uplift and training so they had to pedal all the way up the mountain and do a real race simulation in order to try all 4 super stages, sadly we have to admit that some riders where not respecting this rule...."God damn it" !!
The stages where a good mix of pedaling, technical, jumps, rocks and muddy off cumber turns, really nice, really worth to drive all the way across Greece for this race ! the trails are amazing!!!!!
Sunday RACE DAY:
Even earlier wake up for building and setting up the tent and maybe have a walk on the secret seeding run trail.
More than 120 riders, not only Greeks, but also from Bulgaria, Germany, France and 6 girls were ready to climb to the seeding stage: Jaster Revenge!
A real mini DH course full of rocks and difficult turns. No chance to practice on that, so ready to race! Alessio, #10, is the first of ours to go. A misunderstanding with the organizers made him believe that this run time would have count also for the final race so he was ready to give 100% trying to make the difference in such a downhill oriented course.
3. 2. 1. . Gooooo coming way to fast for the first mini drop Alessio loses the front wheel grip hits a rock and CRASH HARD ! BUUUUM climbs back to get his Specialized Enduro 29 and cruses his way down... he will ends up in 16 place.
After him is Stoyan, #12, unfortunately he is still lacking some confidence for attacking a trail like this and goes out of the trail in a difficult off camber turn...50 something place.
Irene, #38, is next. After seeing Alessio's crash she takes it easy and safe and finished 2nd women.
Our friend Alex, #113, keeps it safe as well and finished is the first 50 riders.
Arriving at the pit Alessio was feeling a lot of pain at his right wrist after the crash and was not feeling right for racing. After a chat with Stoyan decided to start and climb to the 1st stage anyway and decide once up there.
Climbing to the 1st stage was hard for everybody especially for Alessio that could not even hold the handle bar.
Thank God he manage to resist and embrace the pain finishing 16 this long and demanding first super stage. 26th for Alex, 40th for Stoyan that found traffic and 1st in the women Irene.
Stoyan in "traffic"
From the 1st to the 2nd stage they had to pedal again almost all the mountain up and was not easy, the times were tight and most of the riders made it up on time. Many arrived late too...
This stage was full of jumps and ending in the Xanthi bike park... showtime stage ehehe ( Alessio 13th, Alex 27th, Stoyan 29th and Irene consolidating her 1st spot)
3rd stage.... steep, muddy and tight. Alessio admitted that was not a stage for a 29 bike and was having problem "fitting between the tight trees and corners". But the problem was not the bike than, was his hand. This stage was much more steep and he had to put a lot of pressure on the handle bar, result: he had all his arm muscles in pain now :( 12th place n this stage for our teamleader. Good result for Stoyan in 34th and 45th for Alex, while Irene had some issue and finished 2nd in this stage, but was still 1st overall.
4th stage.... the rocky one !!
Alessio says: " I manage to finish this one only because of the 29er, it rolled so good on the rocks that I forgot my pain!!" the 8th place in this stage made Alessio climb till the 11th position overall, good and unaspected position considering how the day started. Stoyan finished 37th and Alex 38th, very good for both at their first race.
complete results here.
more photos here.
Alessio and Irene where defending the racing team honor and Momentum academy student ( ex F3 and Kart Greek champ ) Stoyan was ready to enjoy his first mtb race ever! Along with them for the trip was also Alex, a good friend and experienced rider.
Friday:
Leaving Athens in the late morning didn't gave chance to the team to do any practice on Friday, but just have a walk on the 3stage and realized that this race was a serious business ! Was time to test some local food :P
Saturday:
Early wake up and ready to test the 25km course wile the weather was constantly switching from clouds to sun and light rain.
In this Xanthi race no motorized vehicle was allowed for uplift and training so they had to pedal all the way up the mountain and do a real race simulation in order to try all 4 super stages, sadly we have to admit that some riders where not respecting this rule...."God damn it" !!
The stages where a good mix of pedaling, technical, jumps, rocks and muddy off cumber turns, really nice, really worth to drive all the way across Greece for this race ! the trails are amazing!!!!!
Even earlier wake up for building and setting up the tent and maybe have a walk on the secret seeding run trail.
More than 120 riders, not only Greeks, but also from Bulgaria, Germany, France and 6 girls were ready to climb to the seeding stage: Jaster Revenge!
3. 2. 1. . Gooooo coming way to fast for the first mini drop Alessio loses the front wheel grip hits a rock and CRASH HARD ! BUUUUM climbs back to get his Specialized Enduro 29 and cruses his way down... he will ends up in 16 place.
After him is Stoyan, #12, unfortunately he is still lacking some confidence for attacking a trail like this and goes out of the trail in a difficult off camber turn...50 something place.
Irene, #38, is next. After seeing Alessio's crash she takes it easy and safe and finished 2nd women.
Our friend Alex, #113, keeps it safe as well and finished is the first 50 riders.
Arriving at the pit Alessio was feeling a lot of pain at his right wrist after the crash and was not feeling right for racing. After a chat with Stoyan decided to start and climb to the 1st stage anyway and decide once up there.
Climbing to the 1st stage was hard for everybody especially for Alessio that could not even hold the handle bar.
Thank God he manage to resist and embrace the pain finishing 16 this long and demanding first super stage. 26th for Alex, 40th for Stoyan that found traffic and 1st in the women Irene.
Stoyan in "traffic"From the 1st to the 2nd stage they had to pedal again almost all the mountain up and was not easy, the times were tight and most of the riders made it up on time. Many arrived late too...
This stage was full of jumps and ending in the Xanthi bike park... showtime stage ehehe ( Alessio 13th, Alex 27th, Stoyan 29th and Irene consolidating her 1st spot)
3rd stage.... steep, muddy and tight. Alessio admitted that was not a stage for a 29 bike and was having problem "fitting between the tight trees and corners". But the problem was not the bike than, was his hand. This stage was much more steep and he had to put a lot of pressure on the handle bar, result: he had all his arm muscles in pain now :( 12th place n this stage for our teamleader. Good result for Stoyan in 34th and 45th for Alex, while Irene had some issue and finished 2nd in this stage, but was still 1st overall.
4th stage.... the rocky one !!
Irene wins the women category after a very demanding day in terms of endurance for her that is used to downhill races.
What a nice week end we had in Xanthi at the first Enduromediterraneo race. Fantastic atmosphere and good vibes. Pure mountain bike riding and a challenging course ! can't wait for the next round ! see you in Steni-Evia !
complete results here.
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