A short note from Israel. We’ve spent a few days already here with the Danish MTB National Team.
Yesterday the team relay was thrown off at the race track. At the team relay the nations compete as a four-member team, each member doing one lap. The team must consists of a male, a female, an under 23 rider and a male junior. Klaus Nielsen was starting our race highly motivated by standing on the startline shoulder to shoulder with very strong starting riders from the other nations. Klaus did an excellent ride and passed the pace on to our U23 rider, Kenneth Hansen, who also put all his effort into throwing off some good speed before returning and making the shift to me. I pushed my force into the pedals, but found it a little difficult to really find a good rythm. Jonas Pedersen finished our game and managed to overtake some riders just before crossing the finishline. We finished 8 overall, which could have been better. I guess, more was expected from us, but hey, that’s the way it goes some times.
Today the junior riders are racing, Jonas Pedersen and Magnus Cort representing Denmark. Right now, I’m relaxing and will go watch the last bit of their race before going training on the course. I will cross my fingers and hope they’ll do a great race!
The course is dry, dusty with lots of rocks and slippery, sandy turns. It has some really challeging sections and today I’m going to do some more practice out there. Friday will be race day, so keep your fingers crossed and watch out for another race report 🙂