UCI Mountain Bike World Cup-Offenburg, Germany

UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Round 3

Offenburg, Germany 27^th-29^th May

Race Report By Carla Haines

U23 Female

Watching the sun rise in the beautiful French valleys was so picturesque. Even with a lack of sleep my eyes were kept open by miles and miles of rolling hills. It took over 6 hours to drive from Calais port to Western Germany. The sun was out which made everything seem so perfect as we arrived at our Hotel in Strousberg.

 I had stayed in York with Cait after Dalby World Cup as it would have been difficult for me to get to Dover Port. We then got a train, which was delayed, where our Team manager picked us up to drive down to dover. It was such a long journey I felt exhausted and slightly jet lagged in a way when we arrived at the hotel.

Cait and I went for a spin around the divine City; riding along the Canal and passed the towering cathedral. We had an early night as the next day would be busy for us.

Sign on was at 9am and again a 2 hour wait was not good. I was still tired from the travelling I couldn’t help but yawn alot! It was amazing to get to stand behind some of the professional teams and their managers. Once we had finally signed on, we headed to the arena to park and pre ride. I was stunned. The atmosphere was awesome and I had this huge rush of excitement!

From reading the manual about Offenburg’s course description I couldn’t wait to get on my bike and ride! There were 5 main technical descents on the course; Dual Descent, North Shore, World Class Drop, Wolfs Drop and The Snake Pitt. I had never seen or ridden anything like it!!It was a whole different level that made Dalby so tame! The first lap we rode easily to ‘get to know’ the course. Everything was ride able after a long mental battle with nerves. On all the descents I got this surge of adrenaline and couldn’t believe I was here riding this stuff. In a way I was honoured.      

                                                         

Saturday was another pre ride day. One quick lap with no stopping. The rest of the day we relaxed in the sunshine and watched the Junior and U23 Men’s Race.

Returning to the hotel, race preparation began. An early night was definitely needed from all the travelling and riding done.

Another early morning for us we had breakfast at 7am then made our way to the arena. Again I was in the U23 category and Cait was in Elite. Like last time, U23’s set off a couple minutes after the Elites. The start was very tough; it was much more aggressive than Dalby and started with a steep climb! My legs didn’t feel too great but hung in there as long as I could.

Racing on the course was amazing; I absolutely loved it and had a great time. There was not one part of the course with no one on it!! The crowds were out of this world and so encouraging it gave me a huge rush of determination and excitement.

I did slow down a lot towards the race but just to be able to get the chance to ride one of the best courses was just incredible! I will never forget it.

My position was 35^th- I was ok with that but had a think of what exactly I need to work on- HILLS and CONSITENCY!

I had an amazing time in Germany and very much looking forward to returning there next year!

A huge thank you to WXC World Racing for supporting us at the World Cups and also thank you to Orange Monkey-Cannondale for letting us borrow their turbo trainers.

The next world cups are held in Canada and USA. The team will not be competing in these two but you will find us taking on the world for the final two rounds in Czech Republic (13^th/1th Aug) and Italy (20^th/21^st Aug).