Gross Gerau

Hi,

I got home quite late last night from the races in Germany. It was a hard weekend. We left on Friday and the trip took a little longer than normal because of lots of traffic and sections of roadwork on the normally "free speed" sections of the German autobahn.

Saturday was really hot. Especially considering its April. First up was the 500m. I didn't race this. There were 20 heats in total. After four rounds it was won in a tight finish by Yann Guyader. As it got even hotter there were more and more crashes.
The first of the long distance races was the 10,000m elimination. The first heat had to be stopped due a serious crash quite early on. I started the second heat from last position. So the first few laps was all about getting to the front as quickly and as safely as possible. All of the top names finally got sorted into some sort of order, and everyone qualified quite easily. The final was an hour or so later, and 60 men lined up. On each lap for most of the race, the last 2 skaters were taken off the track (eliminated). This wasn't such a good race for me personally. With about 10 laps to go, the officials, strangely enough, stopped the race because too many skaters weren't leaving the track once they were eliminated. Diego Rosero from the Sportvital Rollerblade team won the race.

Sunday was a bit cooler. Again we started off with heats, this time for the 10,000m points. Points were up for grabs on every lap. My heat was a case of scoring a couple of points and then saving as much energy as possible for the final.
The final started off at a crazy speed. Right from the start a group of three skaters broke away, including Thomas Boucher of France. Once that was caught, I attacked. I spent two laps alone and then was caught by Nicolas Iten from the Sportvital Rollerblade team. We worked together for about ten laps trading the lead and sharing the points. Once we were caught by the pack, I tried to slot in as close to the front of the pack as possible. Again Boucher attacked and I followed him. However the pack caught us on the last lap. In the end both Iten and I had 18 points, but because he beat me over the line, he took the win.

This was a nice event. However, at times I thought it was a bit dangerous and the officials could of done a bit more to make it safer. For example, instead of 60 skaters qualifying for the final, they could of made it 40 or so. Or maybe they should have created a separate category for national team skaters.

Tomorrow I'm off to a race in Liechtenstein. It's a 40km race on a 1km lap, with a points lap every 5 laps! So that will be an interesting race. I don't know how hard I will race it with the WIC team time trial on Saturday.

Also this Thursday we have to do a little thing for the Swiss TV as a preview for the race this weekend.

Thanks

Scott.

Gross Gerau

Hi Skaters.

This weekend is one of the biggest track races in the World outside of the World Championships. With 120 senior men and 850 skaters total it will be a full-on weekend. I've raced at Gross Gerau once before, back in 2004. There was a 500m, a 10,000m elimination and a 10,000m points race. The overall winner that year was my fellow New Zealander Kalon Dobbin. The field included skaters like Jordan Malone and Alexis Contin. In 2005, none other than Chad Hedrick raced. Last year the race clashed with the World Inline Cup team time trial in Basel, so no big names attended. This year I'll be racing against the likes of Diego Rosero and Yann Guyader. I'm not 100% sure on exact distances, but I know for sure there is a 500m and an elimination race.

Training has been going quite well here in Switzerland. The weather has been amazing. With temps in the mid 20's and not a drop of rain. I open my window everyday and expect gray skies and puddles on the ground, but it hasn't happened yet.

My teammate Reyon Kay has hit the deck a couple of times ... once while training for the time trial (in just over a week), and again yesterday, doing sprints on the banked track.

Next week's time trial in Basel will no doubt once again be one of the hardest races of the season. It's 35 to 40 minutes of going full out on a 5km course with tight corners and uphills. With lots of skaters on a course that can be quite narrow in places, you have to keep your wits about you.

Something that I would like to see sometime in the future is an individual time trial. Not super long, maybe around 10km. It would take quite a while to run, and the race officals would have to be on top of their game because there would be people going everywhere!

I'll report back in after this weekend.

Thanks for reading.

Scott

Here are a few pictures from the kids races I attended on Sunday.

Welcome to Switzerland

Hi Everyone,

Over the course of the next six or seven months I'll be reporting to you from all over about life as a World Inline Cup skater, the races, and my opinions on various matters.

So here goes:

Well, I've been in Switerland now for around a week or so. This will be my fourth year based here for the World Inline Cup (WIC) and Swiss Inline Cup (SIC). It will also be my third year on the Athleticum Rollerblade team. Check out our team's website:
www.athleticum-inline-team.ch

In Switzerland, I live in the town of Zug. It's about 30km out of Zurich. It's more or less the base of the Rollerblade skaters from outside of Europe. There are two houses. In my house I live with fellow New Zealander Reyon Kay, who is also a member of the Athleticum Rollerblade team, but there is also three members from the Sportvital Rollerblade team: Juan Nayib Tobon from Colombia, Tamara Llorens from Argentina, and Catherine Penan from Chile. There is also a smaller apartment about 2km away, where Shane Dobbin and Diego Rosero live.

The season started OK for our team. Seoul is always an interesting race. The first race of the season is always a nervous time. There is so much anticipation. There are so many things to consider: new teams, new skaters, team transfers, and new equipment. On the subject of equipment there was more interest than usual because of the debate over 110mm wheels. Seeing who and who wasn't on them, seeing how they skated, and then the mad rush to get hold of some if they proved an advantage. It's too early to tell if they are faster or not. Some say that they are better because the guys from Powerslide were able to get three of their team members in the winning breakaway. But on the other hand, two of the three podium places went to 100mm wheels. It will be interesting to see what happens here, and it's a case of "Watch this space."

Since landing in Switzerland a week ago, it's been a case of getting everything sorted and settling into our house. The weather here has been amazing. Clear skies and temperatures in the mid-20s (mid-70s F) It's the complete opposite of last year when I came and it was snowing and you couldn't go outside with out jackets and a wollen hat on.

Last Saturday I was invited to a press confrience to mark the start of the new WIC and SIC season. It was also a chance to introduce some of the new sponsors and outline the details of the races for the coming season. For more details you can check out www.world-inline-cup.com

On Sunday, Reyon and I went to Zurich to help out with a race series that takes place throughout the year. It's called the "Nachwuchs-Cup." It's basically a series of track races for under 12 year olds. It was good to see so many young kids wanting and motivated to race.

It's actually a quiet time for us as far as races go. We have this coming weekend free and the following weekend we have the famous track race in Germany, Gross Gerau. It's rumoured that some big names are going to be there many of whom are World Champions, so it will be a good chance to test our form. Then the following weekend is one of the hardest races of the season, the Basel team time trial. 25km pretty much full gas. Between now and then most teams, ours included, will be training together to fine tune our plans and tactics for this hard race.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and skate fast.

Scott.