Hi,
Well Inchoen didn't really go according to plan for me and my team, but it was the same for most of the other teams. Most of the skaters were surprised to learn that the fastest finisher in the WIC, Luca Saggiorato, wouldn't be in Incheon due to a training crash a couple of days earlier. However, about 5km into the race, his team captain Massi Presti blew that out of the water. He attacked with a local Korean skater. Most of the other teams thought that the pack would catch them again on the slight downhill before the finish, but they were never seen again. Skaters first tried attacking to bring them back; then with about 20km to go, a teams team time trial of sorts happened on the front. All the big teams left in the pack sent a guy, sometimes two guys to the front. It was one of the most organised chases I have ever seen in a WIC event. However Massi and his Korean friend pulled away from us!!!
About 7km before the finish a group of eight skaters finally got away from the main pack. Our team had Reyon Kay in it. He held on for a good 7th place after quite a fair amount of work before hand. In the end, Massi easily beat his Korean breakaway friend to the finish, and Jorge Cifuentes from Matter came in third to give his team its first podium of the year.
This weekend is something a little different. On Friday evening, there is a relay race for the WIC teams on the new banked track in Switzerland. Then on Saturday there is a brand new WIC marathon, also in Switzerland. I don't know any details about the course, there have been so many stories floating around from "it's an easy course" to "it could be one of the hardest events of the year." So we'll see on Saturday.
Thanks
Scott
Showing posts with label rollerblade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rollerblade. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
News.
Hi Everyone,
There has been a bit of down time over the past couple of weeks. We've got two weekends without races. It's been a good chance to get some solid training in before the next block of racing starts.
There has been alot of talk over the past couple of weeks about wheels. My team is sponsored this year by MPC. Last year MPC really burst on to the scene at the World Champs. I know I used them, and aside from Joey Mantia I think they won a large percentage of the medals. Since then they've been working hard on develping wheels. They have released the VT models, which is our wheel of choice for dry marathons. As everyone knows they are also responsible for the famous Storm Surge wheel. In regards to 110mm wheels I have never skated on them, and to be honest I don't think I will this season unless they prove to be head and shoulders above 100mm. Also I have one eye fixed on the World Championships where you can only use a maximum of 100mm. Different skaters are popping up on 110mm set ups all the time and to be honest they have yet to make a huge impact. Powerslide is one company that has invested alot of time into the whole 110mm scene. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 5 or 6 weeks, it could once again lead our sport in a different direction with material.
During the day we often do alot of nothing. Of course training takes up a large percentage of time. Over the next couple of weeks we are blessed with the Giro di Italia (Tour of Italy bike race). Since I am a pretty big cycling fan, most of my afternoons are spent in front of the TV.
Its is also important for us to rest when we can. Rest is often as important as the training itself.
Next Thursday we fly to Incheon. The race is Sunday morning and we leave Monday. There are a couple of talking points about this race, first the prize money. It's noramlly US$10,000 for the win so quite often the race for overall points gets thrown out the window and it's just a race for the money. Second, the hotel. All the WIC teams stay at the Hyatt. It's a 5 star hotel and that's quite a rare thing for most skaters.
Thanks for reading.
Scott
There has been a bit of down time over the past couple of weeks. We've got two weekends without races. It's been a good chance to get some solid training in before the next block of racing starts.
There has been alot of talk over the past couple of weeks about wheels. My team is sponsored this year by MPC. Last year MPC really burst on to the scene at the World Champs. I know I used them, and aside from Joey Mantia I think they won a large percentage of the medals. Since then they've been working hard on develping wheels. They have released the VT models, which is our wheel of choice for dry marathons. As everyone knows they are also responsible for the famous Storm Surge wheel. In regards to 110mm wheels I have never skated on them, and to be honest I don't think I will this season unless they prove to be head and shoulders above 100mm. Also I have one eye fixed on the World Championships where you can only use a maximum of 100mm. Different skaters are popping up on 110mm set ups all the time and to be honest they have yet to make a huge impact. Powerslide is one company that has invested alot of time into the whole 110mm scene. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next 5 or 6 weeks, it could once again lead our sport in a different direction with material.
During the day we often do alot of nothing. Of course training takes up a large percentage of time. Over the next couple of weeks we are blessed with the Giro di Italia (Tour of Italy bike race). Since I am a pretty big cycling fan, most of my afternoons are spent in front of the TV.
Its is also important for us to rest when we can. Rest is often as important as the training itself.
Next Thursday we fly to Incheon. The race is Sunday morning and we leave Monday. There are a couple of talking points about this race, first the prize money. It's noramlly US$10,000 for the win so quite often the race for overall points gets thrown out the window and it's just a race for the money. Second, the hotel. All the WIC teams stay at the Hyatt. It's a 5 star hotel and that's quite a rare thing for most skaters.
Thanks for reading.
Scott
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Rennes
Sorry for my late report but I didn't get back to Swiss until yesterday evening, and was really tired from the travel, let alone the race.
As I said before the WIC race in Rennes is famous for rain. The town of Rennes is located on the Western side of France and all sorts of weather gets blown in off the Atlantic. We left very early Saturday morning from Zug. We caught the train to Basel where Reyon and I met up with the rest of the Athleticum team. From there we caught the TGV to Paris, the metro (subway) in Paris to another station, and then another TGV from there to Rennes.
This is the only marathon of the season where the ladies' race is held seperate from the men's. The ladies' race is 40km and started at 1400 and the men's is 53km and started at 1600. It was raining and then it wasn't all morning. It made wheel choice quite a gamble: run with the new Storm Surge wheels in the hope it would rain, but if it dried it would be tough to push them for 53km; or use the 'normal' dry weather wheels, the pink VT's, but if it rained it would turn the course into (pardon the pun) a skating rink. In the end, I settled on the gold Street Fight wheels. It was sort of like having a dollar each way.
The race started under cloudy skies. The race was very fast considering the narrow and technical course. On the second lap there was a huge crash on one of the narrow sections. I crashed here and was just standing up when I was taken down again from behind. Because it was early in the race and as a great show of sportsmanship, the bunch waited for everyone to get going again. Almost straight away it started raining. There was a U-turn and I crashed again just as the winning breakaway took off. While I was unlucky, my teammate Roger Schneider made it. Over the course of the next 20km, the breakaway group steadily built its lead. During this time, we encountered some of the worst conditions I've ever raced in: pouring rain and winds that were strong enough to blow you over. The guys in the breakaway started attacking each other to try and go solo to the finish. Towards the end Roger, my teammate, and Shane Dobbin from Sportvital Rollerblade attacked and got a gap. Meanwhile, in the bunch, I attacked with about 10km left.
In the end, Roger held of Shane for this first big win of the season and the second WIC win for Athleticum in 2 weeks. Massi Presti led home the rest of the breakaway, then I came in for 7th and then my team mate Reyon Kay won the pack sprint for 9th. So it was another good weekend for Athleticum with 3 in the top 10.
Since we've been back in Swiss, it's been cold and wet. I hope it clears soon because I was looking forward to getting some good training in without having races on at the moment. Our next WIC race is at the start of June in Incheon, Korea. Everyone wants a good result there because it's our sport's richest race. So there is that extra motivation.
Thanks for reading.
Scott.
As I said before the WIC race in Rennes is famous for rain. The town of Rennes is located on the Western side of France and all sorts of weather gets blown in off the Atlantic. We left very early Saturday morning from Zug. We caught the train to Basel where Reyon and I met up with the rest of the Athleticum team. From there we caught the TGV to Paris, the metro (subway) in Paris to another station, and then another TGV from there to Rennes.
This is the only marathon of the season where the ladies' race is held seperate from the men's. The ladies' race is 40km and started at 1400 and the men's is 53km and started at 1600. It was raining and then it wasn't all morning. It made wheel choice quite a gamble: run with the new Storm Surge wheels in the hope it would rain, but if it dried it would be tough to push them for 53km; or use the 'normal' dry weather wheels, the pink VT's, but if it rained it would turn the course into (pardon the pun) a skating rink. In the end, I settled on the gold Street Fight wheels. It was sort of like having a dollar each way.
The race started under cloudy skies. The race was very fast considering the narrow and technical course. On the second lap there was a huge crash on one of the narrow sections. I crashed here and was just standing up when I was taken down again from behind. Because it was early in the race and as a great show of sportsmanship, the bunch waited for everyone to get going again. Almost straight away it started raining. There was a U-turn and I crashed again just as the winning breakaway took off. While I was unlucky, my teammate Roger Schneider made it. Over the course of the next 20km, the breakaway group steadily built its lead. During this time, we encountered some of the worst conditions I've ever raced in: pouring rain and winds that were strong enough to blow you over. The guys in the breakaway started attacking each other to try and go solo to the finish. Towards the end Roger, my teammate, and Shane Dobbin from Sportvital Rollerblade attacked and got a gap. Meanwhile, in the bunch, I attacked with about 10km left.
In the end, Roger held of Shane for this first big win of the season and the second WIC win for Athleticum in 2 weeks. Massi Presti led home the rest of the breakaway, then I came in for 7th and then my team mate Reyon Kay won the pack sprint for 9th. So it was another good weekend for Athleticum with 3 in the top 10.
Since we've been back in Swiss, it's been cold and wet. I hope it clears soon because I was looking forward to getting some good training in without having races on at the moment. Our next WIC race is at the start of June in Incheon, Korea. Everyone wants a good result there because it's our sport's richest race. So there is that extra motivation.
Thanks for reading.
Scott.
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