It could be better

Last weekend was the first Romanian race of the season: The Federation Cup. This is the most important XC race after the National Champs. What can I say? We went there Saturday with the rain behind us so when we arrived at Targu Mures was raining. The race course was pretty muddy but we went out there to check it out. No major surprises: mud, mud and again mud.

The weather cleared over the night and before the start was pretty hot outside. This caused (at least for me) a discomfort. However I took the start pretty good and I was in top 10 when we entered the wood and the single trail. everything went out so good for the first 3 laps even if the mud complicated everything. More than 50% of the climbs couldn't be made on the bike, so the race wasn't for the best biker, but for the best runner.

Before starting the 4th lap I started to feel my legs very heavy. This caused me more then 5 places. I knew that will be hard to come back or if it's possible to come back. I struggled and pushed myself and got on the final 3rd position at Under23. I have to say that I pretty happy with this place because physically I was so ended up in the 4th lap, but my motivation got me to the finish line.

I feel that the winter training is doing his job, even if I need a few more races to get in a better shape. I'll continue my training I'm sure that my results will improve.

Now I would like to say again a big thank you to all my sponsors that are supporting and helping me in everything I do, I would like to say a big thank you to my family and friends that are with me no matter what. A big thank you is for the guys from Cannondale who updated my frame with the 2008 Taurine, THANK YOU !

I hope that next race will be Buda Marathon, in Budapest on the 1st of May. Anyway I'll keep you updated.

Keep on pedaling,
Vlad

PS. I'll upload more photos in the next days.

First Romanian race of the year

The first cross country race from Romania, will be the one from Targu Mures - The Romanian Cup. Is one of the most important races of the year and it's a tradition that this is the first xc race from Romania (Next year I hope that the tradition will change, because we need also earlier races). The track will be near the ZOO, race course that wasn't used by the organizers in the last 3 years. That's quite a shame because it's a great, technical and demanding race course. For the people who would like to come to Targu Mures, I have found some information on the Romanian Cycling Federation. Click here to see what is all about.

The race will be Sunday, so I'll ask you to wish me luck. I'll participate with my team (Maros Team) and I hope that I'll get a good position. The last days I had to make a little pause due to some problems, but I hope that now it will be ok, because my winter training went so great. I still need a few races to test myself and prepare for the important races of the year such as the National Romanian Champs, the European XC and MX Champs, the World Cup from Schladming and maybe the World Championships from Italy.

I promise I'll catch you up with more news and photos after the race.

Wish you the best,
Vlad

PS With this occasion I would like to say again a BIG THANK YOU to all my sponsors.

Duke Im Park - more photos and a video

As you know from my last post my team and I participated at the Duke Im Park, the first race of the season right in Vienna...

When I posted the article I've promised you more photos. In mean time, a local television mention this on the 28th of March on their news cast. You can see us there by scrolling on the 16:55 minute. And the second movie is filmed by us, and edited by Eli, to show you the real meaning of this race.





And below are more photos from the race. The photos are made by Tudor Maros and Sportograf. I hope you like them. To see all the 34 photos from this race, please click [HERE]

I'll catch you soon,

Vlad