Maros Bike Marathon 2011

Bad luck and frustration.

This is what I can say about the last important race of the year and one of the best organised races in Romania, not only because it's a UCI race.

I planned to race the short distance again and to force again a podium finish. I started pretty slow but I was increasing the pace after the end of the first climb (around 18km from 50). I was gaining time on the descends but I was praying not to cut again the tires. After I've finished the hardest downhill without any problems I thought that this might be my day.

But this wasn't like this... I cut, like last year, my rear tire somewhere... Rock, glass or wire, I don't know but I got a 4mm cut. The sealant was pretty good because I didn't had to use the pump but I had to stop pretty often to shake the wheel and the sealant to fill it. So I've lost like this more than five minutes, but if I didn't won, it means I am not good enough, no matter the problems occurred.

I might say that I was lucky because a lot of other riders had flats even with thicker tires so I can't blame the tires. So from now on, for the rocky marathons, where I can't change the wheels like at the XCO races, I'll use only Conti ProTection tires ! For a few extra grams I can save a lot of time.

Hope that the tire cut curse is over for the next races and also for the next edition of Maros Bike Marathon, because I am planning next year to win the short distance race no matter the sacrifices !

No matter this year result, my dad was there to support me and I can say that I really appreciate it. I also would like to thanks to everyone that cheered me up during the race at the feeding zones or on the rest of the course. Also big thank you for the photos !

More photos can be seen if you CLICK HERE

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners: Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear,Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff.

Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

Cheers,

Vlad

Later Edit: Eli, congratulations for the organisation of this race ! It was better than any other before and it will be worse then the following ones !

A shy come back

As you must be already used too, this will be again a 2 (races) in 1 (post). The major problem is the time that seems that is not enough so I have to plan it really careful.

I will start my short report with the Banat Marathon from August 7th, where I've raced the short distance coming back on the bike after a complete 2 week break after a serious flu that kept me in the bed with a lot of pills and hot tea. I can't say to much about the course or the race because was a short one, as I like them. I am a "short track" fan so this suited me very well. I didn't pushed to hard but I was leading the race with another rider and in the last kilometers I've pushed a bit and gain some time finishing 1st, 7 seconds ahead the second place.

This motivated me a lot and set the smile on my face.

After a week I headed Oradea for an XCO event, organised by VeloSport Oradea. I know that 10 years ago was another race there but then I wasn't racing so for me was a nice surprise. The course was really really nice with steep uphills and technical descends so for me was something that fitted like a glove.

Another surprise was the participation of two Hungarian riders. One of them was Blazso Marton, the winner of Maros Marathon last year, and 3rd this year at Maros XCO. Also he was 3rd at the National Championships in Hungary at XCO and XCM so the level of the race increased a lot even if we were not so many riders at the Elite Cat.

I had a fast start but after the start loop I tried to find a good pace. After the first uphill I was second behind the hungarian rider and I keep it that way 3 laps when my team mate Tudor passed me and I couldn't keep the speed and after 5 laps I've finished 3rd. Eli finished 4th, Zoli 5th and Nicu was 1st at the Amateur cat.

I had a great time with my team mates at a pool with thermal water before and after the race, that chilled me and made me feel better.

I also had a great time with the guys from Oradea. Big thanks for the after race pizza. You don't see really often this king of hospitality !

Many thanks to Nicu who was great at the feed zone changing the bottles, to Raluca, Mura Istvan and Palca Szilard for the photos. Also many thanks to everyone on the course that cheered me up and congratulations to everyone involved in this event ! I had great time.

More photos can be seen on my Picasa Album.

And a footage on the TV and a short movie on Youtube.

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear,Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop,Zakudoand Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

Hope to hear you soon with even more good news.

Cheers,

Vlad

2011 National XC Champs

After 4 year the National Champs come back to the place that they belong: at Paltinis, Sibiu. It is situated at 1440 m altitude, being the highest resort in Romania. It was founded by an association – Siebenbuergischer Karpatenverein (S.K.V.) – in 1894 and three villas from that period still exist.

We arrived there Friday evening but we weren't fast eno

ugh to get a ride on the course.

Saturday morning got the first ride on the course and took some photos and in the evening we get back on the course to find some faster lines on the downhill sections.

There was a lot of powdery dust, rocks, roots, everything that a course needs and the X-King tires hold up excellent. I was still fighting with the flu that kept me pretty week.

Sunday, the race day. It started to rain, so I want to keep it safe mounting the Mountain King II tires that were super reliable the week before at Azuga. After one lap the rain stopped and the soil started to dry out. I couldn't find a fast enough pace on the uphills, but I w

as pretty confident on the descends.

I've finished 10th, far from what I've want it. Congratulations to everyone but especially for Tudor who finished 4th and Eli who finished 7th. Nice ride guys !

Now I just want some days off, to fight off the cold and start again the training for the rest of the season. This was only a race, even if it was an important one, and I have to look forward the next races.

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear,Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudoand Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

Now I will try to think at what Churchill said: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

More photos from training and race can be found HERE

Cheers,

Vlad

Surmont MTB Challenge

I was for the first time in Azuga, a very beautiful resort located at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains, an are that can offer a lot of fun in the summer but also in the winter with the longest ski run in Romania, called Sorica.

Arriving there the day before the race, me and my team mates decided to take a run on the last part of the course.

Was a bit to hot outside and drinking cold spring water caused me a flu that worsened over the days and today, almost two weeks after hits the apogee.

The course was very challenging, a lot of singletrail, uphill on a flooded road, a lot of pushbike, but for me was the end of the beginning. I was feeling week and I couldn't keep a fast pace on the climbs even if I've enjoyed the downhills a lot.

I have finished 5th at the medium distance but I was far from the fettle that I had last weeks.

But the good thing is that I had the chance to ride the new Conti Mountain King 2.2 Race Sport and I must say that is a great tire. You will see soon a review.

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear,Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

I will come back again with some news regarding the National Champs.

More photos from Azuga: HERE

Dreaming for better days,

Vlad

Duna Maraton 2011

Together with my team we thought that it's the time to race a bit outside Romania.

Duna Maraton, which is the biggest hungarian marathon was a good idea so we've registered and took the chance. It is also included in the "Intersport MTB Marathons" series with Salzkammergut Marathon from Austria and Stupava Trophy in Slovakia. Also for the hungarian riders this race counted for the national marathon championships.

As I am not a marathon

fan, I've went to the short distance, which suited me better, being similar to a XCO race.

This was the second time I have raced @ Duna Marathon after my first time in 2004. It's a long time since then. The course changed but it was fun. We had a very fast road climb but after that getting on the offroad I've felt like the fish into the water.

The course was fast but with technical descends that

put the smile on my face.

I have finished 9th overall and 3rd at my age category so coming back home with a medal is a good thing.

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear,Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo andBuff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

You can find some more photos HERE.

A post about the last race, Surmont MTB Challenge will come soon.

Stay tuned,

Vlad

Clujul Pedaleaza - City Night Stage

Last week end, Saturday to Sunday, happened the Night Stage from the local championship called "Clujul Pedaleaza". For me was something new, because the was my first race on tarmac, in the night and with the mountainbike.I've fitted my Continental Sport Contact tires so the rolling resistance was minimum and I had an awesome grip. Now I am confident that these tires are the best for road riding/racing for a mountainbike. Super fast, great acceleration and awesome gripy on corners and pavement.

The start was at 1 A.M. so it was pretty strange for me as at 11PM usually I am already sleeping. I felt like a zombie.

The start was fast, the race even faster. We had 10 laps of 2.7km rolling with a 31km/h avg speed and a maximum speed of 60km/h. I am not used with this, but was nice. We had a lot of spectators on the track considering the hour when the race took place.

I felt pretty good, from the start to the end I was in the leading group, but as I am not a brilliant sprinter, I've finished 4th at 2 seconds behind the winner.

I would like to congratulate my team mate Tudor which finished 3rd.

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear, Sapim,Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

More photos will come, updating this post with a link to the gallery.

For me and some of my team will come a free week end and after that the Duna Marathon, near Budapest.

Cheers,

Vlad

Once again 2 in 1

Being busy lately with the final exams and training I didn't had the time to post here the news about the latest news.

So I am coming back with the review for 2 race in 1 post.

I would like the start with the Ardealul Trophy Race. This year the race was managed by my team mate Eli. I've helped a bit to mark the course the day before

the race as the budget was really low.

I had a good race, being like a training for the upcoming events. I've finished 2nd at Men Elite, 3rd overall all 2 minutes behind the winner.

I liked the course because is pretty fast with some technical zones, but I prefer races with more than 40 riders. Overall was a nice friendly event.

After a week was the Concordia Cup. There was always a nice event with nice people. But this year we all noticed the global warming. There were 32C and from the 7.5 km of race track that we had to run over 5 times, only a few hundred meters were in the wood. Half of the wood section was covered in sticky mud. In the last two laps I had to stop and clean the wheels because the mud was to thick.

I had the lead of the race 3 laps out of 5, keeping a good

pace for me but in the last two laps I was feeling like I had a heatstroke. I had to keep a lower constant pace, but I've managed to finish behind my two team mates Tudor and Eli. My other team mate Zoly finished 4th. So 4 riders from team.marossport.ro finished in top 4.

I felt the legs pretty strong and I hope that this week end at Medias Marathon they will feel at least the same as the mud seems to be part of the race after watching the forecast. I hope that this time I am wrong and it won't be too much mud as in the Medias area is really sticky. I will prepare also my Continental Mountain King II and X-Country Tires. I wanna use wide tires, but the rain will make the final decision.

Thanks a lot to everyone that cheered me up, especially to my girlfriend Simona, who was also in charge with my spare water bottles, it was really motivating to have her next to me! I like to race like this but not when is so hot!

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear, Sapim, Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

You can find more photos from the Ardealul Trophy here and from Concordia Cup here.

Also I have some movies from the previous stage of Clujul Pedaleaza, that I've forgot to post.

and a short movie from Concordia Cup, both edited by Eli.


Hope to come back with good news after Medias Marathon.

Thanks for reading guys.

Cheers,

Vlad

Another race @ Clujul Pedaleaza

Last week end I had my first race @ Clujul Pedaleaza, the championship in my hometown. I has several races and even if this is the second one, for me was my first participation.

The course was almost the same as @ Cluj Winter Race, but slightly modified, being more difficult and more technical. I was able to ride it a few times before the race and this thing made me faster and more confident on descends. Even if this was an advantage in the race but I almost crash a few times pushing to hard. But this, happened only in the last lap when I was sure for my 3rd place and I tried to catch the 2nd one.

I was from the beginning on the 3rd place, being very close to the guy in front of me, but I couldn’t catch him. I am happy with my run and I think that in the future, if everything will go well, better results will come.
Congrats to everyone that participated and organized this race ! I am waiting the next ones!

Thanks a lot to everyone that cheered me up, it was really motivating! I like to race like this!

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners: Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear, Sapim, Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

You can find more photos here. There were made by Vali Turean, Alin Igritan, Raluca and Sanyi

I will update this post with more photos and maybe a short movie.

Cheers,

Vlad

PS. Here's a movie from the Mures XCO Race that I've told you in my previous post made by my team mate Eli.

2 races in 1 weekend

From the 28th of April until the 1st of May I had a rough weekend. For me was the first weekend with two races in two consecutive days. I had to thing to a new strategy.

Saturday was the first race, the Romanian Cup XCO, organised by the Romanian Cycling Federation.

It was the same, classic course, but with some nice modifications like: new climbs, new descends, some nice jumps and slopes. The course was really really dry and my mistake was not to put with me the Conti Race King tires, that are a bit faster than the X-King. But I didn't regret at all because they've done a really nice job, having a lot of grip with them.

I love that course, but only when is dry. I had a better race than the last one feeling much better. We didn't had the same competitors but was hard. Finally I was 6th at Men Elite and 7th overall.

The next day was the Gepida MTB Marathon. I've raced the short distance as I was tired from the previous day. I had a nice race, was still sunny and dry. The broken tree branches put me in a difficult situation because they could affect the bike integrity. I've lost with another 2 riders for a few km but finally we've ended at the finishline, sprinting for the 1st place. I've finished 1st at my age category and 2nd overall.

Again I am happy for my run and for feeling better and better every day.

I hope to get in a better shape and that the training will have effect.

You can find more photo right HERE

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners:Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear, Sapim, Thule,Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

Cheers,

Vlad

Maros Bike XCO

This year first race for me was the Maros Bike XCO UCI. The home race. Damn ! And a UCI 2nd Class race.

As I am a bit behind with my training program and a tired after helping Eli a bit to prepare the race I've started pretty hard but in the 4th lap I could keep the pace after I started to feel tired. So I've decided to push harder on the descends. Finally I was 22nd after competing with the best guys from Hungary, Serbia and Romania. Congratulation for all of them !

I was really motivated, but the motivation can't replace the training.
Was the first race where I've tested my new bike, my new wheels and my new tires.
The bike is a Focus Raven Carbon with a Magura Durin fork from MarosSport, the wheels are FRM with Sapim spokes from one of my sponsors Sapim and the the tires were the Continetal X-King 2.2 Race Sport. Unfortunately I couldn't race them tubeless as the valves for the rims didn't arrived yet, but I was lucky with the Joe's No Flats sealant in the tubes and didn't had troubles at all.
The bike went super smooth, I feel it really nice, but now I have to train longer and harder to get the results I hope for.

The best thing about this race was the crowd that cheered me up. Big ups for them ! That's the first race in my whole life were I had this kind of suporters. Because of this I won't start a fan club, but this is the attitude that the spectators should have with any other riders. This is the spirit of the people in Cluj and in Transilvania.

The only negative thing was the attitude of some riders who do not know what fair play is and besides they act like stupid people, they show this thing to everyone. For them I have only one thing to tell: shame on you or "szégyelld magad", because maybe they don't even know to read in English. I wrote this with a smaller font, because it doesn't even worth it !

Thanks again to to Maros Sport for all the support but also to the other sponsors and partners: Ashima, Continental, Cratoni, Syntace, Joe's No Flats, Xpedo, Adidas Eyewear, Sapim, Thule, Grip Grab, Rest Wise, VDO, KMC Chains, Power Cordz, Kool Stop, Zakudo and Buff. Thanks a lot for reading and next time hope you'll read better news.

You can see more photos here and hopefully the album will be updated soon !

Cheers !
Vlad

2011

It passed a while since I've posted las time on my blog.

Since then I've organized the 5th edition of Cluj Winter Race and some changes happened in my life. One of the most important is changing the bike brand from Cannondale to Focus. It's still hard a bit for me after 3 wonderful years on Cannondale and for this I would like to say a big big thank you to all the guys from Cannondale that were next to me and still are. I am still a big fan and I will always like their bikes but is time to make the step to something new. Maybe someday I will comeback and race again on Cannondale, but this season I will race on a Focus Raven with a Magura Durin 100R fork thanks to the same dealer: Marosbike.ro

The bike is still waiting for some upgrades that will be made this week and after that will be ready to race.

Besides this I will continue my collaboration with:

- Ashima - disc brakes, rotors and pads - 3rd year

- Continental - bike tires and tubes - 4th year

- Cratoni - helmets - 2nd year

- Syntace - seat posts, handle bars, stems, titanium bolts - 4th year

- Joe's No Flats - sealant and tubeless systems - 2nd year

- Xpedo - pedals - 4th year

- Adidas Eyewear - eyewear - 3rd year

- Sapim - spokes and nipples - 4th year

- Thule - car racks - 2nd year

- Grip Grab - gloves, overshoes and socks - 2nd year

- Novatec - hubs - 2nd year

- Restwise - training resting program - 1st year

- VDO - cycle computers - 4th year

- Kool Stop - brake pads - 4th year

- KMC - chains - 2nd year

- Power Cordz - lightest derrailleur cables on the planet - 1st year

- Zakudo - equipment - 2nd year

- Buff - 2nd year

Now I am waiting the Maros XCO UCI Race which will be on the 16th of April and I hope that I will make a good race. I am not expecting something spectacular as I am a bit behind the training due to some school exams but I hope I will catch up.

Thanks a lot for reading and I will keep you updated since now on.

Cheers to you all,

Vlad