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