Swisscity Power Cup - Switzerland's second National
series
After the final
National series race at Trentham, Caroline and I set off off Switzerland. Our
plan was for some good training near St. Moritz prior to the World Championships
in neighbouring Austria. Two rounds of the Swiss City Power Cup were being held
near to where we were staying. The Elite races are held late on a Saturday
afternoon and the race times are a little shorter than normal but the courses
were still "full on". They were both no easy option races - they both required
little ring (unlike most of the U.K. events)!
Samedam at 1750m can be classed as
altitude, ie. a bit less oxygen in the air. As we had been here less than a week
I was not sure how it would go. I never really got to find out as I double
punctured on the first descent, so ending my race. It was funny, I jumped off
changed my front inner tube quickly, replaced my wheel, then jumped on only to
find that my rear tyre was also flat! My race lasted less than 5 minutes but I
still knew I had tried.
Savognin at 1250m was a better
proposition for me. The course climbed a steep hill for 10 minutes mainly on
wide track before coming straight back down a singletrack. This climb required
bottom gear at times - yes little ring! Then it did an undulating loop for a
further 10 minutes. My race started at 4pm., not as bad as it sounds as you only
turn up on the day, race then go home. Half way through the event it started to
rain this produced some very technical sections (which was to be good practice
for the Worlds - not that I knew at the time). I finished in 9th place to inform
Thomas Frischknecht.
SwissCity Power Cup - Savognin