First off…the slow guys in Cali drop in to visit with Colt from Cyclingdirt.org.

Lots of dramatic pauses. Pensive, we are. Snyder and I will have to put our thoughts together sometime during this 10 hour drive back home.

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Rotem checks in:

Israel Spring Series Weekend #2

Needless to say that I was pretty sore and tired from last weekend. Starting the season with two XC races back to back is a bit shock for the body. Through this week I was focusing mostly on recovery and recognizing the courses for yet another weekend of back-to-back UCI races here in Israel. Through the week we started getting winds from the east (aka Saudi Arabia and other friends…), which means heat waves with sand storms, it’s pretty typical for March in Israel. What happens is that you get few days that are pretty warm relatively for spring here (around 80-90’s) with lots of sand/small particles in the air that makes visibility bad and not really healthy air to breath. On the worst day I decided to ride my trainer indoors with A.C., instead of riding in the heat and breathing sand… it’s pretty ridiculous that just two weeks ago I had to ride the trainer because it was below freezing…

Friday’s race took place in Ma’anit – it’s a small forest located in the middle of Israel, and this year they did a super-short and super-fast course. There were almost no climbing at all, just small hills of maybe 15 seconds, yet the course was about 80-90 percent single tracks which were really tacky and fast. Most of the year I race with the Geax Saguaro 2.0 – which are the best all around racing tires – light, fast and grippy enough on almost any terrain.

For this course I decided to try the Geax AKA 2.0 – it was definitely the right choice – small volume and lots of small knobs are perfect for fast maneuvering and lowest rolling resistance ever. I felt the speed difference already from lap one, I pulled the race from the start, and by lap two (out of 7 !!), we had a small breakaway group – 2 Austrians, one German and I. it was quickly understood by all of us that no one is going to break away before finish line, every try to escape was very fast bridged. It was like a flat road race on a single track, and we were all about the same fitness. We all kept a steady pace through the entire race, until the last lap when things started shaking u. the German guy (Sebastian Schrauzner) crashed and I got stuck after the Austrian guy who decided to stop and take his leg off in the only rocky section on the course. They got a 10 second gap from me on half lap to the finish that I couldn’t bridge. I finished a strong 3rd place after first place, Austrain champion (Hannes Metzler), and second place Marcus Bauer. “the german”, Ben Sonntag, finished a strong 4th place after riding solo all through the raceby himself behind our breakaway. I’m super-stoked with my result and my riding especially with such a flat course that usually doesn’t fit me.

With not much of recovery, the next day announced the final round of the Israeli Spring Series. It is the fourth race, which took place in the city of Haifa, the same course that will host the 2010 European Championships in July. This course is really rough, rocky and bumpy… if you let go off the throttle for a bit, speeds are going down drastically. And that’s why I also chose the Saguaro 2.0 for this course, little bit more cushion and grip. Ohh, and did I forgot – there is no shade or cover from the Israeli sun in this course, European Champ’s in July will make a lot of northern European guys look like tomatoes here…

The race begun with a really fast start from Shlomi, an Israeli rider for an Italian team. The guy starts super-fast, that was impressive – he got like a 30 seconds gap on lap one (out of 6), while I was riding in second place. By lap two he was fading a bit and got a mechanical, then we were riding together for a while until I attacked and took the lead. I kept a good pace all through the race, feeling this day I’m gonna get the W, then I faded for the last two laps, feeling the tiredness from4 races in 8 days… the Austrian champion was there just in case that would happen to me. Although I felt tired, I said I’m not giving up without a fight – last lap I left it all on the course and tried to attack on the first climb, I got a small gap that didn’t last for long. The Austrian got into the rocky climb before me and got a small gap for the finish… I finished second with a big smile, I was the most steady rider throughout the 4 races. The only rider to finish on all podiums, that’s a great way to start 2010 racing season.

One last day here in the Holy Land before I head back to Durango. Although I’m tired and sore, I choose to spend it riding my bike with good old friends riding the “heroes loop” on the Carmel mountain, a sweet mtb ride in Israel.

Can’t wait to go back to snow and colder weather in Durango… – NOT !

Somebody better turn on the heat there, I feel like shredding the trails around D-town already…