TREK 4th Cyclo Cross Event

23.11.2008 von Ines.

Despite the cold temperatures (luckily there was no wind) we had another good turn out with over 40 riders. To save the spectators and the riders from waiting in the cold, we opted for a mass start. Remarkably, the kids’ race had a spike in attendance with 7 kids “battling” it out. I was riding with gloves at first, but they were outdoor gloves (as I have no cycling gloves). That was fine for 1 lap, but then I had a hard time to shift gears so I decided to drop the gloves after the second round. Suddenly at the accent with barriers the Chinese girl Hu Chen overtook me. I stayed at her back tire for the whole lap. After one lap she seemed to have no energy left and dropped behind. And Jenny was again far ahead. She is a really strong endurance rider. After about the fourth lap I again could hardly shift gears as my fingers were almost frozen. I also had almost no feeling in my toes. I think I need to wear warmer socks for the next race.

The winner were:
•    The ladies podium was the same as last week: 1. Jenny (CAN); 2. Ines (GER); and 3. Hu Chen (CHN)
•    The open podium was: 1. Mr. Liu (CHN); 2. Mike Bilan (USA) and Mr. Wang (CHN)
•    The advanced podium was: 1. Tom Lanhove (BEL); 2. Naran (MON) and 3. Dieter Braekeveld (BEL)

I was especially happy to see Tom finally win as he was there every race and had multiple problems like flat tires or leakages as well as problems like crashing. And he was riding ahead alone with a gap to the second rider. Dieter almost got overtaken by a Chinese rider in the final sprint. We had a special guest at the track. Noel Truyers is the chief editor of the cycling magazine “Cyclo Sprint”. It is the largest and most in-depth Dutch language magazine in Europe. Tom Lanhove has written a special article about Cyclo Cross Races in China and submitted pictures. I cannot wait to see the article.

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