This time, Needy took his GoPro on the middle distance and made a deeper analysis of this race. What was he thinking about when making decisions and choosing route choices and how did the execution of the route choices go?
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the European MTBO Championships 2024 were held in Poland. in Varmia and Masuria region nearby city of OstrĂ³da. I enjoyed it a lot especially the long and the middle distance. It all started with the spring distance which was all in the forest. But in my opinion, it was sprinty just until the seventh control because after that it was fairly easy and more about pushing hard than about not making any mistakes. But still I managed to do a huge mistake while riding off path and that cost me more than a minute and definitely a medal. The winner of the day was Samuel Pocala half a minute before Ignas Ambrazas and another 24 seconds before Andre Haga. I finished 9th with one and a half minute loss to the winner. The next day was the long distance. After seeing the sprint distance I was expecting quite a boring race where the most important aspect would be to push really hard all the time. I’m glad I was wrong. the route choices were really nice and the most important aspect of the race was the execution of the route choices because of so many junctions and crossings in between the controls. There wasn’t any place for the head to rest. I had a really good race and made only two bad route choices. One cost me 40 seconds and the other one cost me almost 2 minutes. But still I pushed really hard and managed to finish first 3 minutes ahead of Andy Walldman and Samuel Pocala. I didn’t have a good sleep after the long distance and felt really tired. My Garmin watch was showing that my training readiness was 1 out of 100 it can’t get any lower. In quarantine I had 3 coffees but that didn’t help either So middle distance I would like to make a deeper analysis of the race which was also shot on the GoPro. In the start corridor my main goal was to put the map in the map holder precisely and plan the first couple of controls. I’m not like other riders who can plan and even remember most of their course in the first minute. I’m more of a rider who cares only about this and the next control. When I started I had two scenarios ready for the control number 3. While climbing up the hill to the control number two I was checking the terrain whether it’s suitable for such a long riding of the path or not. I didn’t get that feeling from the terrain so I kept pushing up the hill and approached the thirt control the way that I didn’t have to turn at the control. For the next control, there was a possibility to cut a corner. The meadow seemed quite rideable so I decided to go for it but at the end there wasn’t any gain or loss done by this cutting. I knew that I wanted to right North from the control number 5 so I was deciding whether to go from the left side and have to turn around at the control or from the right side and hope that the obstacle won’t be that high and it would be possible to ride over it. I decided to go from the right side but sadly I missed the narrow ride and left the path too late The open area was really hard to ride so I had to get off the bike eventually and run and as a cherry on top the fallen tree was quite high by this mistake, I lost half a minute. To the next control, I decided to go from the left side and then keep it as short as possible which was the fastest. I also checked how the control number 14 looks like and how hard it is to pass the obstacles. Luckily those were two fallen trees which were possible to jump over. to the 8th control, I didn’t even think there was any other sensible route choice. So I just went from the left side. By this I was also able to check the surroundings and obstacles around control number 11 But in the finish I was really surprised that it was much faster to go from the right side. I lost almost 20 seconds there. To the next one I planned that if possible I would like to cut. I didn’t see it but on our map, there was even a narrow ride so it was fairly easy. I missed the dots to the control but I didn’t turn back To control number 11 it was also possible to cut but I decided to rather go around because it didn’t seem that much longer. It was faster to cut though but only by a few seconds. Leaving the control I knew I had to turn left but the path continued to the right I stopped immediately because I knew something is wrong I even thought I got lost and find some different control because I didn’t check the control code. But when I turned around I saw the path I should be taking. So this mistake didn’t cost me much just like 10 seconds. In the area where the course was crossing I was ringing my bell just in case because I knew how fast I was going there just a couple of minutes back. To control number 13 I decided to go straight which wasn’t anyhow slow but I fell down and when I got my bike back together I continued in a wrong direction. luckily there was a fallen tree which made me realize where exactly I am so I could recover from the mistake quite fast. I lost 15 seconds by the crash and another 15 seconds by the mistake afterwards. It was fastest to go straight. going from the left side was some 13 seconds slower and going from the right side was 20 seconds slower To the next control I went from the left side because I knew I can pass by the control in full speed despite the obstacles. But I lost some 15 seconds there because it was faster to go from the right side. I was checking the forest between controls 16 and 17 for a long time but I didn’t feel confident enough entering it so I rather went around. By this I lost 10 seconds. To the next control I decided to go through the forest which was fine I just got a bit confused nearby the thicket because I saw some open area and thought it might be the one nearby the control. I lost 10 seconds there but still was 10 seconds faster than those going from the left side and 20 seconds faster than those going from the right side. to control number 19 I went from right because I assumed that riding through the forest jumping over the obstacle and turning at the control are too many minor losses. I still believe this was a good choice even though I lost some 10 seconds there. I probably gained some seconds right away by not turning at the control. The most stupid mistake came after control number 20 where I didn’t check well the situation in the map and thought the path will continue and then turn right but the turning point was already at the control. I had to ride through the forest and lost some half a minute there. Control number 22 was one of the most complicated ones. Riding straight was feasible it was also my choice. but I missed the path so I decided to go from the right side instead. after a couple of seconds I saw another entrance to the forest which seemed quite good so I turned around and went for it. From the navigational point of view it was pretty easy because I was riding in between two hills until I hit the path. I was kind of lucky with this choice I didn’t lose anything even going from the right side was pretty fast. The worst route choice was going from the left side where probably the map wasn’t as perfect because all the riders going from the left side made some mistake there. Before approaching this control I also checked the way to the next control over the open area which seemed really good so I turned right away at the control and went for it. It was almost the end of the race and it was fairly easy to navigate until the finish. but still I didn’t push anyhow hard and I double checked everything because making a mistake in this part would be really sad. I pushed really hard from the last junction when I was 100% sure I would make any mistake until the finish. I lost 8 seconds by this but to me it was definitely worth it. in total I lost three times half a minute and like five times 10 to 20 seconds which was surprisingly enough for the bronze medal. I lost 10 seconds to second Ignas Ambrazas from Lithuania who made a really big mistake to control number 23. And almost a minute to Andre Haga from Finland. Third place from Czech Republic Vojtech Ludvik the long distance Champion. The sprint silver medalist Ignas Ambrazas Lietuva. Second time on the second place and the sprint bronze medalist from Finland Andre Haga second time on the podium with the first place. Mixed relay was the last competition of this year’s European championships 3, 2, 1 start On the first leg, there are usually women and it was no different in our relay. Martina Tichovska didn’t make any big mistake and was handing me over the relay on the second position. One minute behind Denmark and in contact with teams CZE2, ITA1, and FIN3. At the beginning we were riding together with the guys. But then I had some better forkings and managed to hand over the relay to KryÅ¡tof on the first position half a minute before Finland1 with Andre Haga on the third leg. This part is really interesting on the GPS’s because different route choices and mistakes and forkings on their legs together with teams CZE2 and ITA1 following them created quite a nice show which couldn’t be seen from the arena. Check it out So this was it. Our five days in Poland went by really fast and now it’s time to get ready for the races in July World Cup in Latvia and O-Ringen in Sweden. See you there!
1 Comment
Great video!