May 4, 2005 – I already have two races under my belt (well actually 1-1/2) and still have the Polish Grand Prix and two MTB World Cups in Europe ahead of me. My first experience racing in Poland was from far back in the field and it was a bit of a shocker. I landed in Poland on a Thursday and hopped into the Lotto team truck for an 8-hr drive to the race, which concluded my 26-hr travel day.

The race was held on the upcoming Saturday which only gave me two days to get my brand new bike together and test my legs to make sure that they didn’t seize up. My plan for the next four weeks or so was to do three MTB Polish Grand Prix’s and two MTB World Cups, one in Spain and one in Belgium. It can be tough in North America to find support from any team, or your own National team, to cover an athlete racing in Europe. So Polish powerhouse, Team-Lotto, stepped up and is helping me with accommodation, travel and race support. I’ll be traveling with them over the next five races and they were very welcoming and happy to support me.

It is really hard to be able to travel to races and find accommodation and support yourself, especially at events of such high calibre as an MTB World Cup. Team Lotto took me in as if I was part of the team, and so far all the support and professionalism they have shown and given me, has been overwhelming. I have never received so much support and attention, and have never seen so much attention to detail as I have from this team.

The Grand Prix races in Poland are on a different scale than I thought they would be. The closest I could compare these races to when it comes to organization is World Cups, and not even North American World Cups. The competition follows suit to “” on the start line there were Russians, Danes, Czechs, and more. When I looked through the field, there were past World Champions, riders from the younger Junior and U23 ranks, and several high ranked riders. The courses here are very different and non-typical by North American standards.

The route was a very short and fast 4km loop which took around 10-12 minutes to complete and had more climbing in one lap than most courses have in 30-40 minutes. It’s very similar to a cyclo-cross course I also made it very spectator-friendly. We were set to do two start loops and nine full laps, but I was feeling a little jet-lagged as expected and didn’t seem to find my legs ending up being spit out the back in 17th “” a good first taste of European racing. The next weekend we were near the Czech border in the mountains and the skies were not so kind leaving us to race in 7 degree temperatures, under a nice, heavy sheet of rain all day long.

I ended my race early with my right eye being shut from mud, and had to be taken off the course and have my eye examined by the doctor and was not able to see for the next few hours.

This weekend I have a chance to redeem myself at the 3rd Grand Prix which is being held on the same course used for the European Championships two years ago. It’s supposed to be pretty cool, racing through a castle and old ruins. I’ll let you know how that went.

Other than that I’m chillin here with my Grandpa near Krakow where the riding is unreal and the mountain scenery is great as well. I must say that when I finally get back to Canada, I’ll be able to put this chapter down in my racing career as a huge step and experience towards reaching my goals in the challenging and unique sport of XC mountain biking.

Tomorrow the team picks me up first thing in the morning and we’re off to the next venue. I’m starting to understand what to expect from these races and I’m hoping for better results.

Later
Marty