Most everyone got lost at least once trying to find there way into the
French mountain town known as La Bresse, and we were no exception.
After having the mountains test our navigation skills, dealing with
dense fog, trying to do all this at 2am following 20 hours of travel,
we eventually were confronted by the police while being parked
alongside of an apartment building stealing internet, and they offered
to escort us in the correct direction to La Bresse.
The town of La Bresse is pretty awesome and the people were kind and
understanding of our lack of skill with the French language. La Bresse
had all the characteristics I would imagine of a French mountain town.
The homes have red tile roofs along with tons of massive wood piles.
The track had a very classic feel to it, open grassy sections, taped
off very wide, few berms and for the most part very natural. La Bresse
is home to some skilled carpenter, who built wooden features to spice
up the course, including a jump over a house around mid track.
As in any European, the weather played it’s part this weekend. On the
day we checked into our chalet and walked the track the sun was out in
full effect, but along with the setting sun came dark clouds, and late
Thursday night a heavy storm had set in with thunder and lighting for
added effect. Making our way to the track on Friday for our first day
of practice, with our bikes equipped with spike tires, we were eager
to see the conditions. Even with the rain the course seemed to be
bedding in pretty good, and it may have actually helped to form some
lines.
After a short rain at the end of Fridays practice the skies stayed
clear through to Saturday. The conditions were improving and the pace
of practice was stepping up as everyone was prepared to qualify 80
riders from the 215 who entered. Kieran Bennett was fighting with a
cold that he picked up during our exhausting travels, and hoped that
it wouldn’t effect his attempt to qualify this afternoon, despite
having taken few practice runs. At the finish of qualifying Kieran was
able to keep his cough at bay, and ran a 2:20 to qualify him into 41st
position. Separated by less than a second and 4 riders, Ryan
Condrashoff managed 46th position in qualifying.
On Sunday morning, with another rainless night, the buzz around the
pits was if it was time to change out to dry tires. The sun was out
and it was tough call, but some rumors of rain around 3pm keep the
team on spikes for the duration. The track was definitely drying out,
but the tires were still hooking up, so no changes were made.
While warming up on the rode that traversed the hill at the top of the
track Ryan saw the rain finally make it’s way into view. Everyone was
scrambling for the protection of the tents at the start queue.
Suddenly the whole atmosphere was changed as everyone was trying to
decide what tires to go with and if the rain would continue. When
Condrashoff was in the gate the rain was coming down steady. Starting
out into the rain his goggles were instantly covered with water, but
the track conditions were still good, but a big crash where his bike
went flying like a tomahawk into the unsuspecting crowd would end his
days contention for a good result, eventually rounding out the pack in
80th position. Kieran was not long behind Ryan and caught the end of
this mid pack down pour. Dealing with the conditions as best possible
he made his way down to a 72nd place finish.
The unpredictable weather of Europe and the changing course conditions
is the name of the game. Our bikes were flawless all weekend, Theo
shot some great shots, Mike D kept everything else under control, and
our first European World Cup as a team was in the books. Looking
forward to Andorra and what new excitement it will bring.
Check out the video recap of the weekend
www.alloutprodux.com/xfuse09labresse.mov
Thanks again to all of our sponsors for their continued support
X-Fusion
Intense Cycles
rideSFO
Sunline
Six Six One
Royal
Formula Brakes
Gamut USA
Intense Tire Systems
Crankbrothers
WTB
Dean Optics
Jagwire USA
www.x-fusion-shox.com
source: John Hauer
