list of photos and video

photos taken by:

• Tomáš Vitvar of bajk.cz  http://www.bajk.cz/web/data/clanek.asp?id_clanek=815
• Martin Hubka of single-speed.cz  http://picasaweb.google.cz/singlespeed.cz/SSMCR2009Cory?feat=directlink
• 
  

video taken by:

• Lukáš Klezl of Bicycle Café and sportkamery.cz  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjlOmpoL5HI
• 
  

New POV Race Video!

Great video of the race produced by the racers (Lukáš Klezl) of Bicycle Café and SportKamery.cz (Prague helmet cam specialists) filmed with a VIO POV camera!

video © www.sportkamery.cz

MČRSS 2009 maps

preliminary results! UPDATED!

Thanks everyone who came out. 

The weather was cold but the trail was a good challenge and it seemed like everyone had a great time. We had 24 riders start and most finished :) Plus we had about 8 photographers.

If you took pictures (or know someone who did), please send us an email to arrange for us to get them. We would like to get all images taken, in full quality to send them for publishing in bike magazines - of course with your authorship noted (either by email, cd by post, or our ftp.)

photo © Tomás Vitvar

finish #      name                    number    time    (incl. bonuses)

MEN

1. David Kramár              01      1:51   (-2min TT)

2. Frank Salaquarda       03      1:52   (-5min Šance)
3. Pavel Šafář                 05       1:52   (-3min TT)

4. Jan Dubec                  10       1:54   (-1min TT)

5. Tomáš Mífek               23       1:54   (-2min)

6. Libor Oplt                    02       1:54  
7. Václav Svatoš             08       1:54  (-2min)
8. Petr Beneš                  09       1:59 (+5min, noTT)
9. Cory Benson               22       2:07   

10. Jakub Malý                04       2:12

11. RB Rider                   14        2:19  (-1min)
12. Miloslav Kubát          19        2:21
13. Mikko Westberg        11        2:22
14. Nick von Tsurikov      17       2:24
15. Zuzmen                     15       2:25
16. Ondřej Tančouz        18        3:11      
17. Jiří Němeček             20       3:11

(thought to maybe have completed the course but did not sign in at the time trial)
? Marcel od Víšků         16       2:??

(did not finish the complete course, instead more wisely opted to enjoy the beer and warm fire)  DNF - 06 Jirka Kraus, 07 Michal Roškot, 12 Zdeněk Dokoupil, 21 Petr Kuba, 24 Lukáš Klezl

 

WOMEN

1. Jitka Mimránková       13       2:23

The results are from our rough notes :) of the top riders who finished the complete 27km+ snowy course. If you think we missed you or the above is wrong, send us an email, and we'll try to correct it.

-C+V

trail conditions update...

So I marked most of the course today and rode all of it,

As was expected the trails got a nice covering of snow overnight. Also they have frozen in the last week, which completely eliminated the threat of mud. With that came a few slippery spots, though. The run up near the beginning is going to be a bit of a struggle (but worth the nice single track at the top!) Two normally rideable climbs got a bit more technical because of the hard frozen ground. They will probably now require at least a little bit of walking from most riders, which should help warm the toes back up :)

All in all the course seems even a bit nicer with the cold and snow. Some spots are a bit slower, some are even faster with the frozen ground, but everything is even prettier than before, and the views are even more dramatic with the hills covered in snow.

A couple of short steep or off-camber downhills are pretty slippery (not icy though, just snow covered leaves and roots), and everyone will need to be careful. But they are pretty easy to see from a ways away; so they shouldn't sneak up on you.

We would recommend wearing shoes with metal toe-spikes (if you have them) or at least good traction for the few hike-a-bike spots. It was -7°C; and I was quite warm today, actually (sweating with a thin wool base tshirt + a medium weight long sleeve shirt + a wind proof softshell; single pair of smartwool ski socks + winter bike boots - no shoe covers.)

99% of the course is sheltered from any wind, and our 2 support spot are both out of the wind, too. If you want to bring a small bag with an extra warm layer or jacket to the start, we'll drive it to the finish for you (just put it in a bag that will be easy to pick out of 25 others, ie. no Tesco plastic bags!)

Also bring the widest tires you can with low pressure to maximize traction. If you have studded tires, they certainly wouldn't hurt either :)

Plus I stopped in the hospoda at the airport again today. It's only 450 meters from the finish, well heated by a nice wood stove, with a friendly staff, and they confirmed that they'll have some warm soup or something on Saturday afternoon, if you can stand the outside temperature with us other racers and our fans!

See you soon!

-Cory

OK, volunteers :)

for the last bit of housekeeping we are giving out the info for our support team to be ready for the week-end.

we will be set up in two locations for the race:

1st across from the airport GPS: 49°59'13.687"N, 14°25'51.516"E  and

2nd at the crossroads before the Šance overlook GPS: 49°58'24.882"N, 14°25'13.409"E

 

All Volunteers are welcome to meet us at 9:15 on the corner of K Ladům and Hornocholupicka, Praha 12 on the small road at the edge of the field - GPS: 49°59'35.421"N, 14°26'11.972"E.  From there we will park / drive in to the 1st Location by car on the (rough) dirt road to get started. We'll set up base camp, beer and the fire barrel, then a couple of volunteers and any racers will head back to Camp Kotva for the start (while the others hold down the fort.)

People will be at  Location 1 from 9:30, getting the fire ready and seeing who can freeze their ass off first.  This will be the home base. Riders will pass here at least 3 times. And ultimately finish here!

If you haven't already told us you would help set up you can meet us at the start and still hang out with us! After the start, we will send a couple of people to  Location 2 with a crate of beer.

No fire here, so we'll see how long it lasts.

If it gets too cold for them, the volunteers may move the beer onto the course for riders to search for, and head back to the main base to warm up by the fire.

Generally they are there to provide support and encouragement, but with a high temperature for Saturday of -5° C, don't expect too much! :)

OK, that should be everything.

Shoot us an email or give a call if you still have questions.
(let us knwo if we forgot something!)

corywadebenson [at] gmail.com or 728.zero-three-one.154 or 776.eight-seven-five.370

see you Saturday!

Are you ready?!

So we have collected the treasure chest of prizes from our sponsors and are almost ready to race. Everyone who shows up and rides will go home with prizes from some of our sponsors, as well as bigger prizes for men's and women's winners at least three deep. Plus, some other prizes for winners of competitions to stay warm during the race.

Maps are printed up for everyone, and we have been out riding in the area this week-end.

It's been a bit of change of weather in the last week. With a bit of rain, and some cool temps, it has the potential to be a bit of a muddy adventure. Pretty much what we had expected for the week-end before Christmas, really. The trails are actually in pretty good shape though, and even got a dusting of snow over the week-end. This week's forecast calls for a bit colder nights and the chance of a little more snow, so the ground will probably be mostly hard and maybe a bit more white?! :)

Anyway we will meet next to Interkamp Kotva along the river at 11:00 on Saturday December 19th. (GPS: 50°1'51.827"N, 14°24'8.691"E, or U kempinku, Praha)

If you are coming by car, there should be plenty of places around to park. We will all most likely have a few drinks during the course of the race and post-race, so we recommend riding to the start if possible. We'll be finishing about 4.5km south of here next to the Točna airfield with a fire and few drinks to warm us up.

Bring a good pair of gloves and some warm socks.

NO registration fee, NO beer entry fee required. 

Getting Down to the Wire

So 19 December is fast approaching!

The last bits of event preparation are coming together (mostly.)

We've started collecting the promised prizes from our sponsors and are looking forward to doing some minor trail maintenance/clearing this week-end. (We won't mark the course til just before the race.) And we have the race maps and stations being printed.

We have a fire barrel that we will be setting up at out main support tent, where we will be stationing wives, kids, mechanics and other friends and family members to encourage us and offer neutral race support. Please bring out non-riders too to join those we already know of, so they can cheer us on as we ride by.

We do however need a bit of firewood, if anyone coming has easy access to it.

A warm fire will keep our non-riding friends warm while we are riding around, and keep the fastest riders warm while they wait for the rest of us at the end.

Plus it'll give us a good place to stand around, drink beers, and chat after everyone is finishes.

Speaking of which, the small brewer who we had been talking with to donate a keg of beer backed out at the last minute. :(

So in the end I think we are going to institute a race registration fee of 3 - 0.5l bottles of beer of your favorite brand. Bring it to the start and we'll transport it to the finish and keep it cold for you. Then we can share whatever my wife doesn't drink while transporting it.

Still, If anyone knows someone who would donate a keg of beer for us at the last minute like this, we would of course appreciate it and offer them promotion / advertising.  We have beer, now! :)

That's it for now.

Fire wood and beers.

Don't forget to harass all of your friends to come out and join us.

The weather lately has been very friendly to us and the trails, so we are expecting a dry and mild December, with trails in great condition with a nice top layer of autumn leaves!

We'll give you more info as it develops.

Shoot us an email at corywadebenson [@] gmail.com to let us know how many race numbers we need, and how many crates to bring the beer to the finish line.