Chase, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon. Photo: chase.cx
On the first day there were two competitions with points races and the first 30-minute race. With a total of 9 points, Felix and his partner Tobias Edelbauer were able to place overall in ninth place – a good start. Felix’s crash in the second race and the resulting injuries were less beneficial.
Unfortunately, on the following three days they were not able to continue on the same level and lost one lap to the main field per day. Dwindling strength and the lack of experience resulted in missed detaching and an upset stomach put an additional restraint on Felix on the last two days. All in all it was a very exciting experience to ride in front of the bursting ranks of the Berlin Velodrom and also a taste of track cycling at the highest level!
Chase, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, . Photo: Thomas Hildebrandt
The electrity plant Donaustadt in Vienna is usually only known as orientation point on the way to Lobau if cycling on the danube island in Vienna. On Sunday, for the first time it was the location and beautiful scenery for a cyclo-cross race. About 100 starters did prefer cycling and competed in three different races instead of celebrating the last Sunday before christmas quiet at home. In the main competition lasting 60 minutes, there were even two Chase athletes participating.
A very exciting fight in the top of the cyclers field. Chase, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, rims. Foto: M. Bihounek/martinbihounek.com.
The track was mostly flat but due to a lot of holes demanding for body and material. In combination with the partially heavy wind, it was a very strategic race. After the first half, you could watch the first really severe attacks. It ended very positively for Felix and with a third row for Manfred, only some seconds after him.
Results of Wien-Energie Kraftwerks-Cross
Manfred showed himself in his best form. Chase, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, rims.
Having the Austrian cross-country championship in mind that will take place in January in St.Pölten, both athletes can be really proud of their performance so far and there is still time to work on the last fine tunings concerning their skills.
The fast course: Felix’ favorite. Chase, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, rim. Foto: M. Bihounek/martinbihounek.com
The highlight of the cyclo-cross season and the final cross competition was the Austrian championship on January, 7th. The track next to the Traisen river in St.Pölten was quite muddy and due to many narrow curves it turned out being very demanding.
Championship Austria Cyclo-cross St.Pölten, handcrafted in Austria, Carbon, Felge, Grenzgasse 111 9/6/6, St. Gabriel, Felix Schneider, Peter Fröhlich, Chase, Manfred Zöger, Felix Ritzinger
Manfred started with some doubts about his physical condition, he had a bad cold during Christmas holidays and therefore had to pause for nine days. In the beginning he was surprised, but he had a good start into this race. After the first round he was in group fighting for position 5. He managed to hold this position for more than the half of the race, there were a lot of tough battles.
Closer to the finish line, the last three rounds Manfred lost his luck. He suffered all in all three punctured wheels, in the exact same place each time.
Thanks to the great and fast work by the Chase support team he succeeded in finishing the competition. Although the very last race was not what Manfred had hoped for, he can look back to a successful cyclo-cross season. In 10 competition participations, he reached the winner’s rostrum for 6 times and even won 3 races supported by Chase-mud rims!
On 9 December, the Pernitz Cycling Club organised the cross race with start and finish in the Alpenstadion. The conditions made high demands on the drivers. The temperatures were at freezing temperature and the gusty wind made them feel even harder, accompanied by light snowfall.
The course was mostly flat and the ground was mostly frozen. Some tight turns and obstacles made it a real cross-country course.
Manfred didn’t get his best day this time. Especially in the starting phase he didn’t make it into the race at all. In the first two laps he had already lost some positions and valuable time from eighth on the grid to the top.
In the course of the race, however, he was able to stabilize his performance and at least recover a few places.
At the end of the race he finished in a satisfactory 6th place after one hour of cycling.
The international cross-country GP in Stadl-Paura was waiting for the participants and spectators this year with a starter field of the special class. The athletes in the C2 race of the elite men came from a total of 8 different nations. Among the participants were also starters from Belgium and the Netherlands, the cross-nations par excellence.
Accordingly, the race was extremely fast right from the start. Manfred was in midfield right from the start. The weather was really bad with about 3° and partly rain, so perfect for crossing. This made the already demanding course even more difficult, with only a few passages left to be completed on an ongoing basis.
Manfred showed a decent performance and finally finished 18th. He could not quite keep up with the international top riders. After all, he was still second-best Austrian with his performance.
After a short break from competition, the cross race in Pernitz is his next planned racing event.
Our athlete Manfred Zöger already uses our newest product – the Chase Carbon seatposts – for test runs. He is checking them in various conditions. After being tested in the lab, Manfred uses them under real strains for different cross-races.
In the betting game of the MTB-news.de the results of the UCI XC Worldcup 2017 were to be estimated in advance. There were 7 events, where you had to guess as correctly as possible the cyclists on the winner’s podium and the winners. The overall winner of the season’s betting game gets a Scott Spark 940. At this amount of participants, the chances to win are not high.
But Manfred won even though – he collected under the nickname mani161699 352 points und won the Scott Bike.
Receiving his prize personally, he went to Garching near Munich in Germany. For the last 3 competitions Manfred started to use an Excel File in order to have the best overview for his betting. “The betting simply is fun”, he commented on that.
After a short guidance tour through the Scott site in Germany and a short introduction of the Spark 940, Manfred went on the trails in the North of Munich with two Scott employees. Of course, the new bike has to be tested and cycled.