| IGSA European Championships Col d Izoard ( F) |
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A Eventinfo:IGSA Downhill Skateboard European Championships 2007 - Col d\'Izoard - France 18./19. August 2007 Thursday morning, everything is packed and I make my way to Olten where I met Frank. We decided to drive via Geneva and then have a look at some nice roads in France. Unfortunately it rained in Annecy. Nevertheless we checked out one of the spots where Adrien Barat and Loic Zaccaro use to practise. The hill is called Semnoz. It\'s a wicked road with some hairpins at the beginning, leading into a really fast second half of the course. It got repaved recently. But due to the rain, we couldn\'t ride the hill. I\'ll definitely come back to Annecy for this road! Later in the afternoon we drove over the Col du Galibier and ended up cooking ravioli with my new MSR fuel cooker on the Col du Lautaret. There was a cold wind blowing so we decided to sleep further down in the valley. It was a nice clear night and warm enough to sleep outside even without tent. On Friday morning we found a nice road up to the ski stationed named Risoul. Both Frank and I made a run down. The asphalt was vibrant and slippery. Then we drove to Vars and had a look at the south side of Col du Vars. It didn\'t look that cool. A motorbiker from German crashed and almost slid into Frank\'s car. Enough is enough. We went for coffee at another Refuge Napoleon and drove towards Col d\'Izoard. There was a freeride on the south side of the pass, through the village of Queyras. I wasn\'t on mood for riding so I just watched and sold some gps fixies. In the evening there was an official opening ceremony where certain riders got special bip number shirts with their name printed on. I got a golden shirt with the number 1. The night was really cold. Saturday started late. We did some practise runs in the morning and then two timetrials in the afternoon. The road was more slippery than last year. I think the rain has washed away the dust last year. Well I messed up my second run, didn\'t improve my first time and got second behind Sebastien Tournisac. Christoph Batt, another fast Swiss rider, got third. After eating too much pasta I got really bored sitting at a bonfire. I melted a beerbottle and watched the stars. I woke up at 08:00 on Sunday and went for coffee with Sam Hauser. I thought Frank will come to the restaurant later but he didn\'t show up. Instead he was laying somewhere behind the bushes... All my stuff was locked in his car. I missed two freerides. At lunchtime the weather got worse and clouds covered the blue sky, I felt some tiny raindrops. The dowhill skareboard race started at 14:00. After a few runs the race was cancelled because of a problem in the spreadsheet. The mistake has been found and corrected and the race started again. My first runs were rather easy. But then I got tired and had a hard time especially in the second right hand corner. I didn\'t footbrake enough and slid way too much. Luckily I still took much more speed out of the corner than my opponents and succeeded. The final four were three Swiss riders (Frank Uhlmann, Stefan Rüfli, myself) and one Frenchy: Adrien Barat. My legs felt weak and I needed some instant sugar. So I ate a banana and drank a RedBull. Ready, set, go! Adrien took the inside in the first corner. It took me a while to pass him. For the second corner I footbraked very little and slid a bit more instead. My lead increased and I didn\'t have to risk too much in the other corners. I won again. It was such a good feeling. I\'m happy that I could defend my victory on this fantastic road. Switzerland swept the podium and seven out of the first eight racers were on Magun trucks. Please note that all of the first eight racers were riding Abec11 wheels, either 76mm Flywheels or BigZigs. The prizegiving started late but was very cool, they\'ve even played national anthems. And once again I got a very nice trophy. Frank and I drove back home via Italy. Since Frank had to work on Monday I drove all the way to Liestal. It was very tiring. Went to bed at 05:00. Martin Siegrist www.mrtn.ch
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