| IGSA World Cup Thalgau ( A) |
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A Eventinfo:Tuesday, July 24 Two days after I got home from the race in Thun I call Martin to check what\'s up with going to Thalgau (AUT) for my second IGSA Downhill Race. He‘s not sure how to get there and so we both start doing a few phone calls to see if someone has a seat left. Even before I dialed the number Samy calls me to ask ME what I was going to ask him because his yellow bus is already full and someone else is looking for a lift to Thalgau, too. At the end Martin and I are lucky to get my parents\' car for the trip. That gives us lots of advantages: Now we can stop by at the Cradle Skatepark in Brixlegg and we can even give Mischo a lift to Switzerland and might show him some roads on the way back... Wednesday, July 25 The other day when I got up and switch on my mobile there are 3 missed calls from Roll-Laden. Jojo, who I thought already left with Samy on Tuesday evening, picks up the phone to ask me if I finally managed to organize a car because there would be another guy who\'s looking for a lift to Thalgau. We quickly arrange the time and place where to meet - Now the car is booked; four people and lots of DH stuff. Martin arrives at almost three o\'clock, then we\'re headed for...Brixlegg! 4 hours later we\'re skating the Cradle while some Pasta is boiling by side. Finally at about half past eleven we arrive at Thalgau and ride up the hill to see the road. There are three really big 180° turns, two right-handers and one left-hander and a small bend towards the finish line. In between the turns there are two long straights that should give some real top speed. We believe it would be enough to make you have to foot-brake in front of the turns. Thursday, July 26 I\'m jolted awake in the car. Mischo and Martin are outside shaking at it. I moved inside the car because I felt too cold after I tried to sleep outside without tent. We go to the inscription desk to get our riders badges. Unfortunately we have to pay €80 instead of €60 because we missed the online sign-up - bummer. Then we go back to the car, get our leathers on and move to the place where the shuttle bus leaves. After the first ride the road does not feel as fast as we thought but still top speed is a good 90km/h on the straight before the left hand turn. Despite our assumption you don\'t have to footbrake, since the turns are so big a little airbrake before the left-hander does the job. The whole day long I do nice runs with people I know they ride fast but safely. I enjoy the rides and learn how to deal with so many racers going beside me. In the evening we cook some pasta on Martin\'s gas cooker. Then I put up my tent and go sleep. Friday, July 27 Warm up and free-ride runs in the morning. I take the second or third shuttle and do one or two runs before the time trials. They split the group of StandUp riders in two with free-rides before each group. After the first round I have a good time but then in the second round many racers can improve by 3 seconds, it seems like the wind has changed. I cannot improve my time and end up on 11th qualifying position with a time of 2:44:66. That\'s good. Mischo has the fastest time with something around 2:36:xx. 8 seconds faster than me and about 5s faster than Martin who qualified 6th. After the qualification there are more free-rides and I decide to do one last run for the day - a wrong decision! At the top I see who I\'d like to ride with and ask Luis and Batt if we might have a run together. But when we start there are suddenly a few more coming with us. At the end of the long straight before the left-hander 2 or 3 people pass by. One of them falls at the beginning of the turn and so I have to ride around him to prevent crashing into him. I start to drift and finally I cannot handle it anymore and I crash with the back of my head first into the hay-bales. Back down I meet Martin an Mischo again. They walk up the hill to the left hand corner to watch the Lugers and Buttboarders. I stay down where I borrow Josh\'s Slalomdeck and set up some plastic bottles as substitute cones to ride some slalom. When the Luge and Buttboard race is almost done, Martin and Mischo come back but Martin has lost his cell phone. So we drive up the hill to look if it is still on that place Martin assumes to have lost it. No luck. It\'s gone. A couple minutes later I get called from Martin\'s number and it\'s Samy on the phone. Fortunately a course marshall had returned it. In the evening we grill 1kg of spare ribs on Sebastian\'s grill and do some small talk and socializing. It\'s all about re-organizing and new rules and stuff... Saturday, July 28 Race day. The schedule says Dirtsurf first which means we have 2 or 3 free-rides before the actual warm-up. I do one free-ride and the warm-up. I\'m in heat number ten racing only riders slower than me I easily manage to stay in first position from the beginning until the finish line. The second heat got a bit sketchy already. Again I\'m in first position but when I get towards the left-hand turn, do some airbrake and start making the turn going low I feel how someone\'s pushing me from behind. My thoughts already go somehow like \"Oh no, not again. I don\'t want to crash!\" I gradually start to drift harder and I\'m afraid to completely loose traction and slide out. Somehow there must be all three riders behind me hooked up in a batch. Then I get away but only slowly rolling now I look back to see the others crash completely. When the others get down to the finish line it\'s a Brazilian who made it into the next round. But he seems to be injured. One of his legs got hurt in that very crash. He insists not to see the ambulance and continue the race. Back up the hill I find myself starting with Martin - which makes me pretty relieved - and two Brazilians (one of them the injured one), which makes me feel a little uncomfortable. After the first turn I\'m in second position but do not draft Martin. Instead I pick a the line with the smoothest asphalt. Before the left hand turn both Brazilians pass me on either side. One of them slides out which puts me in third position. Then I\'m trying to draft the other on the long straight that‘s following. Fruitless, it doesn\'t work. I\'m wondering why... Then on the last bend before the finish line I lose my balance and cannot manage to catch up anymore. - Out - Despite being out I take the shuttle once again. They have some food at the top and I am hungry. While I\'m eating the semi finals are running. Then the breaking news over Eimer\'s walkie-talkie: Mischo\'s board broke. - How? Why? - Nobody knows. Samy brings him up with the motor-roller and his second board. He looks sad and not able to comprehend the situation. I ride down with the luge warm-up and go straight to the car to grab Martin\'s camera for a few shots of the finals. Mischo wins the small final by a huge margin. And there comes the very final run: Martin and Noah race almost next to each other down the last bend, Noah is a little behind but seems to be catching up. As approach the finish line Noah almost struggles but catches himself crossing the finish line simultaneously with Martin. - Who won? - Nobody knows. - Then they say it\'s Martin! Congratulations! Later on we learn from Marcus Rietema and his digital camera that, when looking properly at the photo, we have two winners. Martin agrees on it because it is really hard to tell since the picture shows the two competitors about 50cm after the finish line. And we also get told how Mischo came to crash in the left hand corner after the high-speed straight: He\'s telling us that he was having two drafts, that from Luis and that from Douglas which made him go as fast as he never had gone before... therefore he crashed and his foam-carbon Landyachtz Evo broke... somehow... The prize giving in the evening was somehow special; different than prize givings at slalom competitions. On one hand it started with 2.5 hour delay, on the other hand there were some rituals I did not yet know... Sunday, July 29 Our way back was quite long a journey. With a mandatory stop in Brixlegg and visitation of 2 nice roads we finally arrive towards 8 p.m. at my place. Ramón Königshausen Airflow Skateboards
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