Kashi updates

Check here often for the latest updates on Kashi's exploits

Thursday, May 31, 2001

13 MAY 01 - Sarentino World Cup, Italy
Just 1hr away from Largo Di Garda (where we raced 2 weeks ago), Sarentino is a very cute little ski village quite high above Bolzano. The road there is full of tight hairpins and about 20 tunnels! The course was the same as last year, except a few steeper decents, and a slightly shorter start loop. This meant that Saturdays time trial would be even more important!
I could feel that I was not riding great, but my time split at the top of the first big climb blew me away. After 5min I was already 40sec behind Miguel Martinez! I managed to speed up for the rest, but still finished almost 1min down in 35th place. Miguel had smoked in to win by 14sec over Roland Green(CAN).
I am always nervous before race starts incase of crashes and holdups which would send me to the back of the pack. Without a good start, the race is over before it begins! On the first corner, my fears became reality as two riders just ahead got tangled, causing me to step of the bike and be passed by 30-40 riders. Five minutes later the course became single track, and with all the chaos of fighting for position I managed to get shoved over, falling far of the track! This put me back into roughly 80th position, five minutes into the race.
Most of my motivation was low, as any chance of a good finish were gone. I remembered my first year racing WorldCups, when I was back in these positions every race. I had forgotten how aggressive it is back here. No one wants to let you pass, some even block you on purpose! I rode hard, but every time I got into a good rhythm, I had to slow down behind more riders. I passed about 10-15 riders each lap, and with some riders ahead pulling out and puncturing. I eventually finishing 25th. Miguel showed why he is 2000 Olympic, World, and World Cup Champion by winning easily ahead of Roland Green.

20 MAY 01 - Houffalize World Cup, Belgium
The time trial was to be a full lap of the course, which was longer then usual. The reason was because with 215 starters, the time trial was also the qualifying race. I felt okay, but could still only place 32nd. I felt sorry for Tim Vincent (NZL) who came in 163rd place, missing the qualifying mark by 3 places!
The race start this week was much more fair, beginning with a long tar seal climb. I held a reasonable 25th position into the single track, and from there moved quickly into the top 20. With some difficult climbs and decents, some big gaps opened up quickly. I was riding together with Roel Paulisson for the next few laps, and slowly climbed into 16-17 position. I tried hard to catch my team mate Christoph Sauser, so we could work together. He was just 20sec ahead, but was also going 100%, so I never made it. By the last lap I was tiring, but gritting my teeth to hang in there. 3.5 minutes up the road Roland Green had the lead, and was taking revenge on last weekends beating. He eventually won by over a minute to become the first North American to win a World Cup since 1995!
But for me with half a lap remaining my rear tubeless tire went down. I choose to attempt a quick change, instead of riding it home. Bad idea! I had no tire levers in my saddle bag, and tubeless tires are extremely tight! The whole effort took me about 6min's, and I had fallen way down into 46th position. I was pretty seriously bummed and did not have much fight left in me to catch up again. I passed just one rider to finish 45th.

posted by jeff lyall 5/31/2001 09:15:59 PM

Monday, May 28, 2001

Kashi finished second in a Swedish Cup race in Skovde. Winner was Hakon Austad, Norway, 2 min. ahead of Kashi and third was Christoph Sauser, Switzerland, 2 min behind. Kim Eriksson finished 13th and Helena Eriksson 4th in the Elite women's race.
Arne
posted by jeff lyall 5/28/2001 10:48:40 PM

Friday, May 25, 2001

Some pix from Mark Dawsons Fattire fotos pages, looks like hard work! Click here.
posted by jeff lyall 5/25/2001 03:28:49 PM

Thursday, May 24, 2001

Read an interview with Kashi about this years new race bike, the Scalpel
posted by jeff lyall 5/24/2001 10:52:12 PM

Monday, May 21, 2001

XC#3: HOUFFALIZE, BEL (X-country)
1 4 CAN19740729 GREEN Roland CAN TREK/VOLKSWAGEN 1:51:03.00
2 7 NED19730825 VAN DOOREN Bas NED SPECIALIZED 1:52:09.00 1:06.00
3 1 ESP19780824 HERMIDA Jose Antonio ESP BIANCHI MOTOREX 1:52:18.00 1:15.00
4 3 FRA19760117 MARTINEZ Miguel FRA FULL DYNAMIX 1:53:09.00 2:06.00
5 34 SUI19700217 FRISCHKNECHT Thomas SUI TEAM RITCHEY-YAHOO! 1:53:28.00 2:25.00
6 6 NED19681010 BRENTJENS Bart NED GIANT BICYCLES 1:53:56.00 2:53.00
7 54 DEN19740601 RASMUSSEN Michael DEN HARO/LEE DUNGAREES 1:54:43.00 3:40.00
8 12 FRA19800816 ABSALON Julien * FRA BIANCHI MOTOREX 1:54:56.00 3:53.00
9 15 ITA19750310 ACQUAROLI Dario ITA FULL DYNAMIX 1:55:04.00 4:01.00
10 42 SUI19760713 HOCHSTRASSER Thomas SUI GIANT BICYCLES 1:55:50.00 4:47.00
11 16 SUI19760413 SAUSER Christoph SUI VOLVO CANNONDALE 1:56:13.00 5:10.00
14 11 AUS19770214 EVANS Cadel AUS VOLVO CANNONDALE 1:56:36.00 5:33.00
45 22 NZL19780630 LEUCHS Kashi NZL VOLVO CANNONDALE 2:02:40.00 11:37.00

posted by jeff lyall 5/21/2001 08:11:01 AM

Sunday, May 20, 2001

TT results at round cup number3 XC#3: HOUFFALIZE, BEL
1 2 ITA19771017 BUI Marco ITA A.S. MARIN HELLY HANSEN 21:50.37 0
2 4 CAN19740729 GREEN Roland CAN TREK/VOLKSWAGEN 22:06.47 16.1
3 54 DEN19740601 RASMUSSEN Michael DEN HARO/LEE DUNGAREES 22:07.99 17.62
4 7 NED19730825 VAN DOOREN Bas NED SPECIALIZED 22:12.44 22.07
5 3 FRA19760117 MARTINEZ Miguel FRA FULL DYNAMIX 22:14.71 24.34
6 1 ESP19780824 HERMIDA Jose Antonio ESP BIANCHI MOTOREX 22:19.75 29.38
7 9 BEL19710305 MEIRHAEGHE Filip BEL SPECIALIZED 22:21.95 31.58
8 6 NED19681010 BRENTJENS Bart NED GIANT BICYCLES 22:39.41 49.04
9 17 FRA19731117 DUBAU Ludovic FRA ORBEA 22:41.75 51.38
10 12 FRA19800816 ABSALON Julien * FRA BIANCHI MOTOREX 22:43.32 52.95
18 11 AUS19770214 EVANS Cadel AUS VOLVO CANNONDALE 23:07.24 +1:16.87
23 16 SUI19760413 SAUSER Christoph SUI VOLVO CANNONDALE 23:18.14 +1:27.77
32 22 NZL19780630 LEUCHS Kashi NZL VOLVO CANNONDALE 23:38.62 +1:48.25
163 176 NZL19760330 VINCENT Tim NZL BIANCHI MOTOREX 26:43.44 +4:53.07

posted by jeff lyall 5/20/2001 02:22:16 PM

Friday, May 18, 2001

Some new pics of Kashi from the Cannondale site on the new Scalpel F/S bike
Racing in Italy here and on the podium at the Garda race here.
Full scalpel details here on the Cannondale site
posted by jeff lyall 5/18/2001 03:16:46 PM

Monday, May 14, 2001

Round 2 world Cup in Italy
1 39 FRA19760117 MARTINEZ Miguel FRA FULL DYNAMIX 2:09:04.00 250
2 11 CAN19740729 GREEN Roland CAN TREK/VOLKSWAGEN 2:09:07.00 3 200
3 7 NED19681010 BRENTJENS Bart NED GIANT BICYCLES 2:09:26.00 22 170
4 17 NED19730825 VAN DOOREN Bas NED SPECIALIZED 2:09:27.00 23 150
5 3 ITA19771017 BUI Marco ITA A.S. MARIN HELLY HANSEN 2:09:30.00 26 130
6 1 ESP19780824 HERMIDA Jose ESP BIANCHI MOTOREX 2:10:13.00 1:09.00 95
7 8 BEL19710305 MEIRHAEGHE Filip BEL SPECIALIZED 2:11:09.00 2:05.00 90
8 13 AUS19770214 EVANS Cadel AUS VOLVO CANNONDALE 2:11:36.00 2:32.00 85
9 19 FRA19800816 ABSALON Julien * FRA BIANCHI MOTOREX 2:11:56.00 2:52.00 80
10 27 ITA19750310 ACQUAROLI Dario ITA FULL DYNAMIX 2:12:11.00 3:07.00 75
11 2 GER19740627 HANISCH Marc GER ORBEA 2:13:34.00 4:30.00 71
12 14 BEL19760426 PAULISSEN Roel BEL TEAM GT 2:13:38.00 4:34.00 67
13 16 SUI19760413 SAUSER Christoph SUI VOLVO CANNONDALE 2:14:12.00 5:08.00 63
14 5 GER19760520 FUMIC Lado GER TEAM T MOBILE 2:14:25.00 5:21.00 62
15 30 NED19800616 AL Thys * NED BE-ONE TEAM 2:14:40.00 5:36.00 61
16 53 SUI19700217 FRISCHKNECHT Thomas SUI TEAM RITCHEY-YAHOO! 2:14:58.00 5:54.00 60
17 18 ITA19770721 FRUET Martino ITA TEAM RITCHEY-YAHOO! 2:15:15.00 6:11.00 59
18 165 FRA19770522 PERAUD Jean-christophe FRA LAPIERRE 2:16:06.00 7:02.00 58
19 89 CZE19770322 SPESNY Milan CZE RUBENA MERIDA KCK TEAM 2:16:18.00 7:14.00 57
20 94 NOR19780305 AUSTAD Hakon NOR DBS WORLD CUP TEAM 2:16:23.00 7:19.00 56
21 12 FRA19731117 DUBAU Ludovic FRA ORBEA 2:16:36.00 7:32.00 55
22 15 FRA19740928 CHEVALLIER Jerome FRA ORBEA 2:16:37.00 7:33.00 54
23 40 GBR19820412 KILLEEN Liam * GBR GREAT BRITAIN 2:16:37.00 7:33.00 53
24 31 AUS19710207 GORDON Craig AUS AUSTRALIA 2:16:38.00 7:34.00 52

25 23 NZL19780630 LEUCHS Kashi NZL VOLVO CANNONDALE 2:16:50.00 7:46.00 51
92 169 NZL19760330 VINCENT Tim NZL BIANCHI MOTOREX - 2 laps
106 154 NZL19740216 REID Andy NZL NEW ZEALAND - 3 laps
Italy World Cup TT places
Kashi was first in the Volvo Cannondale Team on the technical circuit
34 23 NZL19780630 LEUCHS Kashi NZL VOLVO CANNONDALE 14:40.457
102 154 NZL19740216 REID Andy NZL NEW ZEALAND 15:31.453
148 169 NZL19760330 VINCENT Tim NZL BIANCHI MOTOREX 16:07.019

posted by jeff lyall 5/14/2001 08:19:37 AM

Tuesday, May 08, 2001

6 May 01 - Two MTB races in Switzerland

Results: 2nd and DNF
The Swiss Cup in Leukerbad was cancelled because they have 2m of snow on the course! Instead I did two small races near the home of Christoph Sauser, in Switzerland. The plan was to do one race at 10.30am and then another at 3.30pm, just 30min drive away. These small races both turned out to be excellent quality events, great courses, organization, and strong fields too. It was great to catch up with NZers Tim Vincent and Andy Reed who are living in this area and were also racing

In the first race Christoph, myself and 2 of the Swiss U23 team got a pretty big early lead. Christoph worked well as a team as he countered one of my attacks and got away. I followed the other's wheels and on the final climb I found some legs to ride into 2nd, 20sec behind.
I was very sore for the second race, but went hard anyhow. I had the lead for 2 laps, but then I 'hit the wall' and could literally hardly ride my bike in a straight line anymore! I hate to pull out of any race, but this was too bad.

1 May 01 -GP Seynod 90km Road Race, FRANCE
Category: France Road, National.
Result: Bunch
My first race in Annecy and another disgusting rainy day, but the racing was still good. With 3 different categories racing together. The recreational riders went first, then 5min later, the regional level riders, and finally after another few minutes the national riders. We raced 18 laps of 5km. The first 5 laps were nice, and I was thinking my legs must be pretty good. Then the attacks started. One after the other, a small bunch would get away, we would all chase, then another attack would go. I made some good moves, but just missed the successful ones. It was very aggressive racing, something I have not seen much of before. By the end I was quite hammered and just finished with the main bunch

29 APR 01 -Lake Garda Mountain Bike Festival , ITALY
Result: 1st (57km marathon)
This is an event I have always wanted to do after hearing endless stories from my cousin Stephan! As I have just received a Volvo V40 team car to use this year, Helena and I decided to drive the 650km. It turned out to be a rather stressful day, after getting lost in the middle of Milano, and then arriving at our hotel to find no rooms left! But we had made it, and the next morning it became obvious way about 8,000 (I think) mountain bikers come here each year.
Garda See (the lake) is surrounded by tall cliffs and mountains, full of twisty roads and gnarly steep single tracks. Riva del Garda, the host town, is filled with expensive historic buildings, great restaurants and the best gelato ice cream I have tasted. Although its in Italy, the event is run by the German magazine "Bike", and I have to admit they do manage to put on a good show. There was one of the biggest expo areas I have seen, and always something going on e.g. a lake jump that had over 5,000 spectators!
The Marathon was the big racing event for the weekend with over 3,000 starters who could choose to ride 57km, 76km, or 106km. I decided to race the short race, as this was closest to the World Cup distance. We began with a 16km tar seal climb, and it felt like a road race with quite a large bunch staying together until near the top. I had good feelings in my legs and near the top I attacked, bringing just Cadel and 2 German riders with me. By the time we were at the top, Cadel Evans (who has been doing a lot of hard road racing with the Seaco team, so had reason to be a bit tired!) dropped off. We started the decent, and after some twisty gravel roads and another small climb I had a good gap. The next 8km was steep, tight single track with some big ass rocks. I was buzzing to be in the lead, with just the motorbike to chase. With the full suspension bike and tubeless tires I was smoking this section. Only once did I almost lose control, when suddenly there were large steps cut into the course. By the bottom I had a 8min lead, although one of the riders had punctured. I did not know this though until the end, so I rode the final 15km as hard as possible. It was fun, as I could just follow the motorbike, racing though the small villages, up into the vineyards, and finally along the lake front to the finish. It was my first win this year, and although the competition was not so high, this race has very high exposure, so its a good one for the sponsors!

22 APR 01 -GP Lancy 187km Road Race, SWITZERLAND
Category: Swiss Elite
Result: Bunch
I felt tired from the start, and had thoughts of pulling out each of the 6 times we passed the start finish area. The bunch held a consistent high tempo, and actually by the end of the race my legs were feeling better. In the lead out to the finish I had a good position, but then got cut off in a round-a-bout 300m before the line, so I missed any kind of result. In the dressing room after the race I shared a smirk with a nameless rider. We had been out there suffering hard for four and a half hours, and amongst the 100 something finishers, there was a special feeling of comradery. As anyone who has raced themselves to exhaustion will agree, this is a very special feeling!

21 APR 01 -GP Meyrin 125km Road Race, SWITZERLAND
Category: Swiss Amateur
Result: DNF
I was glad that it was snowing at the start line. I was flippen freezing during warm-up anyhow, and this just meant I could at least always say I have done a road race in the snow! Getting into the race, there were some tough little hills on the 25km loop, which we had to do 5 times. The snow turned into rain, and I was glad to have 3 layers on top + a rain jacket! With one lap remaining I was pretty screwed and it started to piss down. I decided it was just too ridiculess and pulled out.

posted by jeff lyall 5/8/2001 08:17:58 AM

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