Helene Valerie Fruhwirth

With one dry eye and one wet eye I left Wellington on the 28 Feb midday.

Leaving good friends, who I had embosomed to go home and see the best friends again…I had a awesome time in NZ but know it was time to go home the races were finished and my budget too.

It was a good journey. I had no long waiting durations between the flight, no lost bike or bag and okay seats, good food, nice weather so a very good view out of the window

and so good entertainment on board. Heaps of good music and films. And I was so surprise when I watched an NZ movie, called „the devil dared to me“ to see one of the Junior Rider as one of the main actors. First moment I thought “ wau he looks very similar to the kid I know from the race series..but then I saw his name and could believe it – Zach Baker is not only fast no he can act too.

Now I try to find my day rhythm here, until now it works pretty well and have to sort out many things for the starting World cup season and today I have my official Frontworx contract signing meeting. We didn’t have time before I left.
See you LENE

Now I can say that I have acclimatized. Everything works well here not very exciting, but yes of course what can easily trump the last months. The last week I hanged out with my friends, who I haven’t seen for ages and trained a lot. It was nice to speak about other stuff than forks, brakes, titanium springs, the world cup schedule… Both girls don’t bother about biking so it was quite relaxing, giggling around and doing other things. I had also a chat with my trainer and we talked about my coming season and so I am working basically on my endurance and torso strength. The weather doesn’t offer other opportunities than cross country riding and sitting on the home trainer. But the other day I did a new XC round with some friends of mine and it was just great. Really nice tracks and some good downhills. So I have not so say that my heart beats for downhill but XC riding is a part of it and tracks like these are making the training easier.

Yesterday I spend nearly the whole afternoon in my cellar. Very cold so well prepared with 5 layers of sweatshirts and T-shirts I worked on my bikes, cleaned my work shop and built up my new 4 Cross bike from Morewood. It looks really hot and I did some laps. It feels good but I have to work a little bit on the weight. Today I wanted to do some real training runs on my hometrack but it is raining at the moment and you can’t ride there when the ground is wet… too sticky.

But anyway it’s easter Sunday so it’s family day. I have already got my easter rabbit and a present. A perfume which I have tried at the airport in London and my mother took a smell at this little perfume cards you can use to try it.. the girls will know what i mean. In 3 hours I can tell, we will sit in the dinning room with big bellies, caused by my mothers‘ fabulous cooking, and talking about the family members who are not here, I will have to answer the New Zealand questions, my aunt will amuse us by her lovely stories and my mum will laugh and cry because she is so funny and my father’s half brother will enrich us with his life anecdotes. So yes I am proud to be a member of this family. Happy Easter see you LENE.

Today my friends and I went for a ride with our 4 cross bikes. „Trainings group number one“ are they called. And yes it was good training, lot of mud and lots of good drifts. I had the chance to test my Morewood and it’s great. Just great.

Sponsornews:

Yesterday I was for a XC ride with my sponsor frontworx. The meeting point was clear and so everybody arrived in time. Volker, his girlfriend and 2 other assistants and I were ready to climb up the hill to enjoy the downhill afterwards. I must be honest I did this tour just 2 times. So I had a map with me just in case.. But better than a map was the one who showed me the tour and he was at the top with his friends nearly at the same time we were there .So we got save back to the car and did not get lost… This would have been quite embarrassing….The weather forecast wasn’t good but it didn’t rain and the day was excellent.

Materialnews:

I not riding any longer Marzocchi. I change the sponsor and now I will ride Manitou. I have already got my new 4x Fork „Minute“. It’s light blue – Apart from the good looking and I tried the fork today and it’s Wicked!’#+`0?

Today my Sombrio riding gear arrived and what should I say special like everytime. The jerseys have on the bottom (left) on the inside a little square of cotton rag stitched off for clining your googles. I really count myself lucky to get this well delibereted clothes. Thanks to sports-nut by the way.

My first race will be the 4cross in Koppl on the 26 of April. So heaps of time to test my bikes.

see you LENE

This weekend a bunch of racers went on a journey to compete against the austrian and interantional 4 Cross elite riders. The bunch was BMX King (Markus), R2D2 (Thomas), Hannes (He is newbie in our 4X group so we haven’t found an nick name yet) and my humble self, Miss DH. Bursting of motivation and excitment we drove to Koppl Friday evening to be fully relaxed on Saturday (the race day). And we all had a very funny evening. I just can say I could feel my abdominal muscles caused by my non stop laughing…

Arriving in a rainstorm on friday evening the saturday could just be better. And so was it.  No rain, no wind and some sunrays. The track was in an excellent condition and every rider enjoyed it. At least how I could tell. The first corner was very narrow and so it came that the spectateurs got presented a show deluxe… So also in the woman final. I was second in the qualification (1st Anita 3rd Angie…)I had a good start and Anita for her circumstances a bad start (normally she has good starts) but she had the inside line and so we ended up elbow on elbow and Angie made her own way and won. We „fought“ in every corner but we could past her any more and I could past Anita. I enjoyed the race a lot and I was very happy about the amount of female riders. It was very good 4X with high level. In the men class won the german rider Sascha Meyborg. Markus came 5th and R2D2 7th and Hannes 13th. To sum up we enjoyed all :-). We are looking forward to go on journey soon again. My next stop without the group is Val di Sole, Commezadura (1-4 of may). It is the pre event for the World champs and I hope I can profit by the pre practice. see you LENE

I am sitting on the steps of the hotel arena in Maribor and have a view of a bunch of young kids lying on their backs in the gras and doing weird excersises. But yeah it looks like good fun…

I came back from Italy on sunday night and was to tired to write something in my blog… BUt to sum up it was a good weekend and I learned a lot for the rest of the season. I really enjoyed the 4 cross riding and to compete. I had very good gates but i have to work on my passing stragety. I was leading the first straight but didn’t know what i can get out of it… ( On Thusday I was training on the bmx track with one local girl and she introduced my in the passing secret.. so I hope I can use some advices for maribor) The downhill track in Commezzadura was hard and long and I was running out of battery, because of too much 4 cross and downhill training…. On sunday I couldn’t hardly walk so i don’t have to tell that i rode very shit. I ended up 15th and that’s crap. But I had the chance to ride on the world championship track and had my riding on the other days was good. So I can be satisfied.

No I am in Maribor it was the first training day and the 4 cross track is difficult. It has no rythm. so at the moment it’s not good fun but i will see how it goes tomorrow. The downhill track is still the same and I can’t await to ride tomorrow.

bye your lENE

The 4X qualification is over and i think I finished 9th (not sure) I am not happy about my result I could have done better and should have jumped this jump but hmmm always tomorrow.

I will take it easy and what comes will come.. Yours LENE

Pedal Pedal pedal… was crossing my mind on Sunday at 15:12:30 when I looked on the clock –  ready to race when the light turned into green. I would lie saying I wasn’t nervous… my family was there to watch, which is very very seldom and who knows me knows that I am very comepetive person.. At the end I stood on the podium 3rd position (national ranking) and 4th (international ranking). To sum I had an okay run..Just okay because I managed to cross a corner so that I nearly overflow it and so I lost few seconds. Maybe I could have beaten the second placed woman Anita Molcik, with whom I was close the run before and the day before, but not Petra. She had a good time.

The race was very well organized and the weather was running always on the edge…All the time grey clouds were hanging over the „Zauberberg“ but the expected rain never appeared. A new starter fiel record was established I think I heard the speaker saying more then 300 starter. Also a storied number of girls/women competed and a lots of international riders  appeared (US, FIN, Japan, AUS, HUN, ITA, CZE, POL, GER …..had a lot of fun and enjoyed riding on this brilliant track. This weekend I will be in Windischgarsten (AUT) I don’t really like the track but yeah I will see how it works out. See you LENE

Pic by Kevin Kontschieder

Yesterday we arrived (we are : Diana, Martins and I) in Glasgow, flying form Barcelona at 7 am. It was bit of an mission but at the end everything worked fine. We got a big rental car and so I had to adapted quick to the right side driving. The rental car company didn’t realize my age… I am to young to rent a car…So I hope I am still insured. What ever. We staying in a very nice appartment. It’s so beautiful and near located to the centre.

Today we had the first pratice day and I manage to crash hard. I destroyed a lot on my bike but luckly the few spare parts I took with me were exactly the ones I destroyed. So all is fine now and I can train tomorrow.

I

This week I sorted a lot out for the next month so I didn’t race the planed race this weekend. It was a good desicion and I enjoyed not to compete … I trained good and hard and thing I got more out of that than out of 2 race and training runs. My stuff is already packed and I will fly out tomorrow to Barcelona-drive to Andorra- race – back to Barcelona- fly to London- to Glasgow-race there and back to London and back home… Vienna. I need sleep now See you LENE

I made it in the finals. So about that fact I was very happy and all the pressure was away when I crossed the finish line as 13th. At the end I was 18th but still top 20.

I was told the day before I have to be top 20 to get a start place for the Worlds in Downhill too so I wanted to do well. In my final run I had a good start but I slipt away in the second forest section and slided down… I don’t know how much seconds I lost but enough to be not very satisfied with my final placement. (19th)

Now we on the way to Fort Williams to have another good weekend. Because apart from my race result I can be satisfied about my qualification and I had a good time with my friend Diana M. and a new one from Latvia.  And I wish Sascha V. all the best and a quick recovery… (He broke his nose in 4x training)
see YOU LENE

That’s a picture from a little girl who made this pic in the gondola in Fort william and sent it to me.. Thank you.

Yes That’s where I was…

We are back home now- landed yesterday about 11pm in Vienna. Thanks to BMX king who picked us up (Us= Martins and me) I really liked the track long and exhausting but I really like it. I felt strong and fit but I was still very nervous. At the moment I don’t know what’s going on in my head- I guess I am thinking to much about my results, placement so that I can’t ride like in my training runs. I am not satisfied with my 18th place again but hmm I can’t change it now I will keep on working on my lack on confidence. I don’t wanna belittle my achievement but I can do much better.

Diana and I
Martins and I

Me ..walking down the track

But appart from racing I had a wicked time with Diana Maggraff from Ecuador and Martins from Latvia. We had a wonderful appartement, a big rental car

, great weather, a trampolin in the garden and more… Diana and I enjoyed the India food  and then we all three missed the party. Diana and I because we both felt a sleep on the couch with our huge bellies.See…

Diana went back to Barcelona and Martins and I flew to Vienna to stay at my place for this week.
Today Martins and I went with my friends to the BMX track and I did some gates. Training for the worlds…YEAHHHHH. I have a start place for the World Champs in Downhill and 4 Cross so I am very stoked about that. My second World champs… My last ones were 2004 where I managed to hurt myself so bad… other story.

Markus and I

So finally I made it to the worlds in Italy. Pretty happy about that cause it wasn’t that easy for me. I am here (Commezzadura) since monday. The first 2 days it rained and the track was very slippery. But today the sun was shinning and I had good training runs. I am glad that I know the track quite well from the pre event months ago. So I can keep my power for the 4 cross race and havn’t to do so many training runs. But it is still a very difficult track with many different lines and it’s not that easy to find your line. Especially if every second rider has a complete different race line and you starting to doubt about your line which you thought it’s a good one…
so I will go down and change my tires because I don’t need my Muds anymore. see you LENE

So I am back home now. back from the worlds… This weekend was on the one side soooo long but on the other it passed so quick to. Some of the national team riders arrived on monday and some on wednesday. We were 8 riders. 4 women and 5 men. Anita Angie raced Four cross and Petra just Downhill and me both. The week started with rain, a crash straight on my nose and an wet track but ended with an sunburn on my arms and a top results for me. I liked the track  (I mention it already before) and up to the last training hour I found my lines. Thursday I manage to landed straight on my face and in the first moment I thought that I broke my nose. I couldn’t see and it hurt so much. I asked the first aid people next to me: „did i broke my nose? and they didn’t understand me and they look just with worried faces on my nose and said YES, YES, Yes hmmm yes… and I was shocked and worried about that I really broke it…But to solve it – They didn’t speak english and said just yes yes yes without knowing what I really had asked them… and I didn’t have a broken nose. It just turned a little bit blue the next day and I couldn’t breath very well in my seeding run. On Friday morning I was so tired from 3 Dh training days and 1 day Four cross that I just slept in and missed on purpose the downhill training. I felt that my body needs the sleep to regenerate and it helped -I felt good at the 4x training. I was ready to get a good qualification time. hmm But at the start I slipped out of my right SPD pedal and managed still to jump the first 2 step downs. I was worry that I wouldn’t make to the finals on Saturday with this mistake but I got a good run down (the rest of the track) and finished as 14th. The only thing was I could’t choose the line which was very important… like in every 4 cross…

Anita had a good time and was 5th in qualification. She jumped the men pro line so respect from my side well done Anita.
So Saturday was the raceday. At 12:56:30 downhill Final- I know it so exactly because I still can read it on my back of the hand. I wrote it with a waterproofed marker on it to be sure that I don’t miss my start….On this way I also wanna say thanks for the support from the National coach at the start (DH/4x) and the mechanic.  So I got down in one piece in my race run. I had a nearly clean run.. I could say I „cleaned up the track“ of photographers. There were so many that I hit one with my handlebar…I lost for few seconds my balance and nearly crashed. I think I was not the only one who hit one they were everywhere. I heard from a junior rider who crashed so hard after hitting a photographer that he ended in hospital. 🙁

So I ended up on the 13th place, which is my best result this year in an big event. 13th of the world I am stoked… The time different between the next girls are about 0,5-4 seconds but the podium ladies weer 30-47 seconds ahead, which is pretty much… so training training training.

Four Cross was very dissapointing for me. I had a good start but I had no chance on the outside line. In hindsight I shouldn’t have tried to go wide and cut in it was a to slow line… But pastes is pasted  and I know it better now for the next time…

My next race is the 4X national champs,which I am sure won’t be counted because of the less number of female competitiors. …But I am hoping for a surprise maybe we are more than 6.

seey ou LENE

Winners:

Woman: rachel Atherthon/Sabrina Jonnier /Emmeline Ragout

Men: Gee Atherton/ Steve Peat/ Sam Hill

National champs are done.

7:00 ready to go… my best friend Miriam came with us to support us (Us= Bmx king and I)

10:00 Arrival: the track was still wet from the heavy rain the day before. So no training for us -the track was closed. And Markus used the time to change his tires 2 times…

and get some advices from Roman „Russe“ or his new name „sex instructor“…

and after eating and lying around in the car the training started. I jumped everything and felt good, so ready to race. I realized in training that my pedals and clicks on my shoes didn’t work very well I tried to fix it before my run but I couldn’t..
So I slipped out of the pedaly 3 times and had so many problems to click back in. I was soooooooooo angry I can#t tell I went back to my car and was so frustrated that this happened to me. 3rd quali time…shit i thought…shit start position again…. F*’#?! F!?’*#. It was not easy the other girls Anit M and Angie H (World cup racers too) were fast and so I had just one chance to risk all and have the fastest gate. I am not sure it’s hard to tell from my view but I think I had in the final runs the fastest gates and was so able to cut right. In the national champ final run Anita was on the 2nd position (which is still a mystery for me because she had the fastest quali time and the first line on the ride side was the best position and choosed this line on purpose…) Angie on the first and I am on the 3rd. and the first corner was a right turn with two lines, where the inside line was faster. I started and cut right to get the corner, elbow on elbow with Anita, who crashed and Angie was a head until the finish line. She got 1st, me 2nd,  Elke 3th and Anita 4rd. In the international final run it was similar but this time Anita took the 1st line, Angie 2nd, me 3rd and Elke 4th. It was the same but this time Angie couldn’t pass me and I followed Anita. Anita 1st, me 2nd, Angie 3rd and Elke 4th.

I am stoked about my racing and jumping and that I did a good job from this start position…

Markus didn’t have so much luck he finished 5th in the nationals… He had good gates and clear runs but it’s always different to race against 3 other riders too you never know.

Niki Siedl won the men, Congrats from my side..good job niki.