Last weekend I packed my stuff the last time for this year together and drove to Mautern a little village between St. Michael and Liezen. A new track have been built by soe locals in a nature park and I was keen to see it. My expectations got fullfilled the track was long, technical, challangeing but what really disappointed me where the chair lift which took 24 minutes up and the temperatures in the morning, for sure minus, because the half of the track was frozen. But with right cloth and a nice place to stay i could resist and really enjoyed this race. I felt fine and took it very easy. I didn’t crash, did the big gap jump which many men didn’t do and placed on the podium, so check check check I was allright. Petra placed first, Elke second, and then me. In the overall, which I just found there that we have an Austria Extreme cup I placed 3rd too and got some money from the ÖRV: Thanks for that:-)

I say goodbye to this racing year and goodbye to Alpine Commencal. To sum it up it was year with ups and downs but luckily more ups than downs, no big injuries.

So I will keep you updated what i doing next year and which races, but I am pretty sure I move back to DH and will do some enduro and 4x races. bye bye Lene

A German lifestyle and fashion magazine asked me for an interview. The reports were about women who are different and not ordinary. So here you see the results. For those who don’t speak German it is about that i started early to ride, had problems with my parents, because they were scared and about my Plan B studying sports Management.

When i started to race and ride my bike a was a young teenager with no money and no possibilties to get to the races. So I started to ask strangers in a downhill board if they have place to give me a ride to the races, who turned acutally over the years to my best friends. Thanks Jörgili and Markus K..

I slept in my small tent next to my bike, cooked with camping cookers and washed myself in rivers. It’s sounds unreal but thats how I could afford to race and travel around Austria from 1998 to 2004. It was a good time and i liked it a lot until the day in Tieschen at the 4 cross national champs when some french bmx freestylers thought they must run with car over my tent. It was horrible and I messed up the national champs the following day. Anyway I kept distance from camping since this happening.

But last weekend I turned my Kombi Peugeot in a downhill race sleeping mobil. I placed matresses in it, my -10 degrees sleeping bag fluffy pillow and my „little kitchen“. And everything turned out well.The race was great a nice track, nice weather, no rain and well organised as well. It was a race of the European IXS Cup race series, so many competitors were starting and it was a great atmosphere.

My training went well and I didn’t had much problems with the track. I liked the tight corners. The only thing which I didn’t like at all was the north shore parts and the wooden turns which doesn’t fit in a downhill track.

Fotos by Roland Pum

Leogang went well for me. I was satisfied. I stayed always close to the second rider and I nearly passed Sasha Huntingon at the finish line but just „nearly“ and nearly is not passed. In the last turn i went outside to get some speed but the deep mud eat my front wheel and I couldn’t built up enough speed to passe her. So I ended up on the 11 position. But for my regret this race was one of my qualification races for the World champs in Canada. My last chance is in Val di Sole in two weeks, where i have to be at least top 6 I guess. I will see what i can do.
After my 4x performance in Leogang at the World cup, I swapped my bike and I raced the European IXS Cup in Leogang. I liked the track and the weather was perfect. Just sunshine and dry underground. I enjoyed it a lot. Many good girls were riding and so the starte field was hot. Tracy mosley von Great Britian won. I came 10th. I was not to satisfied with my place but satisfied with my race run.
After this race I went back home and decided to take a break. My right hip hurt me still a lot when i walked. The doctor told me to take a break from at least 3 weeks so my hip has time to heal a little bit.
Now I am back in Austria and back on my bike. I trained gates today and I felt good. Walking still causes me pain and my walking style has changed but my biking style is the same :-). I won’t go to Champery (SUI) this weekend. It’s to early for me and on this track you should be more than 100% fit. I will be in Val di Sole (Italy) next week to compete in 4X there.
bye bye Lene

My last 3 weeks were very packed with action and tears. I raced in Koppl in Salzburg three weeks ago and I had a
very bad crash. I felt so good on the my hardtail bike and played with the course, at the end to much. I wanted
to get prepared for Fort Williams as best as a I can for the following weekend. So my goal was to profit as much as I
can from this race before. I double a jump and my front wheel didn’t go over the landing lip so I went over the bars.
It was so high that i land first on my hands and after straight on my back. I couldn’t feel my right leg for about a
minute. Very shocking feeling. But the feelings came back and my pelvis and my right knee hurt even more. I couldn’t get
up and the doctors there ordered an helicopter, because they weren’t sure if my back has fractures.
My back was total scrashed and blue and hurt me too a lot.
So I did my first heli flight to the UKH in Salzburg. There my knee got x rayed and I made a Computer Tomography.
For this I got a contrast liquidity injected and that was such a crazy feeling. They told my that I will feel warm
but I felt so hot, like I was burning from the inside. It was not painful but just not a good feeling. After I the doctor
told me the results and I said that my knee is allright, but I broke a little piece out of my pelvis and that I have
to rest for at least 4 weeks. I started so to cry because (maybe it sounds crazy for you) I counted the weeks in my head
and which races I can’t compete and that would be a lot. The doctor didn’t understand my reaction, how could he?
I think just athlets understand why I counted and cried like this.
I had to stay in the hospital over the night and got one injected after the other to reduce my pain. Actually I was more
afraid of the injections than the pain I would have had without them. The next day I felt so much better and I could
leave. Some friends drove me home in my car and I stayed about one week in bed and didn’t move much. I had crutches and
my flat isn’t that big so I was fine. In the week I started to „go“ in the gym and trained the rest of my body and rode
carefully the hometrainer there. Riding felt so much better than walking. When I walked i superextended my hip joint and
then i hurt a lot. when I pedalled I was fine.
In the third week I start to ride my hardtail bike again and tried on the bmx track vösendorf if it hurts a lot or not.
And it didn’t hurt at all. I was happy about that.
I made a second eximination and MR (Magnet resonanz) and for my surprise my doctor told me that I don’t have any broken
bones I „just“ have had a shrinking of my cartilages in both of my hips joints since I am born and because of this big
crashed it started to hurt me so much. He told me I can race again if I feel okay and that he wants to see me next week
to talk about the future therapy.
So I decided to race in Leogang (AUS) the world cup. I already missed the last one one week before in Fort Williams.
I just race 4x this time I though maybe both is too much. But I am here now and regretting it a lot that I don’t race both
It so hard for me to step on step back and don’t do to much for the beginning. I love it a lot. I love DH and 4x the same
so I don’t know what I should do. Focusing on one is definetly better but I don’t know on which one. Now i have
to accept it and race just 4x. Ah yes the 4x track- I don’t like it. For girls it isn’t a nice track to ride. The takeoff
lips are round and the first jump is scary, for me it is. I will see how the trainings goes today.

Full report bye LENE

So this weekend the World cup in Maribor was going on. So Markus, Caroline Buchanan her boyfriend Barry Nobels, my mechanics Martin and Lukas and I were there. It was raining nearly all the time non stop. The track got every run worse but still ride able. So I enjoyed it. Just on friday my second run I felt hard on my head and had a concussion. But the time was pushing. The world cup time table is so packed that you don’t have time for things like this or technical problems. So I waited one hour until my headache stopped and went up again for another run. I cleared all the jumps I wanted to and so I moved on the 4x practice and four cross qualify. I got in the top 16th for the next day with my 12th place. Was allright- I was happy. So the next day in the morning my headache returned I had to kick myself to get out of bed I was so tired. But I got up and did one training run. For my surprise I felt very good and was looking forward to my qualify run. At 12 o clock i went up to the start. I could feel the stress of the girls and you could see it in their faces. I was totally calm. I havn’t felt that for a long time. people who saw me told me I looked fast, so yes my run went perfect …UNTIL I had to pass two girls in front of me and I choosed the worse place to pass- in the rock garden where you normally struggle without having one person lying a cross the track and at an off camber root section. I was yelling at them, I am sure they heard me but didn’t move on or made the way free. So I nearly crashed in her. She was so slow and I can’t understand why she didn’t stop and make the way free. Because when some passing you you will never make it in the top 20 anyway…. When I passed them I still got my best but at the end i lost to much seconds because of these two passing maneuvers.
So yes 27th at the end and not competing on Sunday.
After qualy i jumped back on my 4x bike for training and the race. My first heat was very difficult. I raced against 3 worldcup winners. So not easy at all. Anneke Berten, Jana Horokova, Jana Laboukava. My gate wasn’t very good but I kept up well with them. At the end Jana crashed and I passed her, but still not 2nd and so Jana and I were out.

Next stopp is Koppl a 4x race in Austria.

bye bye LEne

The first World cup race took place in Belgium. In a small town called Houffalize. The 4x track was exactly like last year. So nothing was very new for me.
My team mate Hannes S, Markus and I arrived on Thursday midday, after a 12 hour drive and trained later on. I liked the track and it was thrilling track to watch. Not that the obstacles were very big, more the passing moves kept the crowed entertained. So did I. I qualified 11th and in my first heat I raced against Jana Horokova (the final winner) Sascha Huntigton (AUS) and Eva Castro (ESP). I had a bad gate but stayed on the back wheel of Sascha. In the second to last turn I tried to pass her and nearly made it. Jana was first, Sascha 2nd me 3rd -so out. After analysing the video I should have closed the ending of the turn completely and maybe some back wheel pushing…so my BMX experienced team mate Hannes and Markus. At the end I got 10 th.. Jana (CZE) won, Anita Molcik (AUT) 2nd, Emmeli Ragot (FRA) 3rd and 4th Anneke Beerten (NED). So in two weeks I have another chance in Maribor (SLO), where I will compete in DH and 4x. Bye bye Lene
Fotos by Tom HAUKE

markus and I

Angry face because the GPS sent us on a weird road…