Helene Valerie Fruhwirth

I don’t know why but since I am here in South africa my life is just crazy. Nearly non stop everything goes wrong. I keep on crashing hard, have non stop bruises or scratches even when I would sleep with my bodyamour I would manage to hurt myself and now I am food poisened. Everything hurts in my body and I can hardly sleep because I don’t know on which part of my body i can lie without having pain. Yesterday I went sailing with Alex to get my mind free and to get some distance to the bike thing. And guess what happened I managed to hurt myself again. They sail get out of control and the robe burned my neck deeply. Then in the evening I cooked pasta with mince and I think the mince wasn’t cold properly. So I spent the whole night with vomitting, diarrhea, fever and catching mosquitoes.

Apart from that I competet this weekend. Got 3rd in the four cross and 6th in the downhill. I had pain as well because I crashed the day before so I rode very badly. I wasn’t happy at all……

Bye lene

I am feeling better now. Yesterday I was still struggeling with my digestion. I kept on vomitting and didn’t feel good at all. But at least my bikes works fine now. Maxime from Boss Suspension changed a few things on my suspension. I got a springs size which fits to my weight now. So I am happy about that.

On the downhill track are jumpes with are scarring me a lot and I hope I jump them tomorrow. I crashed in my qualification run today, I washed out and landed on my sore side. So my time was scrap and I ended up on the 15th position.
In four cross I was so nervous. I didn’t do jumps I wanted so I was very worry about my performance in my qualification run. I think I did okay and I am on the 7th place.  I will see what tomorrow brings. bye LENE

I am back in Austria now and I am very happy about this. For the ones who had followed my blog I had a lot of bad luck and at the end I was really mind blocked and I just wanted to have it passed. In the 4 cross in my first run i had a very good start but then I made a big mistake and didn’t close the first corner and went inside so the other girls behind me could pass me inside easiliy and I was last. It was so frustrating I can’t tell. and in the semifinal I had problems with my gear just before the start and the KHS mechanics helped me. By the way thank you. I was stressed out and had a bad start and was last again. I ended up on the 8th position.

On Sunday on the downhill I didn’t do much better. I didn’t crash but made also lots of mistakes. I pedalled as much as I could but I didn’t do all jumps and lost a lots of seconds. I ended up on the 14th position. 14th sounds not to bad but in the fact that just 18 girls where competing it is pretty bad.

The south african home local hero won Greg minnarr won the race and Tracy Moseley raced down like from another planet.

Bye bye LENE

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Diana and I arrived saved in lovely Belgium. It’s a nice town and so far everything looks fine. Diana made something wrong with the accomondation booking so when we arrived in the hotel no room was booked other her name. So yes we had no room and the only offer was a small room with an extern bathroom with breakfast for 65 euros…WOW super expensive. So we drove on and searched for another room. to be honest I was angry about the situation and the fact the training was going to start but we had to search for a new accomondation. BUT you will not believe it a man watched our searching process and invited us to his house. Private and we were very pleased. Now we are staying there for a very very good price and the man is nice the house is nice and we can use the kitchen, lock the bikes well and its in the middle of the centre. The first training went okay my pedal axle good loose. Fortunatley I realized it before I wanted to jump the biggest jumps but I wasn’t very relaxed. I don’t know what’s my problem I am just not myself at the moment. Tomorrow I will see how it goes and want to do good in the qualification.

bye bye LENE

This weekend I raced in Andorra. It was the 3 rd Downhill and 4x UCI round. I raced there last year so knew the DH track but not the 4x track. When I arrived on Tuesday it looked like it gonna be a rainy weekend, super cloudy, cold, wet and It looked like it will snow. But the weather turned and at the end I got sunburned lips and cheeks.  My bikes worked well and I love my new Morewood hardtail it’s the best. So from that side it was all good.  On Friday in the qualification I nearly crashed on a triple but I still ended up on the 15 position. We were 24 girls so I was happy about that. On Saturday I had the Downhill qualification which didn’t turn out good for me. I crashed hard and lost a lot of seconds to get back on my bike and then to get in my click pedals.  So yes I was out of the top 20 girls and didn’t start on Sunday.  (no injured just bruised)

In four cross I had big crash with another girl (Katarina Tothova).  I was so lucky that I didn’t get injured because we both flew over a roller which you should be soaked because of the following big logs. I landed nose diving in the logs and bushes with my head and left shoulder first. But I still managed to get in the next round. I spoke with Katarina and she said she is „fine“ no broken shoulder.

In my second heat I didn’t have a brilliant start and the heat was strong too. Anneke Beerten,  Jana Horokova and Johanna Petersson.  I came close to Johanna but I couldn’t pass her and I got last. My final position was 14^th. I am satisfied about that. This 4x track was a very good track to pass and good to watch for the spectators. Lots of crashes and smart passing scenes.  Fionn Griffiths and Jost Wichman won and I was so happy for them.  Congratulations! What I am not happy about is of course my crashing in downhill but I get my next chance in Fort Williams.

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Me, Caroline Buchanan and Steffi Marth on the top of the hill.

My spanish friends from Madrid. 

After Andorra I went home for 2 weeks. Caroline Buchanan, an australian 4cross/BMX girl is staying with me at the moment and we had a good time. The weather was brilliant in Austria and so we did heaps of riding, swimming in a lake, sight seeing, shooping….

Pump track Vösendorf

BMX track Wr. Neustadt

Cycling Track in Vienna, with these rental bikes.

Lunch with my parents at home

Sight Seeing with Markus and Caroline (Schönbrunn/Vienna)

I also used the time to find a worker for my appartment or I should say my dad found him. I don’t know if i have already mention it but I will move out from home. I don’t know when because i have so much work to do in the appartment and I am hardly at home in Austria. But I am really excited about moving out and have my own space.

We also celebrated my father’s birthday. Caroline and I baked a chocolate cake with 10 eggs, sugar and butter and no flower. So for those who are baking sometimes it was a very fatty cake but very good and it’s my dads‘ favourite.
Apart from this I had the 4x national champs and a austrian cup race going on. The race super good organised thanks to Sabine by the way and all the organisers. I got 3rd in both races. It was a good track but we had sh… weather. it Rained and hailed.

Markus and Caroline. (A typical good looking austrian man)

Photo by Tom Hauke: Training

Snow on Carolines shoulder

Austrian Cup race: Caroline/Anita/Me/Angelika (left to the right)

National champs 4x 09

So that’s was pretty much it what happened the last two weeks. I think I found a good mix between, relax and still train a lot.

Stay posing. Bye LENE

This weekend I raced downhill in Slovenia. The 5th World cup was running in Maribor and I decided to race just downhill this time to keep my power for the downhill. First I regret that I didn’t race 4x but finally I think it was a good desicion and I felt all right with it.

Friday: It was very nice. The sun was shining and the track was perfect. I enjoyed it a lot and i felt all good.

Saturday: It rained the whole night and so the track was soaked in the morning. The qualification got quanceled because of the storm and lightening. The gondola didn’t run so the riders weren’t able to get to the start. The track was actually pretty good and all right to ride. But so the qualifying was on Sunday morning.

It was super stressy. Wake up at 5:30. Get in the line at 6:30 to reduce the waiting time at the gondola. And then I did one run- washed my bike and already went up to my quali run at 9:38. This time I had a mechanic with me. Martin was his name and he is working for the bikeshop CICLOPIA. They helping me always out.  So I was very pleased for his help. I have also to thank Lukas another mechanic who helped me too.

Anyway in my quali run I crashed at the third corner hard and I lost so many seconds…. To sum it up I didn’t make it to the final again (25 th place). I was really upset about me and about my crash….

I take a break now of racing for 2 weeks and see how i feel after this timeout. I will race for sure the national champs at Leogang. But until there NO Racing for me. I have to find my smile ….

see you LENE

This weekend I competed in lovely Austria. The IXS cup and our national champs were on the schedule.It rained everyday time and the weather God got the track no chance to dry out. Leogang is a very wet area in Austria but the last weeks or month it rained non stop everyday, I got told. The IXS Cup is a European cup just one level under a World cup so the starter field was huge and a lot of nationalities started too.I had so much fun on my bike even when the track looked alike a motocross track.
There were so deep wholes- I think my full body would have fit in some of them. When you rode the track it felt like on a rodeo horse not that I have ever done that but I think it would come close….Unfortunately many riders got bad bad injured. The helicopter flew 3 times and I saw many riders with white finger/shoulder/foot/ knee etc. straps. hinking around at the race pits. It was super muddy but because of the roots and the rolling part I decided to run the Michelin DH 16. I tried the mud ones but I didn’t feel good on the roots.
I really enjoyed it to ride my bike and the mud didn’t bother me too much.  But in my race run I crashed two times hard. But luckily I just ended up with new bruises and not in the hospital…I finished on the 8th place in Elite Women and our national champs weren’t counted because we were just 3 austrian riders and the national champs are official with 6 starters… Anita Molcik got first and 2nd Petra Bernhard

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wagrain race report.pdf

Some of you know some of you don’t but anyway I stayed at home the last weeks and didn’t go to Canada to race there the 2 world cups. I thought about it very long and at the end I found it would be better to stay here and train for Schladming and save some money. I will move out soon in my new apartment and yes that will cost me lots of Euros and I should better save some money to be able to race the next season. I think the World financial crisis will hit the athletes a lot or has already because i guess the marketing/sponsoring budget will be cut of as first. So yes I stayed in lovely Austria and trained here. I went to Schladming and to Wagrain.

It was a cloak and dagger operation. Because at 10 p.m. I read on the downhill page that the bike park Wagrain is organizing a race and the first price is the Gravity Season Card. For everybody who doesn’t know what this is. With this card you can ride in 5 big bike parks the whole year for free. It cost about 320 Euros. So apart from winning this card I was even keener to race my bike and present my sponsors. So I packed all my stuff in the night. Stood up at 4 a.m. left at 5 and drove 4 hours there. But just half an hour before I arrived I got so tired that I realized uiuiui you will fall asleep soon so I drove to the side and slept. It took me maybe one minute…zZzZzZzZ…after this nap I drove on and got in a massive traffic jam…Massive 35 km. it was caused by tunnel work and just 100 before my highway exit it stopped to move. So yes I used the time to have a second breakfast, get changed in my riding gear and watched kids playing football between the cars and rolling with little scooters. After nearly one hour the cars start to roll again and luckily far enough so that I could exit. In Wagrain I had enough time to train and the track wasn’t very long either about a 2min track.

The most dangerous or trickiest part of the whole race was to get on the start box. just a small ladder was leaning against the 3 meter high wooden box and you had to carry your bike up with you. But everybody managed that. The race was a mix of two competitions. In your first run you had to race against the time and in your second run you had to style over obstacles. So both runs got counted. I won both competitions in my class and got this special card. I was satisfied and the whole weekend no even one rain drop, which is really seldom in this area of Austria. Jason and his bike crew were very happy about the event and that it worked all well and I was also happy to see some friends again. To sum it up it was a nice race day.

In the same evening I drove to Schladming to train there the next day and also see the free caster live streaming from the world cup in Bromont in the evening. i watched it in this restaurant/pub/disco local but image listen to „I am looking for freedom“ from David Hasselhoff and seeing Fabien Barel riding down a rock garden. That’s the worst ever. I asked and begged the bar man for turning the original sound on, the Rob Warner commentator voice, but he was not willing to do that because he said the other guest (the local was empty, apart from the mountain bike riders)got disturbed by the voice…. Okay so I went to the apartment of the Schladming bike crew P2 and asked if I could watch there at least the 4x on their laptop…But hmm the 4 X starts at 1 a.m. and everybody felt a sleep before including me. The next day the sun was shining again and I felt very good on my bike. The Schladming track is and will always be one of the best in the world and it’s always a challenge to go fast and stay smooth on this track. From the top to the bottom you are on the gas,your brake discs get blue and your upper arms are pumped. That’s Schladming.

Yes I was on tour again this time in France. The ixs European cup was held in Chalet.

Some of you bikers mind know this place because it is one valley of the big bike paradise called Port du soleil or Les gets or Morzine or…. There are so many tracks. Some of them are easy and some of thema are really hard downhill tracks. I mean still not comparable with Whistler (CAN) but I think on of the best places to be in Europe.

It was a nice week. I started with my birthday- 26. I celebrated on Monday because I was to busy to party on Tuesday (11th- my the original birth day) By the way „happy birthday“ to my uncle, Niki S., Simone H. So it wasn’t a big party it was more a small friends and family thing with a Sachertorte.

I was to busy to organize something bigger. On Tuesday I packed my stuff and worked on my apartment. At Wednesday morning about 6 o’clock I drove to Schladming to meet Elias the RSP rider, because we planned to drive together to the race. He has a big van, where we could sleep in. So yes we started at 9:30 and arrive at 19:30. 10 hours drive….oh my god and so many traffic jams maybe about 6.. to much. Especially in Switzerland it was a night mare. Before Zurich after Zurich before Bern after Bern before…after…every city was surrounded by slowly moving cars…I was very happy that Elias drove and i was just the passenger who slept with head back and open mouth.

Elias friends Mario and Benni

have been already there when we arrived and so we enlarged our pits with elias canvas blind.

We called the area under the tents our living room.

On the picture you can see sometimes it got out of control but the role allocation in our group were well defined. So the group harmony was just perfect and we had so much fun. I laughed tears….

The weather was great too, just in the nights it got really cold and I was so glad that i had my sleeping bag.

On Thursday the race track was closed so we went training on our great tracks. I really enjoyed riding new tracks but I was glad that I could ride on the race track the next day. I like to know the track well to ride fast and I also like to ride when the track is taped so you have to look for fast lines. I love racing. jep the training went well and the seeding run so so. Many good riders were there. Riders like the World champ 2007 Sabrina Jonnier, the european champ Florine Pugine and many other fast ladies. So it was a good competitor field. On sunday it went allright. I made a mistake in my race run and lost my balance in the only muddy turn on the whole track. I ended up on the 5th position, so I was satisfied and happy about this place.

After the race Elias and I packed our stuff straight away and drove back. Elias had to work on Monday morning and I wanted to be at home to get everything ready for the workers in my apartment. So yes this time it even took longer and we arrived at 2 o’clock in the night at Schladming. I was the princess again and Elias didn’t bother to drive…I was so pleased for that because I was sooo tired. On Monday I training on the World cup track in Schladming and drove back home after midday.

Now I am back home and tomorrow I will finish the Bathroom and train DH at Semmering…. BYe bye LENE

Last weekend it was so hectic and bussy but all worked out well for me. It was soooo good. Durring the week i was training on my 4x bike and on Saturday morning I drove to Schaldming to take part in the last race of the Austrian Cup series. I trained good. To be honest I don’t like the track much but it’s okay. I raced with my hardtail but I am not sure yet I think I will race with my fully suspension 4x the Ndiza, because it is a fast and bumpy track. There are already brake bumps on some straights. We were not many girls at all but I didn’t really care it was more a training for me for the World cup. I won the qualifcation and the finals. And won also the Austrian cup.

photo: Martin Steiger

Photo: Martin Steiger

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Yesterday was the qualification and ended up on the 19th position. I was really worry that I am out and that they take just 16th girls but I am lucky they taking all women and so I have another chance today to get to the next round or at least if have the chance to race. My quali run started good but I made a big mistake in the middle section on a flat turn and lost i think there all my seconds. Euj euj euj But today is another day and I will work on this turn and on lines to pass the other girls.

Bye bye LENE

Yesterday I took part in the UCI World cup 4x and it was good fun I enjoyed it a lot. The day before I was frustrated about my qualification time and placement but I did well on the final day. Training went well and I tried all lines you could try to pass even these ones where you are very slow at the exit but maybe a head. yes and excactly this helped me to get a good result and pass the first round. I had good gates and I did a tricky passing and it worked well and was in front of the second rider. I ende up on the 12th position and I am satisfied about that. It was a good starter field and the track was nice too to pass and jump.

bye bye I have to go we are late….lene

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