For the last time before it moves to Brazil, Praloup hosted the UCI Master’s World Championship last week end. The track was relatively long and fast (3"36 for the Misser bro.) with no really hairy sections so it required a lot of finesse to tackle the numerous flat/off camber, ruts and most of all the crazy dust ! A perfect track for the crowd of experienced old dogs (nearly 600 racers) ...
The program was : Tuesday, walking the track (I missed that as I was riding the PDS with clients). Wednesday, two practice sessions per category, and the same again on Thursday. Friday, two hours of practice (stopping not allowed) in the morning and the seeding run in the afternoon. Saturday, two hours of practice (stopping not allowed) in the morning and the final in the afternoon. A lot of practice time and superb organisation by the UCI... perfect ! The only slight problem was the long queue at the lift despite the second lift opened for the occasion. To be fair it’s always going to be pretty difficult to manage 600 riders with one lift.
The Missers meant business, with wins for both Pau and Tomi in the 30/34 and 35/39 categories respectively, with Tomi finishing more than 10secs ahead of the rest of his group ! Their dad, Josep, was rocking the XC (7th in his category) while their mama was obviously the team manager... a family business !
As for me, due to an injury at the start of the season I didn’t get any practice on my DH bike this summer and didn’t race at all... I couldn’t have been less prepared for the event ! (unlike my DHR, the best bike I’ve ever owned !). And it showed, two crashes in seeding made me start very early in my category. In the final I caught up with the two riders in front who couldn’t let me pass straight away and "blinded" me with their dust (again !). I crossed the line with a 4"40 time pretty disappointing... but I had great fun during 4 days and to be honest, I couldn’t expect more ! (Not to mention that now I’ve literally been there, done that and got the t-shirt).
