IRON HORSE-KENDA-PLAYBIKER UPDATE July ‘09
ITALIAN CUP ROUND 1: PRAROSTINO (ITALY)
Like the past year and thanks to its base in the amazing Pila, the team has been taking part to the Italian Cup. Round 1 was an UCI international race, held in Prarostino, a small village not far from Pinerolo, one of the sites of the Winter Olympic Games of Turin. The track was a good training for the team, which in any case was able to be the first team of the day even if only with 4 riders. Floriane took the win and Elisa was 2nd in Elite Women, while Nathan was 2 nd overall (just 0,05 sec. between him and Ben Reid, the winner of the day) and Shaun 4th overall (2nd in Jr class). Not so bad for a training.
IXS EUROPEAN CUP: VERBIER (SWITZERLAND)
The week before Fort William the team was invited to race another UCI international race, the IXS Cup in Verbier. The weather was changing very fast and sun – rain and also snow on the top took the place of each other. Unfortunately Nathan had a bad crash, so was unable to show everybody his skills. Floriane won the girls after the hard training she had with the team mates. Good result also for Shaun who took the 2nd place in the Jr class.
WORLD CUP ROUND 4: FORT WILLIAM (SCOTLAND)
The team travelled from Glasgow to the infamous Fort Willian on Wednesday afternoon in time for Thursday course walk inspection and to set up the Pit tents.
The track was largely the same as in previous years with the exception of a new wood sections at the bottom of the course which was not to the liking of many riders however it was a pleasant change for some - including the Playbiker team - with the off camber making it much more interesting over the old course.
Friday practice went quickly as always with the riders trying to learn the long course to be fast for the next days qualifying runs.
Saturday morning practice went well for all the riders and before we knew it we were into the racing. Shaun and Floriane had good runs both qualifying for the finals however Nathan had some very unfortunate bad luck crashing off the board walk at the top and being unable to get back on the course for some time because the board walk was to tall to climb back up onto, he missed qualifying by one second. Sometime it happens also to very experienced riders like the kiwi is!
Sundays racing was another success for Floriane who put together a solid run to finish on her first podium for the year with a 4th position while Shaun did not do so well with a crash finishing in 72 place. In any case the whole team was very happy to be again on the World Cup podium.
The team would like to thank all of its sponsors for making this season possible and the mechanic Frank for his tireless work.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP: KRANJSKA GORA (SLOVENJA)
Between round 4 and 5 of the World Cup, the team drove to Kranjska Gora for the European
Championship. Floriane and Elisa where with the respective national teams, while Shaun and Nathan took part on the Open race. The week end was very successful: Shaun came 2nd in the Open junior class while Elisa scored a 11st place in the Elite Women. But the greatest result of the day was the victory of Floriane of the European Championship: she will wear the light blue jersey with the gold starts for a year!
WORLD CUP ROUND 5: MARIBOR (SLOVENJA)
After the successful weekend at the European championships with Floriane taking the win and Shaun coming in 2nd in the Open Jr category Playbiker was on the road again to Maribor, which was about 2 hours, drive away.
We arrived on the Monday afternoon and settled into the very nice accommodation before taking a swim in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub.
Tuesday came and we chose to ride the bike park, which had some nice free ride trails.
Wednesday was spending between riding and relaxing in the pool before the Thursday course walk and setting up the pit. Friday was a full days practice and the track was one of the best on the circuit so far and all the riders were enjoying it however with the rain forecast for Saturday and Sunday it was all about picking
lines for the wet even though it was perfect blue sky and 30+ degrees.
Saturday came and we all awoke to what he knew was going to happen but didn’t really want….rain. With the mud spikes on we went out for the mornings practice before qualifying. One run and we all knew it was going to be a little bit of a luck game in getting down the hill due to how slippery the course was. However it was not to be, the storm worsened and lightning forced the closure of the lifts making it impossible to hold qualifying as planned. The call was made and all the riders headed home to relax and wait on the new schedule to be released.
Sunday was now an early start with first practice run being at 7.00 and qualifying from 9.30. Once the riders were up there was no time for complaining and before we knew it was time for qualifying. All the team riders made it through for qualifying on the still slippery course Nathan coming in around the 50’s with 2 crashes, Shaun at 45 with a very bad run and Floriane into 12th with a mechanical.
Sunday afternoon was final time, Nathan held it on with a good run ending in 29th and sitting for longtime on the hot seat, Floriane had another good run coming into the hot seat and finishing in 3rd place. Shaun has another very good split time however again had trouble in the lower section ending in 70th position.
ITALIAN CUP ROUND 2: CANAZEI (ITALY)
Also the second round of the Italian cup was an UCI international race. The course was very fast on open grass with the Dolomities on the background. The place was really amazing. Elisa took the victory on Elite Women. Nathan was 2nd even if with troubles on knee ligaments and Shaun was 5th overall and 2nd on Jr class. During the prize-giving ceremony the team manager received the trophy as winner of the Italian Cup 2008 for teams.
NOT ONLY DOWNHILL…
Elisa this year is mostly focused in the Italian Cup and the new SuperEnduro format, a race with transfers to different stages – gravity oriented. Elisa has been winning every single race she entered this year. Just had troubles during one race due to bad signs that made her loosing in the wood during a transfer. She won San Bartolomeo, Sestri Levante , Turin and the last round in Sauze d’Oulx, which is valid also as first round of the SuperEnduro Euro Cup. Shaun took place at Sestri Levante, Torri del Benaco and Sauze d’Oulx, and in all the three round he won the SE1 class, with times valid for the overall standing.
The team would like to thank all of its sponsors for making this season possible and the mechanics Franck and Fausto for their tireless work.
Iron Horse-Kenda-Playbiker
Supported by: Kenda tyres, Pila MTB Planet, Bos-Engineering suspensions, Funn brakes & components, e*thirteen components, Fulcrum wheels, UFOplast, Vanadium Timepieces, FiveTen, Urthplay.com, Insight Production, Ferriani Security, RMS components selection, Qualyline.
For more info and to contact us:
www.playbiker.com
team@ironhorsebikes.it
Posted: July 16th, 2009 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none




















