Good Fighters

(Me in action)

So just a short post of a race i rode with a good friend of mine.

It was a race on a track about 7.3 kilometers long. A 4 hour relay race. no real climbing but alot of fast single track. It’s a really big and fun happening for the riders from all over  Holland Belgium and Germany. Alot of teams and fast riders pair up. This year there were a total of 154 teams. A beautiful day with alot of sun  so everyone was eager to start. Vincent my team-mate started he rode the first 2 laps he then Launched me into the first group of 10 riders. I was able to keep up in the first of my 2 laps but had to let them go in the second. I then rode into the changing lane were Vincent was waiting. He then was able to catch back up with the fast group again. Just before he had to come into the changing lane for my 2 lsps he rode past the first riders and handed me a 20 to 30 meter lead for my turn. I was able to stay at about 5th to 7th place during my 2 laps which was good for him as he is a faster rider than me. So he was able to stay in that group of riders and keep on giving me a lead everytime I had to start my laps. At the 2 hour mark I checked the standings and saw that we were in 10th place. This motivated us both ofcoarse. At the most we hoped on a 20th place. So lap after lap we gave it our all and ended up in 12th place overall, not bad!

(Vincent in Action)

(Vincent and Me after the race)

And of coarse our Cannndale’s rode as great as ever!

NEXT YEAR FOR A TOP 3 !!!!!!

Here it goes then, my first blog!

First let me introduce myself. My name is Miel, 26 years old and have been riding bikes since forever. It started as a fun hobby turned into a job that has become a Passion.  I guess you can say I eat,  sleep, breathe, live bikes and everything that has to do with it.  I’m a proud owner of many bikes but the reason I have this space on The Good Fighters site is my new 2010 Cannondale RZ140 Carbon-2. A bike that totally fits my style of riding, because I may not be the fastest up hill or on the flat parts of the track but I’ll have you eating dust on the downhills. So the last thing I want is a bike that can’t handle what I throw at it. I work in a bikeshop in The Netherlands. Bike Action in Alkmaar ( www.bikeaction.nl ).  The Sales Rep. that we have for Cannondale hooked me up with this opportunity. So thanks Edward and all the others at Cannondale Europe!

The Bike!

I tweaked  bit of the stock set-up so here is a list of the parts and changes.

I took out the beefy Mavic Crossmax ST’s and replaced them with much lighter selfmade Wheels.  Sun Ringle’ equalizer 23mm. rims, DT competition spokes with red alloy nipples to match the red decals on the frame, a Cannondale lefty SL front hub and DT 240-s rear.  The Shimano XTR drivetrain has been changed to SRAM X.O (red)  the cassette from Shimano XT to SRAM pg-990 (red) and the chain from Shimano XT to SRAM pc-991 cross-step. The short 80mm SI stem to a longer 110mm version with 5 degree down-slope and the stock Fizik gobi made room for a SMP evolution.

The first real test!

The first real ride I did on the bike was the Bart Brentjes Challenge. A 100 kilometer long mountain bike marathon not to many long climbs (1800 meters) but enough to see if the bike was a good enough of a climber. Well it surprised me actually. For a bike with 140mm of travel. It did really well.  It is a light bike (10.6 kilo’s) so the weight wasn’t my worry. More the riding position, but the bike took away my worries and blessed me with downhill capability’s that had me wondering if i needed my freeride bike anymore. Now I’m not saying you can throw this bike off a 5 meter drop but it’s so plush and sturdy at the same time that I still can’t find a trail that it can’t handle. The Lefty with Fox RLC internal is amazing. Even the rear suspension (something that is hard to find on a full-suspension) is perfectly in balance with the front. All in all I had a great and fun ride even the mud and rain couldn’t stop me from enjoying myself on this bike. I crossed the finish in a time of 5 and a half hours. Not bad considering the conditions.

This year I’ll be riding a few more marathons and 24-hour races in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, and the famous Mega-Avalance Downhill-Enduro race from a’top Alp d’huez on my Cannondale RZ140 Carbon-2.  So stay posted!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to have fun while out on the trail!

Happy Trails,

Miel Barkmeijer, The Netherlands