Because of Anna's knee injury and Malenes pregnancy Teams annual end off season race Harz MTBO 5 stunden had to be replaced with something shorter but nonetheless just as challenging. Friluftsland MTBO last 2 stages were held in the most hilly terrain in Denmark nearby Silkeborg.

It was a weekend with a very nice and sunny weather, beautiful blue sky and not a cloud on it. Perhaps that's why the temperature dropped down to the freezing point during the night hours so it was quite cold in the mornings.

On Saturday there were a long distance race followed by middle distance on Sunday. To make a long story short - we won both days :). On the long distance it was Ann-Dorthe who took the lead, ridding surprisingly strong, taking into consideration her injury that stopped her from participating in the World Champs. She won the course by 3 minutes making a great come back from her time off. Meanwhile Anna was not her best at all. Making 2 huge mistakes in the very begging of the course and having to push hard to win back the precious time, she finished only 3rd, 4 minutes behind Ann-Dorthe.

Next day we had a middle distance race. And even though the course seamed to be planed just to send everyone from one top of the hill to another, we managed to do well and kept a good pace from start to the finish. Anna was strong, ridding fast and clean and won by 4 minutes ahead of the 2nd place. Ann-Dorthe made a few small mistakes and finished just outside of the top 3.

Friday 7 October, 2 hours MTB race in the dark. The rules were simple - ride as many laps as you can in 2 hours. You could either ride solo or enter a mixed class for teams of 2, where the difference in laps for both participants shouldn't be more then 2.

The new concept turned to be a big success. And with the good weather it really was a great race. Lots of lights in the forest and a fantastic atmosphere. Team eleven/ Radon was represented by Ann-Dorthe in solo class and Tilde in mixed teams, who rode together with her boyfriend Peter. The route was a good mix of single track section and wide paths. There was plenty of places for passing the other riders which is always essential in a night race. It was an excellent course with a few challenging places. The competition in women's solo was not as strong for Ann-Dorthe, but because of a long injury period she was nonetheless absolutely exhausted when the 2 hours had passed. Luckily, her pace was too high for her competition so she finished first, well ahead of the second place.

In mixed teams, however, there was a lot much more excitement. First place was pretty much settled from the start but the rest of the podium places kept switching the owners several times along the way. We were, of course, particularly interested to see the competition for the third place, as it was Tilde and Peter who fought for it. And they didn't disappoint us! When the 2 hrs run up they had managed to ride most laps and win the last step of the podium.

Some cool pictures from the race taken by Anna could be seen here: https://picasaweb.google.com/telyakevych/MTB2NIGHT2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDet8u5_prPDg

Although the racing season is over there will always be some fun small races to attempt, and those are always a good training. So last Sunday Julie and me went to try something different - MTB Time Trail. Huh..? - you are probably thinking. Yes, I was suspicious too. But, surprisingly, organisers managed to make a good deal making the whole course out of the new 23km long MTB single track in St. Dyrehave, 30km north of Copenhagen. So all we had to do is to follow the single track that had plenty of wet routs, sharp corners, small climbs and quick descents. Perfect course for the Skeen! After I got back home from World Champs in Italy I jumped back on my hardtail and haven't touched the Skeen in 2 months. But when I found out that the course for the TT race was technical I knew at once what bike I am going to ride. And the Skeen didn't disappoint me! I don't think I ever noticed the course was bumpy :) and even though I haven't used the Skeen in the past couple of months I was still able to stear it nicely between the obstacles, eating up the routes without even noticing them. Surely it was a pleasure to play around for 42 mins going fast, smooth and comfortable. Perhaps I should stick to the fully in the future...? ;)

All in all it was a good sunny day with top results for the team. Julie finished first in the Long Course and I took the first place of the Short one, riding the same time as the best man did - 41:54. Top 5 results are here: http://dnk.katana3.com/online/event.ctrl?cmd=top&event=2128094739

HeelsOnWheels, Danish MTB cup only for women was again this year a huge success. With over a hundred women finishing at every stage the race was really one of a kind. I was so excited about it and of course hoped to win the overall standings once again. I did it in 2009, in 2010 I had to skip the races because of work but my Team mate Ann-Dorthe won the title and this year the Team not only won the title but also took all podium places! Julie took 2nd place while Doris finished 3rd! Well done ladies!

Website: http://heelsonwheels.dk/2011/
Results: http://heelsonwheels.dk/2011/resultater/

Some pictures to give you an idea of the races. Special thank you to Henrik Storgaard and Lasse Graves who let us use their pictures.

The one and only. The race we have been training and looking forward to...
http://www.mtbo2011.org/index.php

The World Championships start on Monday the 22nd of August with a Long Distance Qualification on Bregonze hills followed by Long Distance Final the day after.

Up until five days ago we had two riders from the team participating the championships. Last years relay Gold winner AD Lisbygd riding for Denmark and Anna Telyakevych riding for Ukrainian National Team. Unfortunately AD got into an accident on the way to work this Monday and had badly injured her ankle... So far, it is not looking good. But we all hope she will make a quick recovery and will be able to participate the World Champs that start just in 10 days!

Anna is back to racing after a knee surgery. Training well the past 4 months, gaining back her strengths and improving orienteering skills. But would it be enough to make it even to the top 20?... We shall see.

Third gold in a row for Team eleven/Radon ladies in Danish MTBO Championships in relay. AD Lisbygd, Anna and Malene Telyakevych once again proved to be the best team in Denmark.

Irene flew over to the UK to participat in one of the largest and the most prestigious 24-hour mountain bike event in the world, which has been the inspiration for 24-hour events around the globe. Mountain Mayhem, has 2650 competitors and over 15,000 spectators with 45 football pitches of camping.
Fortunately the weather was good and the course was challenging. Sweet single track, hard steep climbs and great down hills. So guaranteed fun and excitement for 24 hrs.
Team Eleven/ Radon - Raceline Girls came 3rd in the Open Female Category. Great event and highly recommendable!

HeelsOnWheels, danish first and the biggest MTB cup only for women started this Tuesday with two podium places to Team eleven/Radon and all team members in top 15. Anna made a great come back to the MTB racing taking second position just 29 seconds behind the leader while Julie finished third well ahead 4th place. Well done!

Website: http://heelsonwheels.dk/2011/
Results: http://dnk.trumin.eu/online/event.ctrl?cmd=result&event=1423190681

Julie joined us for the H12 race this year but we soon realised she fitted perfectly well in our team. She is passionate about cycling and keen to become a better mountain biker so we decided to invite her to the team.
Julie has been into road cycling since 2008. Having licence in category B she took part in quite a few road races gaining valuable experience and getting stronger with every season. After a winter of training on a mountain bike she decided to change a road to single track and got into MTB racing. Her career started in 2010 but already this year Julie has been doing exceptionally well at all races she took part in. Fast and fearless, Julie will soon be a very strong member of our team, and we are all looking forward to that!

H12 Copenhagen

The weather forecast for the day was great - clear sky, lots of sunshine and a dry single track to look forward to. The organisers did, once again, a brilliant job setting a great course and making the race area at Isterød School as comfortable as possible. It was to be our sweet home for the next 12 hours, and we could not wait to get started.

We decided to send Anna on the first lap who we knew would tackle the start-loop chaos best. She is far from being fast yet, recovering from the knee surgery, but she has a race routine and experience to make a good start for the team. And the plan worked – Anna changed over to Ann-Dorthe in the lead. Great start for the day! But we all knew there was no time to relax as another team on the second place was just around the corner pushing hard to overtake us. Everyone on the team: Ann-Dorthe, Doris, Julie and Anna gave everything they had every lap of the day. For next 5 hours we fought every second to hold the lead and nearly got away with it but our chasers, unfortunately for us, seemed to be getting stronger with every lap. They made a move on the 10th lap and we dropped some seconds behind. After that, it was us breathing in their back for the rest of the day. We worked as hard as we could, still hoping to make it to the first position, but the leading team were gaining seconds every lap, and we were, once again, to finish second. It was a fight until the finish line and we all really enjoyed every minute of it but finishing second for the 3rd year in a row is just a bit too painful :) Good job there is always another H12 race a year after. So 2012, will be the year!

For our second team things didn’t quite work out as well as we hoped. First we had to pull Malene, who is to be a mom later this year, from the team and find a replacement. And then the team made a dramatic start with a broken chain just on the start-loop. Tilde got into a trouble just a couple of km before the change over area breaking her chain and had to spend some time to fix it. She finished devastated sending Irene on the course chasing the field. Being dropped down the field from the start was a tough one, they worked hard to gain those lost minutes back but it was just not possible this time. They finished 6th, three laps down to the first place. Still great result, taking into consideration that both Karina and Tilde were doing 12Hrs race for the first time ever.