robinwallner

Well… that kinda sucked balls.

 

Felt like a new person this morning after 10 hours of sleep.

 

Practice went well this morning too, did 4 runs and 2 of them were non-stoop just trying to work on the rythm.

 

I was planning on a safe run in qualifying since i don´t race for any overall points i just wanted to be safely in the final.

 

Anyway. Sam Hill was starting in front of me and forgot to put his transponder on and got late of the start leaving me with 9 sec to go when i got in the start. Got a bitstressed but goggles on and then of i went.

 

Started out steady and rode decent all the way just tryingto stay on my lines and not make misstakes. Everything was going smoothly but i must have punctured in the last rockgarden because when i got out on the open fast section after it i could feel i had a flat.

Tried to pedal like a german (everywhere) and jumped the last step-down with the flat but it was just to far down to the finnish.

 

I ended up 83^rd not even one second of a final spot. Almost thought i would make it but there was so many guys that beat me by one or two seconds. Times were realy tight with only 18 seconds from 80^th to first place so youcouldn´t afford any misstakes especially not a flat.

 

I´m pissed of as hell right now but next weekend is what i´m over here for so i still have some patience left.

 

Must say that this season has been the worst wc-season i had ever. It was just not meant to be.

 

Tomorrow i´m going to ride some xc and maybe do some runs in the bikepark here or something.

 

Bring on worlds.

 

//R

Sooo we are there!

The great USA. Windham and the last world cup of the season.
Feels a bit sad that it´s almost over already!

Forgot to update of my Avalanche-race last weekend. Got on the podium there wich
was pretty decent on the dh-bike and good training for worlds!

Anyway. Trip here was going well except that we got delayed out of newyork sowe arrived a
couple of hour later then planned in Windham.
When here we struggled tofind our accomondation when we got the keys & went there disaster struck.

It was a shitty house that hadn´t been cleanedout after winter season, dirty sheets, rat-shit,
dust, garbage left from the last people staying there & a pretty freaky smell!

It was obvious that we couldn´t stay there but time was ticking.

I missed the trackwalk yesterday and thought it was bad enough, it was now 1 o clock and i
had been travelling from 10a.m and practice starting at 8.30 i was ready to do ONE THING
AND ONE THING ONLY! GO TO SLEEP!

So i went to sleep in the back of one of the cars until our national coach Fredrik & mechanic
Klas miracoulusly managed to sort out a new accomondation.

I felt like shit this morning already when i woke up.
I walked the track during first 2 hours of practice and then got on to trying to ride my bike.

Went down when i was rolling through my firstrun but after that it was going allright.
Tried to work on some lines & get up to speed but my head wasn´t realy following what
i wanted to do.

I did one timed run just trying to roll through the whole track in one run. Was thinking of
doing another run but thought to myself that "i better quit before i eat shit".

So made it through day 1 alive. Track is pretty good. No realy hard sections but realy fast
in some sections. Feel pretty confident that today will be better!

Laters.

Where to start...?

Everyone that follows this page knows i managed to get the win at eurochamps last weekend.

It´s easily the biggest achivement i had and i can tell you that after having struggled so much during
this season it felt so good you people have no idea.

From the pre-season suffering, slashing myself to pieces, seeing my brother flying chopper & hanging out at hospitals and a lot of behind the scenes stuff that has been hard for me it was such a big relief to finally get something good out of it.

My week in hafjell was great.



The startfield was better then last 2 years with Spagnolo, Camellini, Paulhan, Lehikoinen, Beer & quite a bit of top riders that had made their way up there.

The ones missing were the brits wich was a bit of a shame.

I was loving it from first run and i was pretty impressed with the track & the work they had put into it.


4 minutes of everything from big jumps, super fast sections, rockgardens & rooty woods you had to be allround &
smooth to put a full run together.

Went of track in my seeding run and was still 4th place so i knew i could be running for a medal but never realy
thought of the result that much.

I just wanted to have a good run and beat some of the fast boys to prove to myself that i can race my bike.

My run was pretty dialled just one misstake realy but i felt that i might have been a bit careful in some spots
but got in with best time and was sitting in the hotseat for quite a while.

When it was 3 riders left i was just thinking "holy shit it might actually happen" Matti was on a pinned run and up
a lot on me at the last split but ended up going over the bars in the last rocks thats when
Niklas & i were looking at eachother with that big "please-expression on our faces.

It was a sick win to me since it felt like racing on home turf so party was good.

After euros we had swedish champs in Åre so spent the week up here. I can tell you that pressure is on rocking up
as european champ at the national champs back home.

Practice was great. Like the track & feel like home up here so been happy all week.
Realy wanted not to qualify first so i was happy to be in 2nd place 0.06 of a second of first.

Finals day was sketchy!

Raining all night & starting to dry up when morning practice started i decided to keep my dry tires on.
Bad choice since it started raining at lunchtime again so i had to put the spikes on.

When it was time for the elite riders it had started to dry out quite a bit and it was super slippery at some spots and grippy in others so it was hard to know where to push & where to back of.

I started out with going over the bars in 5th turn up top. I hit my bars & hand on a rock in the inside of the turn
and got flipped over the bars.
It sucked.

After that i tried to make up time & made so many stupid misstakes i cant even bother to write about it.
Came in as 2nd place 1 second of cousin Herman leading & ended up 3rd 3 seconds of the win.

Pretty bummed since i guess i had a pretty good pace and i fractured my finger & wont be able to ride for a few days but thats racing & i wasn´t the only one to have a crash.

I will spend the week here in Åre & race the Avalanch here next weekend & the fly over to U.S for wc-finals & worlds.

Video will be up sooon!

Good times.

//R

Klicka på länken... http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/656953/

Ok so i finally got hold of some internet and a computer that is working!

Before coming to Val di sole we had 3 days in Montgenevre wich were pretty flat out with filming
but we had goos weather & it was good to get to ride the bikepark a little.

Epic drive from there to Val di sole. 6 hours with the van & got stuck in traffic outside Milano
(not tu surprisingly maybe) but got here anyway.

Track is pretty similair to the one we raced worlds -08 lower half is a bit different but overall it's
similair.

Been feeling real good during practice just want to have a solid weekend after so much shitluck
the last couple of weeks.

Track went wild yesterday when it started to piss with rain but today it dried out and was
dusty in some spots when it was time for quali.

I was actually real nervous at the start after champery where i went down both my runs
so i really wanted to keep it steady and stay on the bike.

My run went pretty well just hit a stump with my bars halfway down where i nearly went of track
loosing both feet of the pedals.
Rest of the run was pretty steady & i got in as 17th and finnished of 18th so i'm pretty happy
with that.

First top 20 qualifyer of the season & i hope i can make the best out of it on sunday...
It was just 7 seconds to a top 10 and that's realy not much on this track.

Gee Atherton was fastest with a 3.21 (i had a 3.33).

Tomorrow it's just practice & final on sunday. A bit weird schedule this weekend...

Over & out.

/R

I at least have some good suport back home from my borther! hahaha

Well that`s it for this weekend.

Qualifying yesterday was the biggest mess i had in a racerun for i don`t know a loong time.

Went down 3 times. Had to take my gloves of. Ripped of all tear-offs so i rode in blindness the last parts of the course and well
quite a few misstakes on the way but that felt pretty minor.

never thought i would qualify but i ended up 64th place so some bit`s must have been ok.

It has been raining for 2 days now and it is fair to say the course was like a warzone.

The only gameplan i had was to stay on the bike and try to keep feet on the pedals as much as i could in the finals.

Was going good until i crashed in the same corner as hill went down in a couple of years ago.

Was up pretty quick and rode pretty steady until i went of a bit in the last woods.
Then managed to mess up the last few jumps almost missing the double coming into it going a bit sideways.

I ended up 41st place but i`d say we could have had a lottery about the results.

Top 5 boys were riding amazingly pinned and all pretty steady brendan was awesome to watch.

Going to try & get back on it for Val di sole and hopefully we can have a bit more normal conditions then.

What a greasy weekend!

Shower time.

//R

First day of practice is over and it`s been a good day.

Felt allright, hard to say if you are fast or not on this track but i was feeling ok.

Except that i nearly killed myself on one of the new jumps up top but it turned out good...

Did 2 runs in the top 80 practice but the first run i had to stop cause i almost ran over a girl.
Tried to just make a full run so wasn`t pushing realy but still got a decent time so i look forward to qualifying tomorrow.

Remi was riding good and being loose as hell he posted 11th time in the practice ( think i was 18th).

Been raining a littlebit this afternoon but so far so good with the weather.

All in!

//R

So i`m finally here in Champery after the longest drive ever!

Took a ferry from sweden to Germany on monday evening and drove straight from Rostock to Champery yesterday...ALONE.

It was about 35degrees outside so i could think of better things to do then driving the yellow van alone 1300km.

Got here pretty late last night so i just slept in the car since the rest of the team are arriving about...now i think.

This weekend is a bit different with training tomorrow, quali on friday & finals on Saturday so i`m of to walk the track in a bit.

Can`t wait it`s going to be sick!

//R

Had a perfect weekend going down there.

Dh-track is always good just wish it could be a minute or two longer but the good thing is that the racing is always close and exciting.

I won the dh-quali on saturday & then went on to do 4x aswell. Got the win in the 4X quali by a bit over 2seconds so i was pumped.

Went on to winning every heat i was in despite having the worst starts ever!

Only shitty thing was that it got late and i had dinner at 22.30 so i was feeling it day after.

Felt good in practice and i don´t usually have any problem in being last man on track.

 

My run started out good but made 2 major misstakes that i couldn´t make up for o a 1.14min track so i was expecting being atleast 2 seconds slower then in my quali.

Got in and still beat my qualifying time by half a second but it wasnt enough. I got beat by one tiny hundred of a second for e win by Kim Petersson.

That ruined my perfect weekend but it was still a great race and i´m feeling like i have good speed coming into some important races next few weeks!

 

//R

 

 

 

 

 

Heading out then!

Had one day in Stcokholm working a bit + a quick visit to the beach but i think i´m ready to go!

Got myself a good drive to deal with so i should be able to score a few "trucker-points" on this eurotrip.

Look forward to riding the race this weekend. I like the track down there and weather looks goood!

//R

Not much going on today realy. Took care of my dh-bike this morning it had seen better days to be honest but i think i got it working allright and ready for the swedish cup this weekend.
I´m planing on taking the van on a pretty sweet trip alone for the next couple of weeks. First heading for sv-cup in Kristiandstad then champery/Val di sole & back home for Euro-champs so i have given the yellow truck some love to.

I was planning on riding moto this afternoon but it started pissing with rain, thunder & lightning so i had to stay in watching moto-vids instead.

If lightning stops i might go for a xc-ride or othervise a run in the woods.

I´m going to head for stockholm tomorrow afternoon but i might have time for a moto-session before i go!

The downhillbike will have to wait until the weekend. I had my fair share of riding last week.

//R

Feel like i should update a bit on what the hell is going on…

 

I think everyone know that i didn´t ride the finals in Leogang and that it was because Niklas decided he wanted a 2 week vacation at the hospital in Zell am Zee during the qualifications.

 

For sure this has been one of the more sketchy experiences i had seeing the helikopter airlift him out, not knowing for a long time what was going on at all and being told it was serious.

 

It turned out good. He punctured his spline but was so so lucky that they didn´t have to remove it. He lost a lot of blood and had to stay in the hospital 12 days laying straight down on his back not moving, eating or doing anything at all (shover, piss or shit included...)

 

First 48hours were worst since the doctors wouldn´t know anything for sure untill after a few days and he could still have to operate. Worst thing was to be honest having to tell him how long he would have to be there and how long it will take before he can ride a bike again.

 

It´s going to be 6 weeks of doing nothing at all & then another 3 months before he can start to ride again. Sad times...

 

Mom & dad came there on friday until that i had been sleeping in the car outside the hospital so i wasn´t in my best shape to be honest.

 

I knew the IXS-cup was going down that weekend in Leogang and since my parents were there i decided to do the race.

Felt real good in practice and it was good to ride my bike and not think about anything else for a bit but i was tired and a full run was hard for some reason.

Went of in qualifying and still finnished 11^th & got motivated to pinn it on sunday. It wasn´t ment to be going well that weekend either. Slid out on one corner in the first woods and crashed. First i was thinking to just stop and not bother to ride down but i did and had another crash pinning it to hard in the last woods.

 

Dont know what i finnished really.

 

 

Me & dad drove the van home on tuesday and Niklas was sent home by plane on thursday. He was pretty stoked when he got to have a shower and a shawe i think...

 

Then i rode the swedish cup last weekend trying to get back to focus on riding. Had pretty fun riding with cousin Herman during practice. Made a big misstake in my final run and he ended up beating me by 2tenths of a second so i had to settle for 2^nd place.

 

Sunday i spent riding moto with mr.Källström and then i went straight up to Åre for the Bike-festival and the Scandinavian photochallenge.

 

It´s been a flat out week!

 

I was in team Canaska shooting with Dan Barham from Bike and riders wereme, Linus Sjöholm, John Alm Högman & Mike Hopkins.

 

First 3 days we shot photos all day long and tried to ride anytime we could inbetween that.

It was so great to hang out with the guys and just ride people have no idea!

We didn´t at all excpect to win the actual comp but we ended up taking down mr.Fredriksson himself and i think it was a bit because we just had fun and Dan shot us doing what we would have done anyway.

 

There was 2 small dh-races during the week. One chainless race in the bikepark-trail flinbanan and one on the classic Nelson/Tjärnis singletrack wich was pretty sick since i won it by 4 seconds.

The chainless race was also pretty fun but i haven´t realy rode the new version of that trail so i didn´t have it very dialled. Got 2^nd place behind Alex Kangas so that was still allright.

 

Been riding everyday 10-5 so i have had A LOT of time on the bike. Did some timed runs and a bit of propper training aswell but the weekend wasn´t that good for training with all the partying that went down.

 

I´m back home for the week now and then riding the swedish cup this weekend & then of to Champery.

 

Now i´m of for a roadride.

 

New video will be up later this week but heres a small clip of rydbergs

 

//R

Willingen then…

 

Pretty cool event with their big Bike-festival so lots of people and one hell of a price-purse.

 

Only thing is that the track is machine-built top to bottom and is more like a big bmx-track then a proper dh.

 

Still it`s real fun to ride it and i enjoyed practice but i had a hard time to race it.

 

Unfortunatly Remi got blown of on the last jump on friday-practice and hurt his foot bad enough not to be able to race. Looks like he will be back for Leogang anyway.

 

My qualifying went shiet and i was sitting in 25th place after that (40 riders sent through to the final).

 

Felt a bit better on sunday and my run went allright, no real mistakes just felt like i was to slow and didn't pedal enough on the top.

I got in as 2nd place don`t know what i finished but somewhere around 20th. Didn't bother to check either since it didn't mather at all for this race if you weren't in the top 5.

 

Even though everyone knew it was going to be a tight race i was amazed how tight the times were from me to first it was just 7 seconds.

 

Aron Gwin won with Minaar 2nd & Neethling in 3rd…

 

Today i just did a 2 hour roadside around Remis place then we might hit up the downhill a bit tomorrow before we leave for Leogang.

 

My hands are pretty good now so i look forward to have a good weekend!!

 

Peace.

 

R