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The week after I still didn’t feel 100% but we drove to Berlin, Germany to train on the World Cup track for a few days. It was good to explore the track before we got there for the race, because it’s not a typical World Cup track. Steep jumps and more turns made it really hard to pass anyone. Fun times to ride the track, but if you ask my opinion this track doesn’t work for racing because it’s too narrow. On our way back from Berlin we stopped at Ahnatal, Germany for the first 3-Nations Cup race. The track was pretty easy, but because we went straight from the World Cup track in Berlin with a big 8mtr SX starting hill to this small track in Ahnatal with a low, flat starting hill, I had some problems to adapt in those 30min practice before racing. Not only good riders from Holland, Belgium and Germany we’re there. Also a couple of fast guys from Australia came to race Ahnatal. I just couldn’t get the pull out of the starting gate, so I made it to the semi final.

After Ahnatal we went back home for 2 days. Did some easy training before we drove back to Berlin for round 3 of the UCI BMX Supercross (World Cup) Tour last weekend. We knew what to expect in Berlin, so mentally that was an advantage at some contenders, because it’s not a typical World Cup track. Everybody had some struggles, but I felt pretty confident in practice on Thursday. After the rain delay I won 2 qualifying races on Friday, so that felt good going in to the big race on Saturday.

My heat races were challenging, because my teammate Jelle and I had some strong contenders. I made it through my heats, but it wasn’t easy! From the outside lane it was really hard to get in front, because the track got from 10mtrs width on the first straight to a tight 3mtrs width into turn one. Some people crashed, but fortunately I stayed on my bike and placed myself for the Quarter final.

I was in 6th position when 2 guys crashed, so I got lucky to pass them and rode myself into the semi final. O and by the way, after the heat races we had a 1,5hr rain delay. To recover a bit it was nice to have some more rest, but for my back it was shitty to hangout in the team area for that long. I can’t keep riding my bike for 1,5hr because you like to save all your energy for the races. It’s difficult to deal with, so my back got pretty stiff during the rain delay. Eventually I had a bad start in my semi final. Probably too focussed… I managed to pass some guys, but that’s really sketchy on this type of track. 6th place wasn’t enough to make the final.

When my coach and I look back is the last couple of weeks, we definitely see some progression but there is still some work to do these last 5 weeks until the World Championship in Ahoy, Rotterdam (Holland). Till then we have 3 more races to go: 3-Nations Cup, Dutch Championship and the European Championship. I’m going to work on those little things in training and ride hard at the upcoming races!

-Raymon van der Biezen