Text and pictures: Gosse van der Meer Racing pictures: Elisa Haumesser (@lizziehaumesser).
Rain, rain, rain and very cold temperatures overnight took its toll on the course of the second round of the EKZ Crosstour in Hitnau. This was the third trip of this season over to Switzerland so far, after the Internationales Radquer in Steinmaur and theWorldcup in Bern. Hittnau has always been very good to us and this year wasn’t an exception to that. Scoreboards journalist will say, ”you only finished 18th” but I came home with a satisfied feeling!
Pictures by Elisa Haumesser.
Back in the Kangoo days.
I’ve been racing in Hittnau for a few years in a row now and it has always been one of my favourite courses of the series. Three years ago the legendary Kangoo had a defect on the highway with only 100km to go, something broke in the engine and my batteries weren’t getting charged anymore. I remembered that we put turned off the lights and unplugged the radio just to save the batteries and to make it to the race course so we got to the place we needed to be. The car got parked and didn’t move anymore, but that was something to worry about after the race. On Sunday evening we got help from local people and we got towed to a local garage, on Monday morning the Kangoo was the first one to be fixed. ”You come all the way from the Netherlands to come and race cross here, then the only thing we can do is to help you guys get home again” was what the garage owner told us. I only had to pay for the parts he put new in the Kangoo and around 12:00 on Monday we set off towards home again.
Gouden plakje.
This year the Kangoo stayed at home because his big brother is driving us to the races now-a-days. Parking in Hittnau is always a hassle and you’re not allowed to park overnight at the official race parking. We arrive early in the afternoon on Saturday to do a training on the course and find a good spot for the camper. This is the first season I am travelling with my own camper to the races and this is the best spot the camper has been parked at a race so far. We were allowed to park on private property almost next to the start line!
On Saturday the course was a little bit slippery but it was good to ride on. With Jelle switching between being a mechanic and being a cameraman we even recorded a little course preview video!
When it started raining overnight I knew straightaway that the complete video was outdated and it would be a tricky, heavy and technical race on Sunday.
These pictures will give a better image then a thousand words about my weekend.
I hope you enjoy!
As we left on Friday evening already to drive the first part we had an easy breakfast somewhere in Germany.
Course situation on Saturday (day before the race).
Me pointing at my bike.
My 2020 Bombtrack Tension C bike in full race setup.
I am not getting sponsored by Brunox but when the name of your product is ”Turbo-Spray” you can count me in that it will be sprayed on my bikes!
Photo-credits for Jelle to set up the lights and pressing the button on the camera.
Jelle does the bikes and I do the food.
Jelle is his job is done for the Saturday.
Pasta.
All following pictures have been taken by Elisa Haumesser:
Warming up.
That first lap start carnage.
Every lap a clean bike was needed.
You could ride it down on the Saturday and also on Sunday morning but running down turned out to be much quicker because riding down became almost impossible.
Red cheeks after a cold race.
The whole course became wet and slippery so a good day for the Limus tires (heavy muds).
Trying to undo the timing chip straight after the finish with cold and wet hands.
It is your chip, your problem, my fingers stopped working for now.
But the ”Chinese fingers” are always possible. Ronald was at the start and finishline for me with my clothes and during the race helped out in the pit. ”As Friesen om ûtens komme jo altyd wer byelkoar.”
Next stop: National Series Trophy round 5 in Pembry Park in Wales!
Greetings Gosse
Und merci viel viel mal fur unsere ”Gouden Plakje” und diese feine Chocolade.
Wir haben uns gefreut bei Sie!
Bis in Zwei Jahre Zoe, Ivo und Simone.