For Latvian mountain biker Martins Blums it was a good feeling to share the podium with “fast guys” in his first Trailseeker race, which took place at the Banhoek Conservancy in Kylemore, Western Cape, yesterday.
Martins Blums (second from left) placed second in his first Trailseeker race, which took place at the Banhoek Conservancy in Kylemore, Western Cape, yesterday. Photo: Supplied
The 24-year-old, who won the U23 XCO race at the 2017 UCI MTB World Cups in Mont Sainte Anne and Lenzerheide, finished just under four minutes behind Denmark’s Sebastian Fini. Mathias Fluckiger crossed the line just over a minute behind Blums.
“Heading into this race I didn’t expect much, just to take it as good training,” said Blums, who lives in Cesis, but is in South Africa for a training camp until Wednesday.
“This was my first time doing the Trailseeker race, but not my first race in SA. Last year I did the Cape Epic together with Sebastian.”
Regarding yesterday’s 61km race, Blums said he did not expect such a high tempo so early on. He was quite surprised and had no idea what would happen after such a fast start.
“On the first climb I was dropped from the front group, which consisted of four riders, and I climbed up at my own pace.
“The climb was followed by a long downhill which I have done before in this area, so I felt confident and I was able to catch two riders who were dropped from the first group.”
He said after the tunnel he almost closed the gap, but was a bit too tired to do so completely.
“So I did almost all the race alone. I just kept chilled and rode at my own pace to the finish.
“A few kilometres before the finish I saw Fluckiger having some mechanical problems and after that I crossed the finish line second.
“I think it’s a good result as I’m not a pure climber. So the climb in the first part of the race was just in time.”
Blums, who rides for the CST PostNL Bafang mountain bike racing team, was very impressed with the event.
“It was well organised and everything happened on time. There were no signage problems and it was easy to follow the course.
“The trails were just amazing and I enjoyed every minute of the race.
“My next race will be the Cyprus Sunshine Epic at the end of the month, which I will do with my teammate David Nordeman.”
