Attended the first E-MTB Race with my Levo

[Kave]

I have been doing some long distance MTB races as well as road bike races. I started following Phil Maffetones MAF method a few years ago for health reasons. That made it almost impossible to train regular MTB with my friends who are really well trained.
I bought a base spec Turbo Levo this may. Quite soon I realized the fork was too bad for my taste (as have Specialized who no longer has a 32mm 150mm fork on a E-MTB). I bought the best I could find, the Rock Shocks Lyrik Ultimate in 160mm version. I set the flip chip to high to gain even more ground clearance. I installed a OneUp dropper post and I was good to go.
I saw that an official uci sanctioned E-MTB was held an hour drive from me. Nice, I decided to try.
I packed all clothing and bike on the van:

When arriving to the race and visiting the race booth to get my numbers they mentioned there where some Pro riders attending as well, well there goes winning out the window for this 44 year old
To be continued:

 

[Frank_Denmark]

how did You manage - Any podiums

 

[YrianX]

That sounds great. Hope the experience was as good as it sounds?

I did not know they do UCI emtb events in Sweden Might be fun to look that up and join sometime in the future.

 

[Kave]

We where about 20 riders waiting for start:

The swedish brand Husqvarna where the main sponsor of the race, due to the town Huskvarna and hq location of Husqvarna is very near.
But the bike that where in most numbers where Turbo Levo.
Start location where a draw. Yours truly in the end.

Second to last over the startline

I had reset my bike to 25km/h limit, which I felt after what felt like 2 seconds. Pedalling like crazy trying to pass some riders on the first 100m, then small narrow track where passing where nearly impossible. Quite large drops, one rider fell so bad they had to get an ambulance for him. Really funny track.

Usually in xc racing I normally pass riders downhill or in technical sections. Here, impossible. I had to pass riders uphill. I am sure the Brose engines superior power delivery helped me overtake other riders uphill.
Don’t know if this is called drop, but it was quite steep

I would not ride down here without dropper:

I usually ride with low tire pressure, about 0.7 back and 0.5 rear. We have so much roots and stones etc on my home tracks. Here, that was a disadvantage. I nearly lost the rear tyre in a sharp corner after a slope. I even managed to bottom out my new Lyrik Ultimate 160mm fork. Never happened before.
Overtaking Brose style:

Three laps on the track. After 30 mins of 180bpm I decided I needed more speed, nearly fell. I guess either much more speed or less here. Enough to just lift front wheel made me land on the front wheel, scary.

Landing on front wheel last lap:

I train kids in my local MTB club. I heard lots of children calling my name. Felt really good The smaller kids siblings where there racing that day and decided to watch the E-mtb class.
I came in at 7th place. 5 minutes after the winner at 45 minutes. The winner where a 13 year old boy, number two a pro rider winning xc races in sweden.
i was pleased with my run. have I tried the track first, not started last, etc etc I might have improved further

My two sons where happy, even though I didn’t win (which they probably was hoping for ). It was a really good and fun race. I would definately do it again.

 

[Kave]

Some statistics from the Garmin Edge!
Average pulse, 180
longest jump, 3.5 meters, 0.58s