At the end of February we could witness six days of international mountain bike stage race – Andalucía bike race, lasting from 21 until 26 of February in two Spanish provinces; Jaén and Córdoba. Each day a stage of approximately 70 kilometers and 2000 meters of altitude difference took place. However this was not individual race, instead organizers gave more focus to strategy and partnership and make this race all about pairs. Among participants we could also saw Slovenian mountain bike cyclist and stage race specialist Peter Vesel with his partners in race Marko Fržop, whom he meet several years ago and spent a few stage races with him (Trans Schwarzwald, Alpen Tour and last year on Cape Epic).
Since we all expected that race is going to be very challenging and physically exhausting, we wanted to know how long Peter was preparing for the race. He told us that he started with preparations in the beginning of November and trained from 5 to 6 times per week. Most of the time he trained with his friend Matej Murgeli, but part of the training he spent with cycling team Adria Mobila. He also mentioned that huge part of challenge was also travelling to Spain since they travelled with camper for 28 hours and practically without interruptions. When they arrived to Andalucía, they were amazed by the landscape. Peter said that view on the olive groves were truly fascinating; as far your eyes can reach, you only see olives. However, during the race they did not have time to watch beautiful landscape, since the race was technical really challenging. Their sight was directed forward and their concentration was at its peak. The race consisted of six stages, according to Peter, he had most of problems with first two, namely, this was his first race in the season but Marko has had most of problems with 5th and 6th stage. Problems were connected with losing power as well as Marko’s defect in the wheel casing. Nevertheless, Peter said that in cases like this, you have to pull yourself together, solve the problem as soon as possible and drive forward.
At the end they finished the race at 11th place and Peters first thought when passing finish line was: “and yet another stage race is finished”. Feelings after the race were great and Peter believes that if gets another invitation to next year’s stage bake race in Andalucía he will gladly accept it and compete again. But for now he must stay focused because in the April he is going to attend Joberg2c stage race in South Africa, which will take place from Johannesburg to Durban. At the end of our interview Peter wanted to share with you some words about FeelOXY product. He used it immediately after each stage end and before sleeping, so to prepare for the next day. “Certainly, from day to day I felt better”, he said.
