UCI 2009 Calendar: Mountain Biking

If you’re planning to go on holidays next year, and at the same time you want to watch some exciting mountain bike races or even trying the race courses, the UCI 2009 Mountain Bike Race Calendar should help on your planning. For the rest of us, let us wish that they air the event on our local stations or ASTRO.

[Beautiful mountain bike trail at 2008 Beijing Olympic]

Will Julien Absalon win the world title again in 2009? Can Christopher Sauser catch him with his beautiful Specialized Epic? Don't forget the young talents such as Nino Schurter that emerged during the 2008 Beijing Olympic?

[Julien Absalon on the right]

As for the women, the Chinese girls such as Cheng Ryun Yen are too close for comfort for most. Could Gunn Rita Dhale regain her previous glory? Again the young talents will try to get themselves on the podium for example Maja Wloszczowska the silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic.

[Cheng Ryun Yen]

[Maja Wloszczowska showing off her Olympic medal]

I predict it will be an exciting year..! Here are the listing for 2009 race:

UCI Mountain Bike Race Calendar: 2009

April 11-12: Round 1 (XC/DH/4X), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

April 25-26: Round 2 (XC), Offenburg, Germany.

May 2-3: Round 2 (4X) / 3 (XC), Houffalize, Belgium.

May 9-10: Round 2 (DH), La Bresse, France.

May 16-17: Round 3 (DH/4X), Vallnord, Andorra.

May 23-24: Round 4 (XC), Madrid, Spain.

June 6-7: Round 4 (DH/4X), Fort William, Great Britain.

July 18-19: National XC/4X/DH Championship Weekend.

June 20-21: Round 5 (DH/4X), Maribor, Slovenia.

July 25-26: Round 5 (XC) / 6 (DH/4X), Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada.

August 1-2: Round 6 (XC) / 7 (DH/4X), Bromont, Canada.

August 23: UCI XC Marathon World Championships, Graz, Austria.

September 1-6: UCI XC/4X/DH World Championships, Canberra, Australia.

September 12-13: Round 7 (XC), Champery, Switzerland.

September 19-20: Round 8 (XC/DHI/4X), Schladming, Austria.

September 26-27: National Championships XC Marathon.

I also wish that the 2009 Kuala Lumpur Mountain Bike Carnival will be somewhere in October 2009.

Happy New Year everyone…!

KL Mountain Bike Carnival 2008

The Kuala Lumpur (KL) Mountain Bike Carnival 2008 was held on 29 and 30 November 2008.

Initially, I planned to take part after I missed last year race due to injury. But, I have to skip it primarily due to family commitment and my master's thesis.

However, it didn't stopped me from watching the event which I look forward to it every year. I did not have the luxury to watch every race category, but here are some of the photos that I took during the 2 days event.

Disclaimer:
All the photos are not touched up, except for resizing and labelling. This is the first time I labelled my photos, so it means that they are my property... hahahehehh..! If you are interested on having them, please contact me.

I also have more photos in higher resolution on my harddrives, so again if you're interested, please contact me.

[Nurfarahdini Zakaria, Army, Malaysia - The winner of Womens Sport category]

[Lee Chuan Ling, Singapore heading towards her final lap]

[Adilah Junid from Team Thunderclan, Malaysia - Competing in Womens Sport category]

[Start of 18-30 years old category.. they are fast]

[Mohd Shahrul Mohd Amin, Malaysia - The winner of 18-30 years old category]

[Jeff Cole, USA - Total concentration on the downhill part]

[Chong Soon Yew or SY trying to pump up]

[Alexander McNab from ThunderClan Team, Malaysia.. still smiling as usual]

[Oopppssss...! It's SY again..]

[Towards the finishing line...]

[Lim Yew Meng from BikePro trying to catch up in the Mens Elite category]

[The winner of Mens Elite category - Bandi Sugito from Indonesia]

[Followed closely by Sharin Amir (Malaysian) at second place in the Mens Elite category]