Sebastian Kartfjord

Training Alicante, Spain

sk32 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:44:50 +0000

As good weather is pretty much nonexistent in Norway during winter we flew down to Spain for a week to get some track time in.

We were a big group of 18 riders so that was pretty good. Also some good spanish riders was present to make the quality of each session better. We used two tracks – La Capello and San Vicente (?). Both decent tracks, one got whats missing on the other one. I felt pretty good coming into the week as I`ve had a few weeks of race preparation now coming into the Belgium race next weekend. Part of the plan as I knew there would be a lot of track time down there, wich usually slows you down a little bit but good to have some track-hours in the bank when we get closer to the season. A total of 9 track sessions in a week pluss gym and sprints so a good training week. Now I`ll have a pretty easy sunday, then some hard sessions beginning of next week to fire things up for Belgium.

When I first saw the calendar I tought the Euro rounds in Belgium was on a stupid date, in the middle of nowhere. But now I think it is good to have some weeks race-prep and a race in the middle of all the hard “winter-training”. Lets see how it goes next week!

I built my first 2012 bike last week and spent the week in spain on a fresh ride, new stuff always feels good! Thanks to Ken and Morten at Racing Depot for helping me out.

Back into Training!

sk32 — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 13:25:47 +0000

After some weeks off I am now finally fully into my training routine again!

After my injury in Chula Vista I took 3 weeks completely off training. Mostly because of my head, I was feeling dizzy and it didnt feel right to go back into training yet. Didnt want to take any risks, epsecially when it concerns the smart brain I have.

So after 3 weeks I had a week where I did all my planned training sessions but with a much lower intensity and shorter sessions than normal. Still I got super sore! Nothing is like beeing off squats and deadlifts and then pick up again!
Now for the last weeks the weather has been really nice for beeing november so we got to ride a lot. Now the last days it has started to freeze during night so it gets a little colder. But we`re still riding outside but I guess now its not long untill we have to head back to the indoor track wich is super small and freezing, but at least we get some riding done.

Beeing on the couch for 3 weeks made me super lazy, but it was a good break and got my mind on some other stuff – and I got to be more with my kids and wife than normal and thats a bonus when you`re hurt..

From now we`ll try to get all the hard training out of the way. Spend a week in Spain in january right up to the next Euro round in Belgium. Back to norway and then I guess we will have to get out to some good conditions somewhere in feb-march and be ready for that first World Cup again!

Rough week

sk32 — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 08:45:28 +0000

Chula Vista – last World Cup of the 2011 season, super important race for us. Still we headed home empty handed – what happened?

Chula Vista, California. Last stop of the supercross series. I`ve been feeling good for the last coupple of months and me and Andre is in for the points to finish this 2011 season.

Lets start with the weekend before Chula. We were told we had to do a weekend with Nationals back home in Norway. So we couldnt leave to San Diego before monday before the race.
Saturday I crashed stupidly on the first jump during warm up. There was a big hole in my knee and I had to go get stitched up – weekend over. I didnt touch my bike before next wednesday together with Andre and Roger R. at a local track in San Diego. Next day was practice where I felt terrible – wasn`t comfortable at the bike at all. But things worked out somehow, and gates wasn`t that bad. Next day was much better and I felt ready.

During timetrails I messed it up. Two first straights were ok, but overshot the firt one on thrid straight. And instead of pushing speed I pretty much jumped trails just to clear the section, lost oh so much speed. Still qualified 60th. I never tought I make it, so two first straights were obviously fast enough, luckily.

Saturday, and raceday. We only had like 25 min of warm up wich ws ok. First lap around I went for the second straight straight away. As I landed the first step up I felt the softness of the rear and understood I had a flat. Still couldnt brake so jumped the next one chill, then braked and rolled the berm jump. “The pits” werent that far away from the track but now I really felt they were. Put in a new tube and a new tire on. As I came back to the track the other riderswas ramping it up on the hill with gates so I went straight up there knowing it wasnt much time left. With that in mind I was going fo a full lap – till the lat turn at least, just to get things done. Decent start, 3 pedals in first turn and went for second straight. Cased the middle doubble just a little bit. Leaving me in the classical “shall I jump or not”. Should`ve jumped for sure….. I tried to brake all I could but going up the lip for the berm jump I realized I was going to fast to land this one smoothly. next thing I remember is beeing liftet of on a stretcher with everything beeing blury and a immense pain in the back. Long story short is 4days in San Diego Hospital before flying home. T12 in the back broken, bruised lounge, torn ligaments in shoulder and a big concussion.

Still off the bike now soon 3 weeks later and body is healing up. Biggest issue has been the head. Still a little dizzy and head aches but it is getting better every day. Healing up and then backc on it! Season is over for me, only planned race left was euro rounds in Geneva. Now I`m trying to get ready for euro rounds in Belgium in January, and eventually the all important World Cup series and Worlds..

Euro Round 1+2 Valkenswaard

sk32 — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:38:23 +0000

With olympic qualifying the 2012 european series starts in september 2011 allready. Euro rounds is not going to be our main priority this next year but was a good oppourtunity to do some racing before next world cup in october.

Personally I dont really like Valkenswaard – actually never did. I don`t like the steep starting hill and I dislike 90 degrees turns, and this track got both. Saturday was super hot and absolutly no wind – just like last time we were here. Racing was good. It seems like most people are still going fast even if it is going towards the end of the 2011 racing. So 1/8 finals was stacked allready. I felt really good, witch I have been since july now. Made it to the semi witch I won so felt good for the main and lane 1. I got a descent gate, not super but allright. In lane two Richard Veide from Latvia was having a really good gate and we battled to the first jump, he managed to get a elbow on me so I had to back of a little. During thefirst 3 turns (this track has 5!) I messed up everything and no moves payed off. Out of the 3rd turn Sylvain screamed “Lets race man!” as we were in 7th and 8th. After that I just laughed my way to the finish line in 8th…

Come sunday it was raining hard in the morning but it backed off when race time came around. I usually feel better in the legs come sunday and this day was no eception.. Qualifying went well. First bad gate of the weekend in the quarter and I found myself in 3rd-4th around the track. Coming into the last turn I hit the rider in front of me`s wheel and got a little out of control – causing me to cut the last turn a little more than I did previous runs. This made me drift left-right left looking like a rally car on snow. Lost all my speed and momentum and got passed on the last straight…

Told you I dont like 90`s turns!

Overall a good and consistent weekend, bummer on sunday but thats racing…

Pictures from bmxr.it. Copyright

Videos up on bmx-videos.com

Norwegian Nationals R4+5

sk32 — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:17:20 +0000

Winner! Read more for video…

Just home from Norwegian Nationals round 4 and 5. Ended on a good note and took the win both days. Track called Råde and they had a pretty cool starting hill. Was like a small SX hill with full Bensink gate – ok, not like supercross at all but still cool. Track used to be pretty good but didnt work out that good this weekend. Bricked turns that where bumpy and some soft spots. But I guess loads of rain didnt help either…

TV was there, check link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zkZFSnSMbk&feature=share (norwegian)

London World Cup / Olympic Test Event

sk32 — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 06:51:38 +0000

Round 3 of the Supercross worldcup was also a part of the London Prepares series to do a test event one year before the big show.
For us riders it was also a great oppurtunity to check out the track and surroundings for the 2012 games.

It started with Trackwalk on thursday. After Papendal wich a lot of riders including myslf didn`t fancy a lot, the majority of riders were sceptical to this track
with the “s-bends”, berm- and box jumps. After trackwalk it was time to test it out. Unfortunatly about half of the riders didnt even get to ride the track due to rain.
The clay they used couldnt handle any rain and the starting hill is covered with plastic plates that are super slippery and not the usual plates they use in world cups. Anyway after practice sessions
thursday and friday the track rode really well. In seconds this track is actually longer than Papendal but it just flows so much better. For me this weekend it felt like a normal bmx track in length.

Friday timetrails were super windy. So I just tried to do a clean lap and not get affected by the wind. Always a good feeling when the riders prior to your start order struggle to get over the berm jump.
Anyway, got out ok and got super scetchy allready on the first jumo going sideways, spent a coupple of meters to straighten up before jump 2 and it was all good from there. Hit the second straight ok and got the third straight just as I wanted. Ended up 10th so i qualified to the super finals. Tried do ride a little bit more on the edge there, but messed up and lost time, ended up 12th. Still a good result for me and inside lane choice for saturdays racing.

Saturday was a long day. Our first practice session was cancelled before we even hit the track cause of rain. The race got delayed for hours and there were some big discussions of what we were to do. A few hours later skies cleared up, sunshine was hitting the track and all the wind was also gone. They had to do some fixing on the track after the rain but turned out good. We did only one 1/8 final and straight to 1/4. In 1/4 I found myself in 5th out of first turn, close to the wheel in front of me. Onto the box I wanted a little more space and backed off a little planning a move on the 3rd straight. Cased the boxjump just a little bit but lost way to much speed to have any chances on cathing up with the guys out front. Weekend over! Dissapointed as I wanted a semi, but a 12th and a 17th isnt all to bad I guess – still a year to come!

London World Cup. Olympic Test Event

sk32 — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:57:28 +0000

Qualified 12 today, and made it to the superfinal, happy with that. But tommorow is when racing starts. Follow it here:

http://uk.freecaster.tv/bmx/1014587/uci-bmx-supercross-2011-3-london-gbr

Papendal Worlds Prep

sk32 — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:30:45 +0000

As The worlds track in Copenhagen got closed 1.july and Aigle in Switzerland is a pain in the ass. We found the olympic replica track in Papendal Netherlands as the best option for the World Champs preparation.

We were there from thursday to sunday and got in 6 solid sessions on the track. First straight was the priority but think we spent just as much time on the track. This time we were super lucky with the weather, almost no wind either of the days. A few showers now and then but track held up just fine. By yourself and with good conditions the track is fun to ride, it`s only the box and the transfer I think that messes it up when you go 8 guyes deep.

Overall a solid weekend with good riding. Now its back home to do the final preparations and then on to Denmark next wednesday – World Champs!

If I remember I will put up some vids and photos maybe as coach @petterdalen was on it with the Iphone…

http://www.twitvid.com/embed.php?guid=RN6JE&autoplay=0

http://www.twitvid.com/embed.php?guid=PHEAZ&autoplay=0

Chad Reed Crash Spring Creek

sk32 — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:30:10 +0000

Weekend off!

sk32 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 18:45:13 +0000

As it was no racing or training camps with the national team this weekend. It was a good opportunity to put in some work this week.

It`s been a good week training wise. It was a good time to put in some work for the last races of the 2011 season. This week actually looked like one of the heavy winter weeks if you look at the hours spent training. And as some of you know the 2012 is to start directly after this one so it will be a long burner for sure.

Me and Andre also did a little job for the Redline distributor the other day bringing in Redline bikes and equipment to a new track 1 hours south of Sandnes. Cool to see new tracks beeing built even if it was a small one..

Next stop is the final rounds in the European Championships in Haaksbergen, Netherlands. Then we will spend another weekend in Netherlands at a certain big track preparing for World Champs in the end of july, Copenhagen Denmark…