So it’s finally official. As of January 1st, I’m going to start my new job as the Swiss BMX National Coach.
I’m excited to start this new challenge and looking forward to give my best for our athletes and our sport!
Pretty scary how I can feel my body changing rapidly already now. I really need to try find a good rhytm to fit in as much sporting activity as possible next to this and some other obligations. Gotta keep at least a decent ‘beach- look’ 
!
Spending a couple of days in Giverola, Spain with my new BMC fourstroke 29”.
Great weather, trails and crew. Did take a nice digger tonight when my chain snapped while accelerating for some photo action… there seems to be some pull left
broken helmet and some skin- jewelery but nothing to worry about. guess I kind of missed that unique after-crash-feeling!
photo: david ‘rave dave’ schultheiss putting Adrian ‘greenhouse’ Kiener in the right light
I’m still over the moon after an incredible weekend at the Worlds. It was almost too good to really beleive that it could end like this. It’s an incredible personal satisfaction to finish my racing career as the World Champ. But the greatest feeling is to be able to share this success with my family, friends, sponsors and supporters. All the positive messages over the past few days really touched me. Huge thanks for all the help over all those years to every single one involved!
Here’s the link to the RACE REPLAY.
Ended up in 4th during quali, which puts me into a good position for the race tonight!
Hope the track dries out a bit till then.
Full Run
I’m not gonna show David the lines anymore. Next time, I’ll follow him with the cam… Oh wait, there’s no next time
RESULTS
Practice yesterday felt good, still under warm and sunny conditions.
It looks a lot different now, as the weather turned aroung completely.
Mud- drift qualifying tonight!
10h into the race! Wow, what a burn, but an extremely positive one.
I’ve done 7laps, which means a good 5hours in the saddle. Gotta be PB!
I’ve been suffering, and I’m glad I did it. It was a blast with the whole BMC crew. Damn those office people can climb fast !
6.30 am, ready for a 12h roadrace, yeeeeww! all for a good cause, so all happy faces! brraaap
The Olympic Games 2012 are over.
Although I didn’t quite get the result I was hoping for, looking back now, it’s all good memories!
Can’t thank everyone enough for all the support leading up to and during the event!
Had a hard fight yesterday, close points until the last round. Stoked to have made it through to todays racing. Recovered good from the 5 moto torture. Can’t wait to give it all I have again! Bring it!
Thanks for all the great support!
THE race day nr. 1 is here!
Had a decent run yesterday in TT, which gives me lane choice 6 in heat 3.
Feeling great today, ready to give everything I have out there. Thanks for all the support!
The Olympic BMX race is gonna start in less then 3hours! can’t wait, all went smooth so far. Gonna start with a single seeding run today, so nothing too crazy or decisive. Let’s go!
Had a good week riding in Holland on the famous Papendal Supercross Track. We’ve been lucky with the weather, allowing us to get a lot of sessions in during those 4 days. Barely a breeze and hot and humid! Definitely seen it different there…
I felt pretty tired towards the end, especially for a full lap. That track is demanding for sure, as you need to be spot on and on the gas for every try.
It was a highly productive start into the final 4 week preparation. All goes as planned! Next stop: Aigle Supercross Track.
papendal full lap video
Phase 1 of my Olympic prep. is completed. Some tough sessions behind me. All went just perfectly and I’m ready to jump into Phase 2. Will spend a lot of time on different SX tracks in the next 3/4 weeks. This week: Papendal/NED
It’s official, I’m going to the Olympics again!!
Confirmation of the selection came in yesterday. I’m already one week into the final preparation. Extremely motivated to squeeze every last bit out of me one more time! Can’t wait to get on THE start gate in two months!
Huge thanks to everybody for helping me make this dream come true.
Swiss Olympic PR
What a race! Felt extremely good during tonights finals. A close 5th in my quarter again. This was enough for an Olympic spot for Switzerland! AND i fulfilled the Swiss Olympic criteria to get nominated!! Really satisfied, feeling like I did my part. Final selection is not in my hands now. I’m definitely ready to tackle this challange!
It’s race day, THE race day!
Tough timetrial yesterday. 175 elite lined up, only 64 through to the big show, with only 1.5s seperating 1st and 64th… crazy!
Made it through and now looking forward to racing tonight. Olympic spots on the line! Everyone’s excited, loving it!
Live coverage HERE
Here’s the replay of yesterdays race.
My 1/4ter final is at 1:13.00 .
(for all you superstitious guys out there, I was also staying in room 113 and my carreer number is 13…wuhuuu..)
Mixed feelings after yesterdays race. Had some good laps in the motos and made it safe through to the quarters. Didn’t get the greatest start but hit all the lines nearly perfect, working my way up to the third position. Still confortable in qualifying position, the rider in 2nd spot almost crashed on the last straight, which forced me to brake and try to avoid it and allowed two other guys to slip passed me… just a couple of meters before the finishline… crazy! Even harder if you know that this qualifying for the semis would have meant that I met the swiss olympic nomination criterias for london! Well, stuff like that happens in our sport. I’m happy with my performance and I’ll keep focussing on what I can control, and do my best again in two weeks at the Worlds. Bring it!
Flying out to Holland for the next World Cup round! Excited, eventhough the weather doesn’t seem to be that great right now. Just when summer starts kicking in in Switzerland… Oh well, I’m sure we’ll still feel the heat come race time!
Timetrials have been a big concern of mine lately… so it’s time to work on it some more today. Full laps burn!
Had a good day during the finals today. Good legs, head in the right spot. Made it to the semi finals. That’s 1/2 of the results to get an Olympic nominination. Great feeling to have overcome so many obstacles during the past weeks. Body is tired and sore now, but ready to tackle the next challenges!
Just finished qualifying in Norway. Pretty stiff with lots of mistakes… BUT, qualified for tomorrows racing. Bring it on!
Pumptracks is getting more and more popular. I took part in the production of a tool for school teachers to integrate pumptracking into their school sport classes. Great thing to reach out to thousands of youngs kids and possible new talent.
click on the following link to have a look (basic how-to clips start on page 16): www.mobilesport.ch
And click HERE to see my buddy Adrian Kiener doing a little TV thing on the same topic.
Sitting at the hospital right now checking up on all the damages. Confirmed so far: 2 cracked ribs and ripped finger tendon with a little piece of bone.
Coming up: CT scan on my left hand.
Let’s hope for the best. Want to race in Norway in 10days!
pic: my ugly finger when I try to hold it straight
What a weekend!
I crashed Saturday morning during an easy ride which was supposed to loosen me up and set my mind straight after the outcome of the first World Cup.
Result: broken helmet, broken bike, torn tendon at a finger, something that feels like a cracked rip and hopefully not much more at some other sore spots!
I knew that this journey is not going to be an easy one. I’m still standing, ready to pull through what might be some painful days to come. I better man up fast!
So the race season has finally arrived. I was excited to get things started as I felt like everything is coming together nicely, just as planned.
Well, there was a bit of a plan change today at the first World Cup in Chula Vista. Blew up my qualifying run badly and didn’t even make the cut for tomorrows racing. Extremeley dissapointed. Gotta stop doing silly mistakes fast now as the next round is in Norway in 2 weeks time. Will do everything to try set things straight there!
I had a great night yesterday during a big award show in my hometown Winterthur, the 6th biggest city in Switzerland. For the first time ever, they elected a ‘sportsman/woman of the year’.
I was already excited to hear that I was one of three pre-selected candidates. The final votes came from around 200 other medal winning athletes, their families/friends and other special invites that where present that night.
And I WON!
To say that I’m stoked would be an understatment. It’s a good feeling to have my best ever Fourcross Season (2011) recognized like that. And it certainly boosts my motivation for the final preparation. Let’s make 2012 my best ever BMX season!
Thanks a lot to everyone that made this possible!
It wasn’t easy getting used to all the changes I did on my bike set-up. Longer back-end, longer front, shorter stem, slacker head angle, lower BB, disc brake, different handle bar geometry… pretty much everything changed. Big thanks to BMC for giving me the opportunity to test out all my ideas! It started to show towards the end of the week that the bike works great on big, fast tracks. I still need to adapt to the new body position and balance spot. I still was a bit stiff and did to many mistakes. But after those first couple of days, I’m now convinced having found my weapon for this season.
Big thanks to the EVANS Cycles at the National Cycling Center in Manchester for helping me with some tuning before the race and the great banner they put up in the main entrance hall!
Saturday Final:
Sunday Final:
Had a good first race on my new BMC 20er yesterday. She’s doing great!
A couple of mistakes in the final kept me off the podium. 4th place is a decent start though.
Trying again today! (pics and videos later)
No, this isn’t supposed to mean 29er. Just when everyone in the industry is talking about big wheels, we went the opposite way!
I’m so stoked on the BMX frames that I received last week. Finally a BMX with excactly what i think works best for me.
I’m going through some testing first before giving you all the crazy details. Till then, here’s a little build-up preview:
(big thanks to the BIKE STOP crew in winterthur and jonas@BMC for helping me with putting the puzzle together while my main tuner Sven is chilling in NZ )
Here’s a sweet GREENHOUSE PUMPTRACK event edit. It’s been crazy fun! My back and legs needed a full week to recover after that roller- sprint comp! thanks Ädu!
I’m back in Switzerland, training at our ‘army-base’ in Magglingen with the whole swiss team.
Sundays racing went really well for me again. Felt good from the beginning and put some solid laps in. I was sitting in qualifying position in my semi, when Phillips slid out in turn two and took me with him.
Go HERE to see the semi final run (Euro Belgium; Round 8; Elite Men semi 1).
If you want to see the complete results, click HERE (Elite Men results page 6)
Even if the track is not really what we were hoping for here in Belgium, it feels good to be racing again. Happy with my semifinal yesterday, considering the circumstances. Had quite some issues with my wrist, and, all of a sudden with my lower back last week. I even had to pull the plug before the semifinal, cause i couldn’t hold on to the bar anymore. It’s all muscular problems, and i guess, just a matter of getting used to these efforts again after a while off the bike. The bumpy and soggy track certainly doesn’t make it easier…
Gonna give it another shot today!
See the quarterfinal HERE. (Elite men quarter 3; sorry, direct link doesn’t work..)
I just finished my first outdoor BMX session in a while! After a little crash 4 weeks ago, my wrist needed some rest to heal up properly. Well, if ever, the timing for that injury couldn’t have been better. Weather was pretty crappy, family reunions for Christmas, New Year, both my kids Birthdays and a whole lot of tough physical training kept me busy enough.
Exciting program for the next two weeks:
- Urban Pumptrack Event this saturday (we’ll see if the doctor gives me the green light for that tomorrow…)
- Manchester Indoor SX training days next week
- BMX euro rounds in Belgium the weekend after
common wrist, you can do it!
What an autumn so far! Not a single rainy day in over a month?!
I gotta admit though, it’s pretty foggy down here and you can definitely feel the temperatures dropping! So getting ready for wintertime is the key right now.
Setting up indoor riding and training spots, organising training camps and races in the warm, flu vaccination…
It’s all set up for the last big push!
2011 has been my most successful year in fourcross racing to date. 1 world cup win; 2nd world cup overall; 2nd at the world champs.
I’m proud to be nominated for the 2011 ‘swiss cyclist of the year award’ among 10 other great athletes.
Here’s the link to the online voting.
Thanks a lot for every vote!
‘Holiday’ is officially over. 14days rest- DONE; some trails-, pumptracks-, dirtjumps-, skatepark sessions- DONE; couple of days sick- DONE.
Now it’s time to jump back into the real work. Unfortunately won’t be riding the BMX euro rounds in Geneva. I simply don’t want to overdo it and risk anything right now. My body is not ready for a race yet. All the best to the Swiss riders!
There’s a cool little BMX story in a big newspaper today, including a clip on the online page. Check it out HERE!
I ended up having a pretty bad last race of the year. I simply didn’t feel good and didn’t put anything together. Not the way I wanted to end the season! But I guess I just have to move on and forget about it. Next two weeks are going to be all about resting and putting the game plan together for the next couple of months. Looking forward to some good, hard off-season training!
Made it through qualifying today. Track seemed to be easy in the beginning, but once you start going faster, you better be precise on those jumps! Racing is surely going to be exciting tomorrow! All out one more time this year!
About to board the plane for this years final battle. Looking forward to sunny southern california!! Been feeling a bit tired after the MTB worlds, struggling for my form to come back. It’s better now, confident for that last peak to come around on saturday!
So, I finally found the time to post a little recap about last weeks crazyness at the worlds.
First off, huge thanks to everyone cheering me on friday night, keeping their fingers crossed and sending me messages afterwards.
It’s been a big goal of mine to do good at the Worlds in my homecountry. Everything went smoothly and I felt like I was in perfect condition for the showdown. Super stoked with the Silver Medal!
Here’s some impressions of the night
Final run. What a mess in the first turn!
My new BMC 4x bike worked perfectly all weekend. But I guess I need to teach her this little trick (replay at 1:15)… this would have been the winning move in the main! Graeme Mudds bike jumping right back up in his hands after the crash!
The Worlds kicked off yesterday in Champery with qualifying. There’s some pretty tricky section in the woods. A little rain didn’t make things easier. So I just went for a safe run, maybe a tiny bit too cautious, and finished 4th.
All set for tonights battle then, feeling ready to go!
Click HERE for the final results of the 2011 BMX worlds.
I ended up 18th. I had some good moments during the racing. It also became clear on what points I have to work on over the next weeks to make the next step. The base is there, I’m hungry for more, so overall a positive recap.
Click HERE if you want to see the multiple Olympic Ski- Jump Champion Simon Ammann giving BMX a try.
I qualified for todays racing. Action is going to start in a couple of hours. Sun is out and I’m feeling good. Can’t wait!
Live coverage HERE.
Timetrial coming up today. 150 elite rider, 64 going thru to tomorrows race. Gonna be tight!
Track is fast and fun. Will be a good show!
TWO type of riders, TWO lifestyles, TWO athletic generations- ONE GOAL!
ROGER RINDERKNECHT and DAVID GRAF
Fort William World Cup 2011: 1st and 2nd
Current World Cup Overall 2011: 2nd and 3rd
Been getting some good BMX training in lately. Starting to feel at home again on my 20inch. Two weeks to go till the World Champs in Copenhagen!
Here’s a little commercial I took part in for the Swiss holiday region Lenzerheide. Now you know why I became a cyclist and not a singer…
So stoked with my 2nd place tonight! The track is really hard for riders and bikes to race on. I managed to stay aggressiv and focussed, despite some small issues in practice and some not so perfect gates in racing.
I knew that the semi final is going to be the hardest race of the day, against Prokop and Graves, two of the biggest names in 4x. I had a great battle with Prokop to the line, with the better ending for me this time. Go to freecaster.tv for the replay of the race.
I had a good run today in qualifying. Finished 4th.
Extremely difficult conditions with some serious mud holes and slippery, sharp rocks. So staying relaxed and going for a clean run was the key.
World Champ Slavik took a nasty crash in the first turn. Another unlucky guy today was my neighbour David Graf. After beeing sick all week, he ended up with a front flat tire in his quali run… a week to forget for him.
I’m feeling good for tomorrow. Let’s get it on!
Went to look for a gym today and stopped at a gas station to ask for directions.
I was quite surprised when he pointed to the floor and showed me his set up below his ESSO shop…
Bit shady, but all I needed today.
Track looks pretty similar to last year, so should be fine. Can’t wait to ride.
sitting (well lying) at the airport gate, ready to depart to canada. 4x world cup round 4 coming up!
had some crazy stomach cramps the past hour! i just hope it has nothing to do with my son being sick, and throwing up all over me a couple of times over the past few days…
drinking the mighty red soda that is supposed to do good on a hurting belly. wish me luck!
I’ve been doing a couple of video/tv shoots over the last 2 weeks.
First off, we started a fun session with my neighbour David ,Tackleberry’ Graf. That’s going to be some pretty intense footage on our hometrail in Winterthur. Can’t wait to see it!
After that, I had a very special guest on the BMX track. Simon Ammann, 4times olympic champ (ski jump) stopped by to give it a try. Pretty fun and some good coverage on national TV coming up.
To top it off, I took part in a commercial-clip production in Lenzerheide. First time filming with this crazy Drone/UFO thing. What an amazing tool to work with!
Back to business now. Waiting for my new BMC 4x hardtail, which is arriving in just a little bit! Really excited for the next World Cup in canada next week!
We are about to start a cool video project. Whyex crew at work. Stay tuned!
Had a good night of racing. Unfortunately, slid out on the gate in my semi final. Ended up winning the small final- 5th place.
Go to freecaster.tv for the replay.
Can’t wait to go home tomorrow!
Had another not so good qualifier today. Sticking to last weeks strategy? Well, i gotta admit, I didn’t do it on purpose. But I’ll take the same ending of the story!
Rain started pouring down right on time for our practice and time-run, nice!
Finished 9th in the end, which is leading to a pretty stacked draw. Gotta turn it up a notch tomorrow!
WHAT A NIGHT!!!
It felt like it was meant to be. Right time at right spot all the time, crazy! Feel bad for Joost crashing in the lead.
Overwhelmed, thankful, stoked!
Neighbour, training- and travel buddy David Graf in 2nd, swiss girl Lucia 3rd. Congrats!
16th place in qualifying- all time worst, but i take it considering the circumstances.
X-rays showed no fractures, so good news on that side. Gotta pull thru the pain today! Feels a lot better than yesterday, so I’m ready to go!
Back to 4x racing this week. Training went good yesterday, until a ‘small’ crash on a big drop. Banged myself up pretty good again… looks like my body is enjoying a bit of pain these days….
Can’t put weight on my heal, but luckily, don’t have to do that on my bike. We’ll see how is goes today for the quali.
Racing was intense, to say the least. Unfortunately, winds were blowing like crazy again, which made the difficult track even harder.
I was sitting in qualifying position in my third round, when i came up a little short on a jump and lost the handlebar from the force of the impact. Took quite a nasty digger, but luckily walked aways with nothing more than a little headache.
You can watch the replay HERE.
If you are interested in seeing my slam, go to 51:15. Or just start at the beginning, you’ll see enough scary moments…
I had a couple of ‘small’ issues during yesterdays qualifier. nevertheless, made it through, all focus on todays race now!
The track is tough, but flows quite good. It might get tight in some spots, but we will see how it goes. Noone really tried that new design in real race situation yet.
Definitely not the action to miss today, so go to FREECASTER and get the live coverage, starting at 3pm CET.
I’m going to start the day in heat nr. 4. fingers crossed!
Had a good trip up to Amsterdam yesterday. Once again, my baggage didn’t show up at the belt… I was already on the way out of the airport with the ‘lost baggage survival kit’ under the arm, picturing myself riding the first practice session on flat pedals, wearing travel pants, stinky t-shirt and some borrowed protection gear..
fortunately, they called me just in time to let me know they found some pieces lying around on the tarmac, and mine was one of them! NICE!
I’m sitting at the airport, waiting to fly out to Holland for the BMX Supercross world cup.
I’m really looking forward to that one. Had some great training weeks lately. Will be my first BMX race in 7months! So this one is going to be the ‘get back into BMX rhythm’ race for me. From the stories I heard about the track, there might not be much time to get slowly started…
It’s supposed to be huge, bigger than anything before!
But step by step now, first need to make it past that volcano dust cloud… gonna worry about the track later.
Freecaster.tv finally put up the live replay of last weekends world cup in south africa. Here’s the link.
And two nice shot I saw on pinkbike.com.
Had a bit of a rough start into the season tonight. Felt strong, but my gates were inconsistant. Trouble started in the semifinal where I slid out after one of the bad starts of the night. After that, I was leading the small-final until David Graf pulled a move on me in a tight corner and I crashed again. I just wasn’t committed/ agressive enough, should have… could have… 8th place in the end. There’s definitely room for improvement! Congrats to David for his first podium! (Pay-back next week in practice on our hometrack? )
To kill some time before tonights race, check this nice little edit we shooted last week in cali!
Managed to get into a good rhythm from the first run down today. Finished 2nd behind Graves in the end. Check out the racing tomorrow on freecaster.tv from 4pm CET!
Top 10 qualifier:
Alright, my bikes showed up too late for yesterdays practice, but at least I’ll be able to get some laps in tonight before qualifying. Stoked to finally get things rolling down here!
I had a good trip down to South Africa. Was always a bit worried about my baggage getting lost during transfer in Johannesburg (based on bad experiences). Well, surely enough, my bikes didn’t show up. But to my surprise, they didn’t even board the plane in Switzerland?! Where’s the SWISS precision??
It looks like they should arrive today at 3pm, 1hour before practice starts. I’m going to be standing at the airport with tools and pump, ready to build everything up. They better be on time!
By the way, track and weather looking good, legs feeling fresh.
I’m sitting at San Franciso Airport right now, waiting to fly out to Switzerland. Then a quick stop at home, cuddling with my kids and girlfriend, shower, load up the BMC 4x hardtail, repack, and 5 hours later, off to South Africa!
Keep your fingers crossed that all works out as planned, not much room for error! And dont forget to watch the action live, friday night on www.freecaster.tv
I had a fun couple of days at Sea Otter.
Competed in the Dual Slalom again. After qualifying 7th with two easy runs, i actually thought i might have a shot at improving in the finals a bit. But a sketchy run in an early round eliminated me from the competition… once again. Looks like Sea Otter Dual is not the place for me?! Well, still good fun.
Big travel coming up to head down to South Africa for next weeks World Cup round. Can’t wait!
Thanks to Aaron Laroque for the good times shooting at the Post-Office dirjumps and during the slalom!
We had a great time in Santa Cruz launching the new BMC Trailfox. Amazing bike on extremely fun trails!
I’m already in Monterey now waiting for the Sea Otter crazyness to start.
Just saw the first images of my new IXS helmet. Should be flying in anytime soon, can’t wait!
Also on the way: New BMC trailfox for some good riding time in Santa Cruz next week, and the complete new race kit! I feel like a little kid waiting for christmas presents! Will post some more pics as soon as the stuff arrives.
Thanks to all my partners for setting everything up just in time for the start of the season.
Sven, ‘the bicycle-whisperer’, was working on my bikes the whole day yesterday. I’m sure we found some 1/1000s here and there. I’d like to get a hold of Cancellaras ‘gold race’ tuning system though. Apparently 2.5s/km faster… that would make us 5/10s quicker around a BMX track! Hey Fabian, hook your fellow countrymen up!
It seems like the cold and miserable wintertime is finally over. It’s so much more fun to ride without 10 layers of clothes!
The time is here to give that last push before going into the race season. Preparation went well so far and with some fine tuning in the upcoming weeks, I’ll be ready for some action.
Besides training, I’m busy getting all the equipment together and organising the first events next month. First adventure for me is going to be the infamous Sea Otter Classics. I’ll be in Cali the whole week for some product launch activities with BMC and then taking part in the Dual Slalom. To tell you the truth, I’ve never done good in that one, pretty much got destroyed by the comp every year.. but it’s still a fun thing to do. I’ll be riding a short travel fully for the first time, so, you never know what’s going to happen… at least, I won’t have any excuses anymore.
The BMC shoot in La Palma was a blast. What an impressive island! Such a diverse landscape that It feels like i spent four days on four different continents during four different seasons. We’ve seen and felt it all. Sunshine, rain, fog, hail, snow.
Early wake-up calls and 12h+/day chasing the best images. It surely was exhausting (especially for a ‘princess’ like me that needs a good night of sleep and some good food to keep the engine running… right Hoshi?;-)), but in the end all worth it.
It was a great crew to work with, thanks to Tobi, Moritz, Lucas, Hoshi, Jörn and Jonas.
5.15am- getting ready to fly out to La Palma. We are going to have some busy days with lots of video- and photoshoots. Can’t wait to see my new BMC bike and some sunshine!
We had a couple of good riding days lately, which felt great. It’s getting colder again now, so fingers crossed that we don’t get covered in snow again!
I went to a Swiss Training Center today for a tough gym session to round up another period of hard work. Thanks Fabian for pushing me and getting everything out of me! The building is called ‘end of the world’. Well, i can now feel where that name is coming from… Deep burn…
I’ve been working on my local BMX track in Winterthur for a couple of hours today. It needed some love after a couple of weeks in snow and rain. Result: blisters on hands and feet and a sore back from sitting on the shady old roller for too long. Well, it’s all worth it, surface is smooth again and we are going to have 4 days of sunshine and 10+ degrees coming up! Can’t wait!
Snow is almost gone, but it’s still freezing cold here in Switzerland. Indoor gate set-up is in full effect. A couple of swiss 4x guys showed up yesterday to get their pull on. There is some talent around. I’m wondering who out of that group of young riders is going to make the next step. Motivation is certainly high with the Worlds in our home country in 2011.
New year, new www.rogerrinderknecht.com up and running! check back for regular updates throughout the year.
Video from a mid-season session at monte tamaro 2010:
