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     Returning to Big Line, Photo: Jan Porič THE ROCKET BLOG #5: COMING BACK & BIG LINE SESSION IN LJUBLJANA First event post-injury, Ljubljana MTB Weekend. Photo: Andras Oravecz 3 months after my crash where I broke my ankle, I was back lining up at a freeride event, the Big Line Session at Ljubljana´s MTB weekend. MTB Weekend in Ljubljana is an annual festival in my hometown, which is happening during European Mobility Week. The city of Ljubljana was crowned as EU´s Green Capital several times and one of the reasons is its commitment to support and invest in sports. After I realized how long it would take to rehab my ankle, I set a goal for myself to return to celebrate my comeback at this event. I was on the  Big Line invited rider list since early spring and it was always my dream to jump in front of my home crowd and fans.  There´s nothing like the crowd screaming your name, photo: Andras Oravecz I have rehabilitated my ankle very well but realized it would be a mental challen

THE ROCKET BLOG #4: CRANKWORX INNSBRUCK & GETTING INJURED

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  THE ROCKET BLOG #4: CRANKWORX INNSBRUCK & GETTING INJURED The event I was most proud about: Whip-offs at Crankworx in Innsbruck. The Crankworx in Innsbruck was considered the most important event of the year for me. I was competing at Pumptrack, Speed & Style, Whip-offs and women's Slopestyle, and I was so proud of myself to make it that far in my career, where I could compete in invite-only competitions on one of the most important events in the world. Due to competing in so many disciplines at the same time, the practice schedule at Crankworx Innsbruck was pretty hectic and for me as a rookie rider in all of the freeride disciplines, it was hard to properly time-manage everything and set priorities. I admit, I did feel under pressure by not just ride on all practices but also to deliver my best. I had so much fun at speed & style practice, ticking off the course nicely and I was looking forward to the biggest event of my career, the Whip-offs. The wait until you can

THE ROCKET BLOG #3: KALNICA BIKE FEST - SLOVAKIA

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  THE ROCKET BLOG #3: KALNICA BIKE FEST - SLOVAKIA Night-time Whip-offs have become a classic show in Bike Park Kalnica. Photo: Lukas Neasi I first visited the famous Slovakian bike park, known for its progressive and technical jump lines, last year. Bike Park Kalnica is a special place, where the feeling of the freeride community can be felt as soon as you arrive and park your car. The park is managed and built by passionate local freeriders who have not yet subdued to the family-friendly flow-line trend, which has manifested almost in all western well-known bike parks. The park is built by freeriders for freeriders and this idea is felt in every single track in the park. On the other side, Kalnica Bike Fest is the biggest MTB bike festival in Slovakia and surrounding countries, which brings together all MTB disciplines, from Marathon to Slopestyle. The crowd, the atmosphere and good tracks convinced me to put this festival in my yearly calendar. This year I was participating in the p

THE ROCKET BLOG #2: IXS DIRT MASTERS, WINTERBERG - GERMANY

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Winning the crowd is never easy. Photo: Hanna Retz THE ROCKET BLOG #2: IXS DIRT MASTERS, WINTERBERG - GERMANY IXS Dirtmasters in Winterberg, the biggest MTB gravity event in Europe, has become a classic venue for many different Mountainbike athletes. Is it the crazy cheering crowd? The after parties? The community? I’m not sure but, if you live in central Europe and you don’t show up at this festival, you get this feeling of missing out. I was invited to take part at this year’s women’s Whip-off Contest and I was thrilled, because at this particular event, only invited riders may take part and the invited-riders-list is usually filled with big names and A-pros from the European MTB scene.       F irst rows of fans filled with kids, reaching their hands to touch their favourite heroes. Photo: Hanna Retz The Whip-off contest was scheduled for Friday and there was supposed to be an hour of practice 2 hours before the big show and 30 minutes warm-up before the actual contest. The problem w