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After a tough off-season, Pim Ronhaar (Baloise Trek Lions) is slowly finding his form.
This season, he has earned podiums in Heerderstrand and Herentals and is currently sitting fifth in the World Cup Overall after three top-10s, including a podium near-miss fourth in Namur. With each World Cup, he has earned a better place than the last: seventh in Antwerp, sixth in Dublin, fourth in Namur and third in Hulst.
Based on the 2023–2024 season, where Ronhaar was third in the World Cup Overall with two wins and three podiums, he is capable of even more in time.
Ronhaar is still training towards better form after his summer preparation was derailed by a COVID infection followed soon after by Lyme disease.
“The illness during the summer wrecked my whole preparation for cyclocross season,” said Ronhaar. “It started already from June/July. The preparation was not what I would like it to be. That’s why I was not on my level like I was last year at the beginning of the season.”
Although Ronhaar started the season as scheduled at the end of October, he did so while maintaining a focus on training. Even in early December, when we spoke with Ronhaar, he was still cautiously maximizing training between races.
“I’m training a little bit differently,” said Ronhaar. “I am training a little bit more than I would during this period of time compared to last year. We are trying to maximize the training load, but also not do too much because it is of course a busy Kerstperiode coming. Then you need to be fresh before a race.”
Challenge Tires has been eager to follow Ronhaar’s progress as this is his first season on the brand.
“I am really happy that I started this season with Challenge tires,” said Ronhaar. “The right equipment for a cyclocross race is really important, especially when the level is this high. It’s necessary to have the right tire tread and the right bike. This gives you the right feeling on the course.”
Switching a key component, such as tires, necessitates some adjustment time. Of course, this was true for Ronhaar as well. “In the beginning, it was a little bit hard to adjust the tire pressure, as it’s a little bit different than I was used to,” said Ronhaar. “But now I know what I can do with the tire and what pressure I need to ride on what course. I am getting more and more the feeling on the tires. I am happy with them!”
Now that Ronhaar has dialled in his favorite tread and pressures, he uses this information to select tread and pressure on race days.
“Normally, I always start the recon with the Grifo tire at 1.34 or 1.4 bar,” said Ronhaar. “Then I check the course and sometimes adjust to a little less tire pressure. Normally, I keep it around between 1.3 and 1.4 bar.”
(For perspective, Ronhaar’s size is listed as 1.76 meters and 60 kilos.)
“Then you are going to choose the tread,” said Ronhaar. “I use Grifo more of the time. Then I use Baby Limus and Limus most frequently.”
Ronhaar points to the Baby Limus as being a particularly useful tread.
“I think it’s really nice to have Baby Limus when it’s a little bit slick but not really, really muddy,” said Ronhaar. “You can have a little bit more grip with the Baby Limus than Grifo. That’s really a benefit. You do not have to go directly to the more aggressive Limus tread. You can save watts.”
Just as with the tire/tread selection process, Ronhaar uses the same race prep process before every race.
“My preparations leading up to a race are actually always the same,” said Ronhaar. “Two days before a race, I back off my training and do an easy ride. The day before a race, I do an easy ride with little efforts to make the body ready. On race days, I also have my rituals: I eat the same meals always at specific times. I always ride rollers in the morning.”
While race day prep is always the same, Ronhaar’s favorite race days involve heavy mud.
“My favorite pattern is the Limus, but it is because heavy mud courses suit me best,” said Ronhaar. “I like the courses where you search for grip. Limus has more grip than other brands. That’s really a benefit from riding with Challenge. We can make a difference with the tire in the final of a race, to come up a hill or just to have more grip than the other riders. I am a guy who has the power to ride with this tire.”
Ronhaar chooses to ride the Ultra Series silk casing tires. This, he says, is about feel: “I choose to ride with the silk tires as I have the best feeling on these tires. They give me the natural feeling with the bike.”
Kerstperiode is just around the corner. With Ronhaar finding his form and the weather turning to muddy “Limus courses,” we look forward to watching what he can do!
