Red Bull Urban Assault 2012

This was a crazy week for me, I wasn’t even thinking about racing as I don’t have a bike at the moment. I had been building a pump track and doing some planning for next season. However on Friday afternoon I headed to The Bike Shed for an xc ride and to chat to Jaco Veldsman. It was the day prior the Red Bull urban assault and as far as I was concerned I was just going to go and watch.

Then while chatting to Jaco he offered me the chance to race a Rocky Mountain Element 50 xc bike which he has as a demo bike from Hullabaloo. At first I was sceptical and a bit worried how the bike would hold up, however I decided it would be better than watching J So I thought I would give it a go and have some fun. We fitted some dh wheels, cranks and bars which gave it a more dh feel to make me feel a bit safer.

On Saturday afternoon I headed out to Cape Town to sign in and do some runs down the hill. I did get some funny looks when I arrived but after a few runs down I was having fun and felt I could go pretty fast on the xc machine! I did feel quite loose down the high speed section of the track and also down the stairs but it was a blast.

Sunday morning came around and I was a little tired as my good friend had his 23^rd birthday the night before, but I was just here to have fun and do my thing. I got in 2 practice runs before the race run, I felt solid, smooth and in control.

In the first run I had a good run, I did make a few mistakes, but I still felt good down towards the bottom and I came across with a 2:49, I was sitting in 2^nd spot overall behind Johann Potgieter with a 2:43. I would normally be disappointed with that time, but considering I was on an XC bike! I was very pleased and quite surprised to be honest J

Now that I had seen where I stood I felt I had some more in the tank for run 2 and was looking to close the gap a bit. I also knew that I had to keep it together because in Urban assault they average out the 2 run times and don’t take the fastest run.

In the 2^nd run the wind came up slightly and I really pushed hard, I didn’t make any major mistakes and felt that the run was better, however when I crossed the finish line my time was slower, a 2:50. This was a bit of a shock to me because I really thought that I would have a faster run, thus I was a bit disappointed in myself at the time. I did come around a little while later when I realised that I was still in 2^nd overall and that I had done it on a full on xc bike!

I would like to give a big thumbs up to Jaco Veldsman and Rocky Mountain bikes ( Hullabaloo ) for hooking me up with the bike for the weekend. For anyone looking to get an awesome xc bike that get the job done both up and down hill, go and speak to Hullabaloo Products.

I would like also like to thank my other sponsors who have stuck by me, Seattle Coffee Co, Virgin Active, Red Bull SA, Leatt Brace, Evoc, Adidas eyewear, Flexfit, my trainer John Wakefield @science2sport and Csixx. Without you guys this wouldn't be possible!

Until next time…..