This past weekend saw the last race of the season which was
the WP champs and Monster Madness event which was held in Tokai forest on
Saturday 24 November.
It was kind of a strange feeling for me because only a week
ago I didn’t have a bike and was not planning on racing. How things can change
in a week J
Omnico organised me a great deal on a Mongoose Boot R which I will ride for the
time being until I sort out a ride for next season. I was just really excited
to have a bike again and to be able to race! I rode the bike 3 times prior to
the race and other than that and a 2 day movie shoot I did a few weeks back, I
had not been on a dh bike for almost 2 months! I had also just been sick for 3
weeks which made it tough in the pedal section as I wasn’t feeling 100% yet. Needless
to say I felt a bit rusty, but I was determined to give it my best shot and
have some fun again J
They race was running a little differently to the norm, it
was all on one day so practice started at 8am and ran to 11:30am; racing
started at 12pm. The day would consist of 3 race runs, the first 2 for WP
champs and the last being the top 20 shootout. The weather on Saturday was
really tough with rain, gale force winds and cold temperatures ; the wind was
also changing direction all the time which made it very unpredictable through
the long pedal section. Some riders had a head wind, others a side wind and
others a tail wind.
We finally got going and I was up and running in my first
race run, I pushed it where I could but made a few mistakes and tried to save
energy for the bottom pedal and big step down jump. I came across with a (3:28)
in 3rd spot behind Pottie (3:23) and Duran (3:27). I was pretty
disappointed even under the circumstances and would’ve liked to be closer to
the top spot. Luckily I two more
attempts left and in run 2 I pushed harder, but still made a few critical
mistakes which left me with a (3:25) in 4th spot behind Gary Barnard
(3:16), Pottie (3:24) and Duran (3:25). Again I was really frustraited with my
run and result, I know I had more in me speed wise but my pedalling ability was
suffering as I felt flat with no energy.
However there was still one more run and I was keen to get
it done properly this time! I set off for the last time and I hit the technical
section perfectly, way faster than before. When I hit the pedalling section it
felt like the wind had died a little and I just forced myself to dig deep. I
pushed everywhere I could and coming into the last big jump on the jeep road I
sat down for about 40m to give my legs a rest; this allowed me to give one last
burst of energy to get over it and through the last section. I sprinted across
the line with a (3:16) and stepped onto the hot seat! I was really happy to put
down a solid run and I thought I might have it in the bag…. Unfortunately
Pottie me beat me with a (3:15) and Gary
screamed in with a (3:13) leaving us in dazed. The man can pedal a bike, that’s
for sure J
So I ended up in 3rd spot overall, 3 sec off the
win but 9 sec ahead of 4th place which I was pretty happy with
considering the circumstances. I am just really excited to be back on the bike
and to get the next season underway. Now it’s time to get strong over the next
couple of months leading up to the Avis Van Rental DH Challenge in Paarl on 2-3
February 2013.
Until next time….
