This past weekend I flew up to Jo burg and made the 4.5 hour
trek up to Malelane in Mpumalanga for the 2013 Malelane Toyota Downhill
Challenge.
Dirk Lourens was the organiser and offered to take us up for
a look see. A few of us headed up and took a cruise down the coarse,
unfortunately about half way down I entered a rocky section and a rock pierced
my tyre leaving me frustraited and having to walk down! After walking down I
packed up and headed to the hotel where we had free accommodation thanks to
Dirk. It was such a great vibe having all of us staying together in the middle
of nowhere.
We had a rough night sleep on the Thursday as it was so hot
and humid up there but luckily it cooled off slightly. The restaurant at the
hotel was not the greatest in the service department, it was quite funny
actually. On the Friday night Pottie and I ordered our food at 19:30 and only
got it at 22:00, crazy! Friday and Saturday were just practice days and I was
pumping out the runs, doing 5-6 runs each day and timing sections too. I always
start out a bit slower on a new track and build up through the weekend which
works well for me. It feels a bit safer as you don’t just go flatout right off
the bat and crash out. By the end of Saturday I felt good and was excited for
the Sundays racing!
On Saturday, Pottie, Tim Bentley and myself decided to get a
room at the hotel to try get a better night sleep as the party got a bit crazy
on the Friday night. The rooms also had aircon which made sleeping a lot more
pleasant. It was definitely worth it as we woke up on Sunday morning fresh and ready for
action!
We all headed down to the track and I got in 3 runs before
seeding with the weather looking like it could rain at any time. I was hoping
for it to stay dry as we had not ridden in the wet and the track would get wild
in the wet. Soon enough I was in the
gate for seeding, as the starter said go I tried to go to early and had to jump
off the side of the start ramp! I heard laughter behind me and then off I went.
After a mistake early I pushed a bit harder up top than I had planned to and I
made some silly mistakes. As I got lower down I chilled out a bit more and
saved some energy for the final. I came across with a 3:09 and was sitting in 3rd
spot behind Tim Bentley on 3:07 and Pottie on 3:08 which I was really happy
with considering my run. I knew that for finals everyone would be quicker and I
was thinking that my time would be around 5 seconds quicker if all went well.
We had a quick break and then it was time for finals. I was determined to put in a good one at the last event of my 2013 season. I set off strong and actually rode down the start ramp! I hit the top
section really well and just before the first road I popped up onto the grass
to get a better line into the corner as I always do. All I heard was a bang then
a hissing sound….
I knew I had a flat immediately and I was so upset, I couldn’t
believe it. That was unfortunately the end of my weekend. I hadn't had a flat
in a race run for more than 2 years so I guess it was bound to happen sometime. I still got some rad prizes even though I flatted, so awesome!
I am still really happy with my riding up there and I was loving the Trek 9.9
which Tom Rood lent me for the event. I had only ridden the bike 6 times prior
to the event and I already felt comfortable on the bike so a big thanks to Tom
for that! Also a big shout out to Dirk Lourens for putting on a fantastic event
with the best track in the country! Lastly thanks to JP and Hayden for organising me a lift up there :)
Next up will be a season recap.
Until next time…
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