As I write this I am sitting in the pit area for the Val D
Isere world cup, but we’ll get to that later…
This is a run down of how my SA national champs went J
Myself and my dad flew up to Jo-burg on Thursday morning and
then we had a 3-4 hour drive from there to Mankele. We finally got there at
around 6pm and then checked in to our lodge around 15km from the track.
Friday morning was Registration and track walk, I was pretty
keen to see the track because everyone was raving about it. The track consisted
of 2 main sections, a fast open top piece and a tight tech forest piece, almost
like 2 tracks linked together…. After track walk I was excited and nervous at
the same time because I hadn’t raced for so long. I knew it was going to be
tough to win considering the circumstances but I was determined to do my best!
Friday we some practice on the track and I was feeling
terrible, slow, not confident and struggling. I had just not ridden anything
this tech or steep or rough since before the injury so it was an eye opener for
sure. However I brushed it off and looked forward to Saturday practice. It was
quite a lot better on Saturday, although I still wasn’t feeling myself, I did a
timed run and the best I could do was a 2:41 which was way off the pace and I
knew it, but I just didn’t feel ready to go faster. So again I brushed it off
and Saturday eve myself, Jaco, Duran and my dad went to see a movie to try and
get my mind off things, it was nice and relaxed which was good before Sunday.
Sunday morning came around and I squeezed in 2 runs before
seeding, they were both pretty solid but still not quick enough, it was down to
the seeding and race runs, I knew it was a long shot but I just gave it my
best. In seeding I managed a 2:36 which I was please about considering how I
felt on the track. I also felt way more confident which was good for me, I was
sitting in 3rd spot after seeding, 9 sec back.
Anyway it was time for finals, I felt way better and was determined
to put it together. I set off in my race run and was way more aggressive with
pedalling etc, but unfortunately only 20sec into the track 1 of the wooden
birms had broken, sending my over the bars into the dirt. I quickly shouted to
the start for them to stop the race. I demanded a rerun and pushed my bike back
up to the start. I was pretty tired but still felt ok. I set of once again and
had a solid run, I pushed harder and was more aggressive. I had a few small
mistakes but overall not a bad run with a time of 2:32. It was good enough for
3rd overall and 2nd elite so it wasn't too bad, I really wanted
to win and know that if I was 100% I could have won for sure but considering
the circumstances I was not too disappointed. I was only 3.5 sec back from winner
Tiaan Odendaal and after 4 months of not racing and 3 months of no riding it
was a good starting point. I had also only ridden my Canfield for a few weeks
prior to the race so everything was new to me.
I would really like to thank my parents, friends and my
awesome sponsors, LE CANNABIS CANFIELD Factory Team, Seattle Coffee Co, Virgin
Active, Leatt, Adidas eyewear, Flexfit, Evoc and my trainer John Wakefield
@science2sport. Without you guys I wouldn’t be able to race my bike and compete
all over the world, so thanks so much for sticking with me and you’ll see me
back on top very soon J
Until next time…..
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