Here is how my weekend in Val D Isere world cup went down….
After 44 hours of travelling from Mankele to Val D Isere,
yes that’s right, 43 hours!
I left Mankele at 8:30am on Monday morning, 3 and a half
hour drive to Jo burg, 9 hour wait at the airport, 10 hour flight to Munich, 2
hour bus trip to Salzburg, 7 hour wait, 9 hour train trip to Geneva, 3 hour
drive to Val D Isere….. Arrival time: 4:30am Wednesday morning.
It was quite a trip but I made it haha! So Wednesday we
registered and walked the track etc, and I knew it was going to be tough to
qualify after my injury. The track looked super fast and super rough, but not
too long which was good.
Anyway Thursday came around pretty quickly and practice got
underway, the track had some big drops, really fast sections and some insane
off camber sections which made it tough to hang on, but I was just so happy to
be back in Europe and racing again it didn’t matter J I did 6 runs on Thursday and
felt ok on the track, it was tough to hold on but otherwise not too bad. I was
happy with it and thought that if I get in a few good runs on Friday before
qualy I could qualify for sure.
Friday came around and I was out early on track, conditions
were bone dry and good for racing, I put in some fast runs and was ready for
qualifying. I got myself ready and went up for my run, I was 100 riders into
qualifying and at about rider 30 it started pouring with rain! The weather in
Val D Isere is crazy, rain, sun, rain, sun….. It can’t make up its mind. Anyway
it rained for about 20 minutes pretty hard but then it stopped and the track
was still in good race condition, not very wet. The track also dries out super
quick there so it wasn’t a problem, however about 5 minutes before my run it
started pouring again! This time it really let rip and the track got so
slippery, it was insane and because I had dry tires and the track was super
wet. I just thought, open mind and do my best, I started out my run and it was
slip and slide from the get go; I was like an ice hockey puck! I came into the
last really straight forward section on grass and I literally just slide off
the track sideways into the bushes J
I knew then that it was over and just cruised down, when I crossed the line I
was in 82nd spot. I was so frustrating because about 30 mins after
my run the sun came out and by the last 80 riders it was almost dry again which
was a bit unfair in a way but there is nothing you can do about the weather J
The weekend was a little bit of a letdown in some ways but
in others it was great to just be back on the bike and racing again! I just
feel like I have let my sponsors down this year by getting hurt and not being
able to get up there on where I know I should be. Just hang in there; I will be
back up there asap!
A big thanks to the awesome companies behind me, LE CANNABIS
CANFIELD Factory Team, Seattle Coffee Co, Virgin Active, Leatt, Adidas eyewear,
my trainer John Wakefield @science2sport, Flexfit and Evoc, you guys are
awesome!
Lastly I would like to thank my team mate Johann Potgieter
for fetching me from Geneva!
Until next time…..
Just keep on riding Stefan!!
ReplyDeleteInjuries are part of racing, and racing is what you're expected to do, and you're out there racing, so good on you for not just giving up, and that's what counts.