Well this was one of the craziest adventures I have been
on…. It was one big ride from Tuesday until Monday!
I was really looking forward to it and getting a good result
at the final world cup of the season. I stayed with Adi and Jonty in Basel for
two nights before we set off on the Tuesday evening. We were flying from
Frankfurt which meant we had a good 4 hour drive to get there and our flight
was at 08:30 on Wednesday morning. We had some fun while driving there when we
almost ran out of fuel, we only had 0.5 litres left in the tank! Thankfully we
made it and caught our flight the next day.
When we arrived we had to take a bus, train, train and
another bus to get to the venue, we arrived there at 15:30 in the afternoon
which meant we had to really hurry up finding our accommodation and walking the
track etc…
We had a few problems already as our accommodation was
supposed to be at the track and it turns out it was 10km up the mountain! Not
ideal! This meant trying to sort out other accommodation ASAP…. Luckily my team
was there and there was space at their apartment block, so we booked in there
and it was all good. That Wednesday evening I built up my bike, had some good
food with the boys and got all my stuff together for the next day. It was going
to be really hectic as we still needed to register and we had not walked the
track yet.
The next morning we rolled down to the track, I noticed that
my brakes weren’t working properly and kept fading, so first thing I did was
take my bike to Sram and luckily they sorted that out for me. While my bike was
there I headed over to registration to get my number etc, however I had just
then worked out that my wallet was missing, I was in a state and knew that I
was in big trouble without it as all my cards, licences and money was in there!
However they did let me enter without my licence when I explained the situation
and I tried my best to put it out of my mind because I was there to race and
that was first priority.
I got back to Sram and went up for my first run; I was a bit
nervous as I hadn’t even seen the track yet. I got out of the gondola and started
following some riders down to the start, however they got too far ahead and
disappeared into another trail. I presumed that it was the way to the start…
I was wrong; I ended up rolling half way down the mountain
and having to grab another chair lift up to the top. Then I took another
freeride trail down the mountain and finally reached the start of the DH track
after about 45min of searching! Finally I set off and rolled slowly down for
the first run, the start was filled with huge jumps, then there were some fast
sections with rocks and roots, then bike park, some grass high speed and
finally some really steep technical rock gardens. It was a really good
challenging track and it would make for good racing.
After riding like a granny first run to check it all out I
set off in run two, I hit all the jumps and carried good speed, I felt good and
confident that I could have a good qualy on Friday. I got in 5 runs on the
Thursday and was ready for Friday! I did get some good news because the bus
driver had found my wallet; I was so stoked about this! Friday morning came
around and I was able to put in 3 more runs before qualy, I found some good
lines and was determined to crack on!
I got up to the top about 30 mins before my run to ensure I
had a really good warm up as it was really cold up there. I then found out that
there was a 20 min delay which meant more waiting around. Time ticked on and it
was getting close to my run, I was working with the numbers as the times were
out, Johann was 74 and I was 94, this meant 20 riders between us at 30 sec
intervals, 10 minutes. I was warming up until the last moment to ensure I
didn’t cool down before my run due to the cold and the way it was set out at
the top, you could not see the start area while warming up on the road. I had
worked out the time on my watch and when it got to 5 min before my start I
headed down to the start only to find out that I was 30 sec too late! I was in
shock, I couldn’t believe it, there were seven riders missing between Johann
and myself which I didn’t think mattered because they always keep the gaps. NOT
today, they closed the gaps and I missed my run, I tried everything to get a
run at the end of qualification, unfortunately they would not allow it.
I was so gutted after everything it took to get there and
everything we went through. I know that maybe I should’ve been there slightly
earlier but I also did not expect something like that to happen, it was the
first and LAST time!
I rolled down the freeride track only to be greeted by a
very unhappy team manager. I was so upset; I loaded my bike in the car and
walked back to the apartment. Little did I know that this would be the last time
I ever rode the bike, but I will get to that later. That was about how my
weekend went, I was still really happy with my riding and I am glad to have the
experience behind me. I still got to grips with the difficult track and I will
know what to expect next year. Even after what happened I do not regret going
there, I will just make sure things run a little smoother next time.
Anyway I would still like to give it up to my great
companies who support me, Seattle Coffee Co, Virgin Active, Leatt, Adidas
eyewear, Evoc, Csixx, Flexfit, Red Bull South Africa and my trainer John
Wakefield @science2sport. It’s not easy to find good support, so I am really
thankful for this.
Until next time….
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