So African Continental Champs is set and done for 2013. Here
is how my weekend went up in Pietermaritzburg…
I arrived in PMB on the Wednesday prior to the race which
gave me a few days to settle in and prepare for racing. The event started on
the Friday afternoon with great weather and a perfect track. The Cascades world
cup downhill track is extremely physical and has some of the biggest jumps on the
world cup circuit. I personally love riding there, it’s so much fun to ride as
I love jumps, however racing there is tough due to lots of pedalling in the middle
section.
On Friday I only did two practice runs as it started pouring
with rain half way through the afternoon and we ran out of time. It was not so
bad because I did not want to tire myself out too much for the weekend. On Saturday
things had not gotten much better on the weather front. It was overcast and
gloomy outside, never the less we headed down to the track and I squeezed 4
runs in which I was happy with. The track was slick after the rain but it did
not rain much during the day which meant it dried up quite a bit and got really
tacky towards the end of the afternoon.
Race day rolled around and it was even worse with rain and
it was chilly out there! I was still positive and ready to rock and roll. I did
one run in the morning to check out the track which was absolutely ridiculous,
it was so slippery. The mud there is like nowhere else, it’s got so much clay
in it and it causes your tyres to clog up which means NO GRIP period. So
basically it’s like ice skating down the course J,
its loads of fun to ride but very tricky to race so I was a bit tense heading
into seeding. Finally I set off in seeding and about 30 seconds into the track
I got to the Cloud 9 section which is the steepest on the course. I went in
sideways and ended up on my chest sliding down which was not ideal! I got up
and had to first get the mud out of my cleats before I could set off and clip
into my pedals….
I managed to slide my way down the course to a time of 5:28
which had me in around 8th spot. This was not great but I knew what
I needed to do going into finals. After washing my bike and having a quick
break we heading up for the final run. We got to the start and did not have
much time as the schedule was tight which meant I only had 5 min to warm up
which was a disaster because on a long track like Cascades you need to be warm
and ready so you don’t shock your body. Anyway there was no choice for me and
soon I had set off for my run.
I focused on staying smooth, not braking too hard in the
corners and nailing the Cloud 9 section. I got through the top section
perfectly, not too fast but I made sure I kept it on two wheels. I headed into
the pedalling section after clearing both table tops which were 20+ meters long
which was awesome to do in the muddy conditions. Due to the warm up issue I
felt horrible on the pedal but I gave it my best and came down with a time of
4:47:98 which was 41 seconds faster than seeding! This put me into third spot
for the day which was a bit disappointing but I am still happy considering the
circumstances J
Top 3:
1.
Hayden Brown: 4:45:06
2.
Tiaan Odendaal: 4:47:12
3.
Stefan Garlicki: 4:47:98
I have had a great start to the
season and I can’t wait for the next race!
A huge shout out to the awesome
companies behind me, INVESTEC / Morewood / Seattle Coffee Co / Red Bull / ODI /
Science 2 Sport / Virgin Active / Csixx / Sun Ringle / Spank / Leatt / Adidas
eyewear / Bell helmets / Hayes, you all rock!
Lastly I would like to thank Sam
Bull and Hayden Brown for the accommodation up there!
Until next time…..
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