RSA National Cup round 2 2013 - Cascades

This past weekend I raced the second round of the national series which was held on the same track as the world champs will be in August.
I arrived on the Wednesday before hand so I could settle in and do a bit of riding before hand. Thanks to Sam Bull and Hayden Brown for putting me up at their places for the week. On the Thursday we headed down to the track for a track walk to see if we could find any new lines. We didnt manage to find much but it was good to have a look at all the sections. Friday saw us doing some practice runs in the sunshine which was amazing! The track was so much fun, I really enjoy the track in the dry as its really fast and has lots of jumps. I got in 5 runs on Friday and was looking forward to racing. On Saturday I did another 4 runs due to having a flat tyre in one run. I made a point of not doing any more runs because the track is very physical and I wanted to make sure I had energy for Sunday.

Sunday morning rolled around and the weather was awesome, blue skies and hot. We got to the track around 8am for our one and only practice/warm up run of the day. I smashed out one full run and then headed back to the car for some down time until the seeding run. I had a very good feeling and I knew it would be good if I hit all my lines and kept it smooth.

It was soon time for seeding and I set off at the top focusing on being smooth and not pushing too hard so I could save some energy for finals. I came through in the top spot which was awesome as I knew I had more in the tank for finals. Tim bentley was in second spot just a few splits behind me. We had about 2 hours until finals and I just tried to stay calm and relax.

However it was no time at all until we had to head up for racing. I got to the top about 30 mins before my start time and I made sure I had a good 15 min warm up before heading to the start. It was a bit nerve racking whilst doing my warm up as all the other riders had gone down to the start already. I was up there doing my own thing to get ready. I was confident that my timing was good and sure enough I was spot on, I got to the start gate just before hand and soon I was off!
I was pushing hard at the top but maintaining a good flow and keeping smooth. I pushed hard on the pedalling and throughout the bottom section to come through in 2nd place just 0.25 sec off the winner, Jonty Neethling. I am pleased with the 2nd place but to be so close to the win is a bit frustraiting.

Results:

1. Jonty Neethling: 3:56:34
2. Stefan Garlicki: 3:56:59
3. Tiaan Odendaal: 3:59:38
4. Alisdar Fey: 3:59:58
5. Hayden Brown: 3:59:81

Thanks again to the people behind me and my awesome sponsors! INVESTEC, morewood, seattle coffee co, virgin active, science 2 sport, leatt, bell, adidas eyewear, cycles africa( hayes/sun ringle/manitou/odi), csixx, red bull and spank.

I am pleased with the start to the season and I want to keep the ball rolling heading into europe!

Until next time.....