UCI World Cup round 5 - Hafjell, Norway

Last weekend I headed up to Norway for the 5th round of the world cup series, here is how things went....

I flew up on the Monday evening due to getting a really cheap flight, BUT I landed at 23:30 which meant I had to sleep at the airport. This was not ideal so I checked out the local hotels but after finding out that one nights stay was +- 250 Euros I decided to stay in the airport :) I have to be honest, I slept really well on a soft bench, probably the best I have ever slept in an airport. Its amazing what ear plugs and an eye patch can do!

I had organised to travel and stay with the SC Intense team which was a massive help, so a big thanks to them for that! They were arriving at around 7pm the following day which meant I stayed in the aiport for around 20 hours..... anyway it had to be done.

We headed to the venue and the following day we set up the pit, sorted out registration and got the bikes ready for business on Thursday. The first practice session was on Thursday and I was ampd to get out there. I had been there in 2012 and had a bad weekend so I was hoping to smash it this time round. The track was bone dry and dusty and definately my favourite track of the season. It has everything, big jumps, high speed, steep technical and even some bike park. On thursday I just ried to get my lines dialled in and get comfy on track while having loads of fun. Qualification was on the Friday and I knew I had to step things up to get into the big show. I did some timed runs on Friday morning before qualifying and I felt strong going into my run. After waiting around and feeling the nerves I put my game face on and got into the gate, after hearing the beeps I was off! I pushed really hard at the top and nailed all my lines, my middel section was a bit sketchy and I lost some time which meant I needed to nail the bottom. I got threw it with no big mistakes and crossed the line with a time of 3:50..... I was not sure if it would be good enough but thankfully I made it into the final 80 in 78th spot!

I was over the moon to qualify in Europe for the first time and it was also my first start at a world cup in 2013 :) So after a nice evening it was back to business on the Saturday. I had heard that rain was on the way so I used Saturday to change up some lines and to be prepared for the wet :) Sure enough we woke up to rain on Sunday!

I headed up for my 2 practice runs and the track was slippery to say the least. I felt good in some sections and horrible in others,  was just hoping to get it right for the race run. After a few hours of waiting around and getting cold it was time to head up. I was really unsure of how the track would be in the final after all the riders had come down. I knew I would need to wing some sections!

It was'nt long before I was on track and hurtling down the hill. As I entered the first rock garden I blew off line and knew it would be a tough run but it had to be done! I didnt go as quick as I wanted to and made loads of mistakes but I managed to get down without crashing which I was pleased about. I ended in 69th spot, I was just happy to finally race a world cup in Europe and it was a massive building block for me going forward :D

Thanks so much to everyone for all the support this season, its been amazing so far! Also thanks to my awesome sponsors who keep me out here, INVESTEC, morewood, Seattle Coffee Co, Virgin Active, John Wakefield @ Science2Sport, Leatt, Bell helmets, Csixx, Spank, Cycles Africa, Odi, Sun Ringle, Hayes, Faithwear, Red Bull SA and Adidas eyewear!

Until next time....