Well guys, I only got back this afternoon from the National up at Nelspruit... It was quite the eventful weekend, with XC, 4X, and DH racing spread out over the weekend.
My dad, brother, myself and a fellow cyclist (Hilton Frost) left Maritzburg on Wednesday night and travelled through pouring rain nearly the entire way to Nelspruit. We arrived at our accommodation and the rain hadn't let up.
I sat and waited anxiously on Thursday for it to stop long enough for me to go ride. Eventually it stopped and we dashed for Mankele Bike Park. Rourke and I only went and did 1 lap as the course was unbelievably muddy.
On Friday the rain finally stopped, but we waited for the course to dry slightly as there would've been no point in practicing a wet course if the race was going to be dry. At around 11 Craig, Burry and I hit the course to do a quick lap and the course had dried really fast, there were only a couple of really slick sections. Rourke was eventually able to join me on his new bike and we went out to do a lap.The course in the heat was going to be really hot 'cause the two main climbs were in the complete open sun. After a good practice we left and went to chill back at the accommodation.
Race day was upon us and the nerves started to kick in, I managed to sleep in a little longer as my race only started at 13:00 and was the last race to go. I pitched up at Mankelle at around 10:30 just in time to catch Candice's finish, un surprisingly she had an awesome race ending up 2nd in junior women.
The temp was really hot and humid, and decided to go chill in one of the air conditioned log cabins. I chilled literally until I had to go warm up. Rourke and I left to go warm up on the tar road, and after receiving some really good advice I felt ready for the race.
On the start line i was getting my mind ready for the race that lay ahead and fortunately my good result from Cape Town had seeded me second onto the first row. with the first elites coming through onto their second lap, our whistle went. I went hard just up to the first corner. As we entered the first single track I slacked off slightly and recovered until we exited onto the steep rocky climb. As we exited the single track and hit the first kick of the climb I rode really hard but the bunch stayed with me... I sat back and dropped to around 3rd or 4th, and waited until the second kick to the peak of the climb. As we hit it I put in a big effort and rode off the front with Arno and Gert, Arno counter attacked a little bit further on so Gert and I worked together on the first lap. Going onto the second lap Arno had a 40sec. gap and I knew I had to close it down. We hit the first climb again, and I managed to just ride away from Gert. I continued to push really hard through this lap and closed the gap to around 25 or so seconds. Going into the third lap I still felt strong so I continued riding at the same pace and the gap stayed pretty much the same. On the last lap I went as hard as I could to close the gap, and was feeling much better than the last lap. However on the last lap, I came into one of the really technical sections of the course, and had been shouting track the entire single track, for a slower rider to move out the way. As I came up to the Bull/Chicken run split i decided to take the chicken run to over take him, it worked but at the Bull run/Chicken run regroup the rider rode straight into me, causing me to bail off a bridge. With me off the bridge and my bike caught up in orange bunting tape a lost a heck of a lot of time. I managed to get going again, but couldn't regain my rhythm and was overtaken by Gert. I pushed on and managed to hang onto 3rd overall.
I was pretty bummed at the time, but at least it didn't really affect my seeding for the BIG one in George... SA CHAMPS.
The Racing was really tough but the course was the best I've ridden this year, the climbs hurt but the single track was super shweet!
That night the four cross racing was on and was cleaned up Travis Browning, with my good friend, Ryan Stevens (on a street BMX), coming in 3rd overall in the final.
All in all the weekend was absolutely awesome, the band was good, racing was fun, dh and 4X were really intense and it just made the weekend one to remember.
Until next time
later
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