Hey Guys
Well Saturday was the end of the National XC Series. We Arrived at the track on Friday Morning and went straight on to check out the course. The course had changed a lot from the previous year. It was super tight in sections and the single track was really technical. It was a flat out powering course, with only one or two nasty short little climbs.
After practise we went straight to the accommodation and chilled. Back at accommodation I tried to stay as chilled as possible to get to the race well rested on Saturday Morning.
After a really good nights rest I felt good for the days race and slowly got ready for the race. With my race only being at 13:15 i took my time in getting ready. We pulled into the Fountains Nature reserve at around 11. We unpacked the car, set up our feeding zone and then began to get ready. The nerves really kicked in, as the reality of how much was riding on the race hit me.
I went for a warm up with 30min to go before the start, and started ride the course through my head. With 15min to go we got called onto the start shoot, luckily having had a good season I was called up 2nd and had the perfect line on the start.
As the whistle went,the pace was hot. It was a mad dash down to the first corner before hitting the single track. Arno (series Leader) was in the lead with myself sitting on his wheel. I sat his wheel through out the course. Luke Roberts made contact with us, and it soon became a major three way battle. The positions chopped and changed through the course of the 2nd and 3rd lap,however, as we caught a much slower rider, Arno managed to sneak past the rider, causing him to unclip and stop in front of us. This gave him a considerable lead and Luke and I were forced to chase down hard. We slowly began to eat away at the lead, but we were again slowed down by a slower rider that would not move. Arno jumped at the opportunity and really pushed the pace opening up a really big gap on us.
Going into lap 4 Luke opened up a gap of two or so bike lengths on me in the one single track, feeling very anxious I felt forced to push to close the gap. This proved to be costly, and caused a small slit in my tyre. I tried riding as much as I could, to try avoid stopping, but by the time I reached the first technical climb, my tyre was flat. I bombed it and pushed hard to close down the gap. But with only one lap left to go I had to settle for 3rd overall.
Unfortunately, the 3rd position didn't allow me to wrap up the championship, but I still managed to take 2nd overall for the season. Congrats to Luke who managed to get 3rd overall in the season. Arno rode an exceptional series this year, winning 4 out of the 5 races and placing 3rd at Cascades.
All that's left to do now is African-Continental Champs later on this year at Mankele in Nelspruit. This weekend is the Super Classic in mTunzini, we'll see how that one goes.
Until Then
Ciao
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