Cowan House Super Classic

This weekend was the Cowan house super classic, possibly one of the greatest classics in the country due to the mind bogglingly awesome single track!

After arriving at the venue, it was clear that the racing was really going to be hard and fast! Burry Stander, Max Knox, Brandon Stewart, Craig Paul, to name a few, were some of the top riders who were really going to make life hard on the bike. Even the Junior categories were going to be hotly contested, with Rourke Croeser, James Reid and Travis Walker in attendance.

With half an hour or so before the start, I hopped onto the stationary trainer to heat up the legs. The weather was perfect for racing, Sunny, but not too hot which would make for awesome racing conditions.

Off the start, the usual Jedson Tooms, went balls to the wall, but was soon caught by the freight train as we exited the school grounds. After a few dodgy 90degree corners, I found myself in a group of around 7 or 8 riders. Some of the big favourites slipped away from the bunch with ease leaving us to fight out our own race. I caught Craig after he took a nasty tumble, with Trav, James and team mate Pete just in front of us.

We entered one of the super dusty single tracks, unfortunately, with me being on Craig's wheel it was like riding straight into a wall, in more ways then one. After taking a super fast left hander I heard a loud bang, felt my bike jerk under me and suddenly went head first into the base of a tree. I got up dazed and pretty confused, squinting through the dust to see what I had smacked, A ROCK... With the taste of blood in my mouth, a dead arm and glasses sitting awkwardly on my face, I bent my bars and try to get back into a rhythm. I had dropped a number of places but just tried to push on. Eventually 3 or 4km later, Dave leiman caught up to me and gave me a good tow, which helped tremendously.

We worked really well together, and were reeling in the time gaps quickly. Up the KOM we pushed super hard and slowly began catching up. Upon exiting one of the single track sections, we passed James Reid who had suffered from a puncture. I tossed him my bombs to try and help out, so that he could get back into the race and commenced with the task at hand. Dave and I now sat 7th and 8th overall, and were really trying to close the gap to Craig who was the next man up the road. But we both knew that that would be a tall order with Craig being a single track machine.

Dave and I rode hard to the finish with him crossing the line just in front of me. I ended up with a 8th overall and was 1st youth in. The race was an awesome experience, especially with such a highly pedigreed field. Thanks to the organisers who put together an absolutely mind blowing course!

This weekend is a free weekend, with a lot of mileage happening. Good luck to all the riders (junior and up), who are flying out to Australia on Monday to compete at the highest level possible! World Champs!

Until next time
Ciao