This past weekend was the first round of the National XC Cup series. We piled into our car early on Friday Morning and drove up to Rietvlei to check out the course. After about 4 hours or so we reached our destination.
Craig, Ryan and I hit the track, and man was the course cool! Super rocky, Steep Climbs and tight twisting single track! It was definitely one of my favourite course that I've ridden! We left after a couple laps and I went to stay with my aunt in Bedfordview. It was really cool to catch up with my family again, and after a good nights sleep we headed out to the track the next day.
I arrived to see the end of the women's race, with our team mate Eszter Cluer bringing home 2nd overall! I hooked my bike up to the stationary trainer and hooked a really good warm up. After 45minutes or so I headed to the start and settled on the front row. I felt really confident on the new bike, even though it was only my 3rd time on my new bike! off the start I found myself in the front but soon was overtaken by Arno du Toit. We entered the first single track and I was now 4th, just behind James Reid. We hit the first climb and Luke Roberts made his move. There was now 5 of us away but then disaster struck! I burped my tyre on a rock and all the air had come out, ironically at the same place as Ruan du Toit had just punctured. I stopped and bombed my tyre and got going again. I slowly began to work my way up the field, but as I reached the half way point of the track a burped my tyre again. I stopped and did the entire procedure again. I got going and pushed super hard to close up the positions. But unfortunately disaster struck every lap in the exact same spot, except for the 4th lap. On the 4th lap I managed not to burp my tyre and began to claw through the field and took back 5 or so positions. I felt confident that my bad luck was over and was now determined to keep closing up the positions. I came into one of the technical sections and heard the dreaded sound of metal hitting the ground yet again!!!! I ran to the nearest tech' zone where I pumped my tyre. with only a few kilometers to go I took it easy and tried to salvage what was left of my race.
It was definitely the worst race I've had so far, but I made a choice to use new tyres, and obviously it was the wrong decision. I've taken it as a valuable learning experience and hopefully I've learnt from such mistakes.
Thanks to Andrew Warr for the concern and encouragement he gave towards me on the last lap, it really helped me pull through! Well done to Craig and Ryan on their awesome results, and to Max Cluer for giving the much appreciated support!
Peace out
B
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