Early Saturday morning I left my accommodation in San Diego, and made the 5hr trip up to Santa Ynez with Alex Estrada, World Cycles, and his girlfriend. We arrived at the track, got registered and headed straight out onto the course for some practice. The course seemed like it was going to be a really long, yet super fun course. The loop was around 10miles, and with me racing as a Pro, I would be doing 3 laps.
After just one lap we packed up and made our way across to our over night accommodation, JUST before the heavens opened. The rain set in heavily for the night and didnt let up until just before the race.
It was cold, windy and pretty miserable at the venue, but that didnt stop the spectators and competitors from flooding into the race village to watch the racing unfold. Fortunately for the Pro's, the course had been cut from a 10 mile lap, to a 6,5mile lap, due to the "SUPER Mud" that had formed in places. At 9 sharp we took our places on the start, and man, were there some rather big names amongst the Pro's. Sid Taberlay (5 x Australian national Champ) and Zach Valdez were a couple of the names that would be vying for top honours. I kinda kept a clear head and ust stayed focused on getting the best result possible.
I managed to get what I would classify as, the BEST start I have ever had, managing to get into the lead. With a clear track ahead of me I wound it up. Taking full advantage of the clear track in front of me. I managed, Surprisingly, to put a 10-20second gap between myself and Sid over the first lap, with Zach around 10-15 seconds down on him. With the back markers now scattered all over the track, the gap stayed pretty much the same over the 2nd lap. The rain eventually let up, which actually made riding conditions way, WAY worse! The mud had turned into a clay-ish mud, known as "Peanut Butter Mud" which stuck to everything, making riding almost impossible. The mud had become so bad that I was forced to walk, not run, with my bike. Even on the downhill's it was almost impossible to pedal. Sid caught up and rode clean past me, leaving me absolutely gob-smacked. He literally rode away through the mud. Possibly the only one who could ride most of the last lap. After walking around 5 of the 6,5 mile course I came home 3rd in the Pro/ Elite category. A little disappointing, nut a really good indicator of where my form is at the moment.
A really awesome experience, a huge thanks needs to go out to Mike Mulder for hosting me the whole of last week. A huge thanks to everyone at Ellsworth for all the help and welcoming hand. To Alex for the lift to Santa Ynez and to all the support back home in SA!! You guys rock!
I'm now in Big Bear, an amazing little city that touches the sky. I'm staying with the AWESOME Romero family (Paul, Karen and Jordan). The riding here is SUPER awesome! I'll be posting up some pics of the race tomorrow, I'm off to hit the hay, got a heavy day at the Bonelli Pro XCT Course.
Keep it real
B
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