Rough n tumble, Bonelli Park Pro XCT

Well, this weekend was rather interesting to say the least!

Having just come off a good ride in Texas, I was itching to get out to Bonelli for the 2nd round of the Pro XCT series! I took delivery of my new Specialized S-Works Stumpjumper 29er HT earlier in the week. The new hard tail race machine is unbelievably light, at just 8.1kg's, its the lightest thing I've ever ridden, and with Bonelli being a hard tail course, I couldn't wait to go tear it up on the new steed.

Saturday rolled around, and with the event being o close to my house I took a mellow drive down to the track and was greeted with an awesome surprise, the team bus and pop-up tents were all out and on display, with all the race bikes ready and lined up outside the bus.

Many of the top Pro's vying for Olympic spots had left for the RSA World Cup, which left n open door for me to try and get a good position and possibly go top 5 at the end of the day.HAving gained some good UCI points at the previous race down in Texas, and now holding the #10 Pro Plate, I would have a second row start, far better than my 5th/6th row start at the previous round.

The race got off to a really good start. I managed to barge my way through the guys ahead of me, and into 4th position by the end of the start loop. As we hit the first steep climb of the lap, I managed to ride myself into 2nd as we fast approached the most technical part of the track. Towards the end of the first lap, things took a turn for the worse. My front derailleur slipped, causing my chain to drop and get caught in-between the BB(bottom Bracket) and the small chainring. I sprung off my bike to try and rectify the problem as quickly as possible, but by the time I had got the chain unjammed, and had run the longest climb of the track, I found myself down in 17th, close on 2 minutes down on the leaders. My chase back was going to be hard.

It took me half a lap to regain focus, and to begin my charge. By the end of lap three I was back in the top 10, passing Russel Finsterwald who was currently 8th. I eventually rode myself back into the lead group of 5 with 3 laps to go, but things soon began to go pear shaped. The loose track, combined by the thick dust made the going pretty treacherous, and ultimately lead to me going down hard, twice, with one of the crashes leaving me with a blown up front tyre. I hit the CO2 cartridge and began my charge back with only one lap left to go, but I simply blew myself to pieces trying to regain the leaders once again. A very disappointing race in the end as I rolled in 16th.

Day two was to see the Pro men do the short track event (STXC). Still a little bitter about the previous days race, I was angry and motivated to try and better the previous day's result. Unfortunately things didn't go my way once again. On lap one I put in a surge and managed to put in a sizable gap almost instantly, but being so early in the race I decided to sit up and bide my time until 2 or 3 laps to go. I sat close to the front to monitor any movements that were going down and it seemed like everything was going to stay really close together. With 4 to go I tried to power up the only climb in the race, but my cranks almost seemed to be spinning inside my frame, sitting me out the back of the whittled down lead group. I regained to ninth, and had to fight my way through to get onto the front once again. By that time, Russel Finsterwald had made a gutsy attack, and no one had decided to chase. I put my head down and gave chase. The gap started to come down, but every time I hit the climb the exact same thing would happen. The final lap came around, knowing something was wrong on the bike, I decided to attack before the climb to minimize any positions being lost. I managed to get a small gap going into the climb, but it simply wasn't enough, guys came blazing past me as if i was looking for parking. In a last ditch attempt to get on the podium I tried to carry speed down the descent, and around the outside of the fastest corner of the course. I began to make up a couple positions with only a few corners to go, until disaster struck. I hit a small drainage ditch or gofer hole, which completely snapped my left crank arm off the bicycle, nearly sending me into a cartwheel frenzy. Somehow I managed to keep it rubber side down. I ended up walking the bike to the finish line, I little shocked and a little disappointed at the same time. I was just happy to have not gone down in what could've been a horrific crash.

I huge thanks to everyone who was supporting and helping out at the race. Ty Kady and R. Scott Tedro were once again flawless in the feed zone. Johnny Muller was running around in the dust taking photos, Jordi Cortes was always willing to lend a helping hand and my girlfriend, Kendall, went absolutely crazy with the supporting. Thanks guys!

Even though I finished outside the results, I came away with a good idea on where my form is, especially as I begin my prep for Sea Otter and the Colorado Springs Pro XCT. My brother has also just arrived in the States, so I look forward to getting to catch up and hang out with him!!

Pro XCT 1 - Mellow Johnny's

The first round of the Pro XCT (formerly known as the NORBA series) was held down in Dripping Springs, TX. Pua Mata and myself made a somewhat eventful trip down to Texas on Monday, 27 Feb. To start things off, around 2hrs into the trip, the turbo on the Sprinter van blew. This resulted in us crawling down the freeway with Trucks rolling by us as if we were standing still. Then came the long wait once we had found a dealership to replace the part. 6hrs later we eventually rolled out of Redlands and began to make some serious progress on the road, but this too was short lived. Rain began to pelt down, then came some snow, then came wind storms, then came sand storms, then came sand storms with rain, it was absolutely crazy! After a brutal day on the road, we pulled into a hotel for the night, got some rest and hit the road first thing the next morning. The next day and a half of driving went by pretty smoothly and we eventually rolled into our accommodation in Dripping Springs.

Over the course of the next few days I put some time in on the new S-Works Epic 29 from Specialized. A few slight changes to the 2012 line up means the bike is lighter and stiffer, trust Specialized to better an already amazing bicycle!

The Epic rolled over the super technical terrain with ease, which left me in a really positive and quietly confident state of mind as race day was fast approaching. With Friday being the final day of practice before Saturday afternoons Pro Mens event, it would be my final opportunity to dial in the rocky, technical terrain. I burnt a couple laps out early on in the day before heading back to our house to kick my feet up for the remainder of the day. Dinner time rolled around, which presented a pretty surreal situation. Ben and Eric Bostrom (Team Sho-Air team mates), two motorcycle legends that both my brother and I had spoken about when we were kids, made the entire team a delicious pasta dinner. I also got to hang out and hear some of the stories from the Boz Bros early days of racing.

A good nights rest and a late sleep in left me feeling super rested going into race day. With close on 80 riders I was a little nervous to see where I'd actually be called up. Ty, Team Sho-Air manager, soon learnt that I was seeded 41st, which put me on the 5th or 6th row, and with a course as tight and twisty as this, my work was definitely going to be cut out for me. Another huge factor that was looming in the air, was the fact that this race was going to be an Olympic Qualifying event for both the Americans and Canadians, meaning all the top guns would be here. Max Plaxton, Todd Wells, Geoff Kabush, Jeremiah Bishop, Sam Schultz, JHK, Spenser Paxson, you name them, the best riders in North America were there!

The start was mayhem and utter carnage. We sprinted our way towards the first single track, which was only a few hundred meters down the road, causing massive bottle- necking, allowing the riders at the front of the pack to get away and put in an almost impossible gap to close back down. I was able to work my way up into 25th after the start loop, and so my battle to get to the front end of the race began. By the end of the 1st lap I had moved up to 18th and I was still reeling in riders. I made passes wherever possible, sometimes aggressive, sometimes upsetting the applecart in the process, but it was the only efficient way of me working my way up through the field. By the third lap I was up to 12th with a group of 7 ahead of me.I made a push to get onto the group, when I eventually latched onto the group, I was surprised to see the likes of JHK and Spenser Paxson as well as Ryan Woodall and Russel Fintsterwald all in the group. I then got news that Sam Schultz and Jeremiah Bishop were a couple seconds up ahead of the road. JHK launched an attack shortly after I caught onto the group, leaving the rest of us to battle it out in the dust. Going into the final lap I was sitting around 8th, but a hard charging Adam Craig put me into 9th shortly after. Then came a series of attacks from myself and Spenser Paxson (Jamis Factory), this catapulted us off the front of the group and resulted in us battling it out as we were approaching the finish line at a rapid rate of knots. Spenser managed to open a gap in the final single track after I made a silly mistake, but I was able to recover and regained contact as we popped onto the finishing straight. He started his sprint early, I countered and began to reel him in and started to come around him, but I simply had left it too late. I ended up 10th Pro and 1st u23 after one of the hardest and most epic days on my bike ever! one major confidence booster for me was the fact that every rider that finished ahead of me is an Olympic hopeful for 2012, so Im insanely happy with my ride.

Tucked in behind a Kenda/Felt rider, B.Boz on my wheel. (right side)

Spenser Paxson and I battling it out.

charging on the last lap.

A huge thanks needs to go out to everyone from Team Sho-Air/Specialized. Ty Kady had the tech/feed zone dialed, Johnny Muller was the best supporter out of anyone, hands down! Ben and Eric Bostrom taught me a lot, and who better to take lesson from!!?? Pua rode an amazing race, going from 16th to 3rd in the Pro Women's race. I have no doubt he would have won had she started in the front...

Stay tuned for the Bonelli Pro XCT post coming shortly!

B