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!!
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