Since the Bonelli Pro XCT a couple weeks ago, I took an easy "recovery" week and went straight into my preparation for the upcoming Sea Otter Classic. In the midst of my hard block of training, the annual Fontana City National XCO was run.
With my brother having just arrived from South Africa to visit, I was keen to put on a good show. But racing on tired legs meant that the racing was just going to be that much more difficult. Sunday came around, warm and sunny, it seemed that it would be the perfect day for some racing. That was until the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and the rain began to pelt down. The early races managed to make the most of the beautiful early morning weather, but by the time the Pro Men's field was lining up later in the afternoon, the temperature dropped and the rain started to spit.
I made my move off the start, and attacked the first of four brutal laps as hard as I could. On a course with 700-800ft of steep, technical climbing as well as tons of technical descending, I felt that riding the climbs hard would allow me to get a gap before we hit the descents. So the plan was to attack hard, and that's exactly what I did. By the end of the first major climb I had managed to open a gap of around 20seconds and decided to change my tactics up little. I would now be riding the climbs as hard as possible and reserving myself on the descents, keeping myself safe and out of trouble. As I approached the end of the first lap I lost control through a very fast sandy descent and went down like a home-sick mole. Dazed, confused and winded, I tried jumping back to my feet to remount my bike, but fell over gain, I guess I hit my head REALLY hard. Second place rider, Drew Edsall (Kenda/Felt Racing team) came by and thankfully stopped to make sure I was ok, I had fortunately regained some composure and decided to try carry on with the racing.
Going into lap 2 my head still felt a little dizzy, but that aside, I decided to get on with the task at hand. I attacked Drew on the same climb as I had the previous lap and managed to open up another gap. By the end of lap 2 I had a 40seconds gap, and continued to push the pace as I went into the penultimate lap, however, the heavens opened and the rain began to beat down on the rocky terrain. I rode the lap smoothly and made sure not to throw it away as the technical granite sections began to get a little more slick. Although I had taken the third lap a little more cautiously I had managed to extend my lead over the minute mark. I was now heading out into the final lap, and to my surprise, the course was surprisingly grippy. The only mishap was a couple of back markers in the latter stage of the lap which resulted in a couple of awkward/hairy situations while trying to make a pass, but everything went off perfectly and without a hitch. I crossed the line with the win, around 1min40 up on Drew. What made this win so much more special is the fact that it is my first Professional win... A HUGE thank to both Specialized and the entire Sho-Air team, my bike was absolutely awesome and the set up and backing from the team was insane! My brother did an amazing job feeding and supporting and I know that my parents were routing for me all the way back in South Africa! Thanks to everyone for all the insane support, it really means the world to me.
Now comes the final prep for Sea Otter... THE BIG ONE!
No comments:
Post a Comment