With only a week until the first round of the UCI World Cup in Pietermaritzburg, and the first race of the SA National series being held on the world cup track, the race entries were overwhelmed by international riders. All of them wanting to get a chance to ride the track before the WC. This was the first time I had ever ridden alongside international riders of such a calibre, so my excitement levels were through the roof. I imagine that the other SA riders were very excited as well.
As usual, the week before, mother nature sabotaged another one of our DH races and gave us heavy rainfall. Friday`s practice was also ruined by rain, and I didn`t end up doing any practice runs. Saturday morning arrived, and brought the sun out with it. I took advantage of this and immediately loaded the Morewood onto a shuttle to do a run. Having Aaron Gwin join us the shuttle was a complete bonus. The track was still very sketchy after the rain, and the top sections seemed like they had not seen the sun. Cloud 9 and pebble beach were very slippery, but throught the day it got better, and I managed to do some solid practice runs. After a great day on the bike, I was really looking forward to the race. Just as I left Cascades, it started raining again.
Sunday morning was overcast, and due to safety reasons, the race organisers had been forced to start the race just above the N3 tables. During the seeding runs, it started pouring with rain, and did not stop. Some very lucky riders were able to do theirs before the rain, but my run started after about 45mins of constant rain, so the track was an absolute mud bath. I decided to just get to the bottom of the track, and not push too hard, and conserve my energy. This was a big mistake. My run definately wasn`t that great, and I couldnt even peddle into jumps to clear them because of the thick mud.
My seeding run seeded me in 4th in Junior. I rested up, had something to eat, and then got onto a shuttle. The rain hadn`t stopped yet, and so the driver had to do some rally driving to get us up to the top. I sat around in the rain and prepared for my race run. I had the energy, and the Morewood was all dialled in, ready to race. The starters were informed that the race had to be cancelled due to the fact that shuttles with some of the top riders couldnt make it up. Very disappointed, a couple of us rode down the track in one huge train. That was good fun.
We were unsure as to what would happen in terms of results. In the end it was decided that seeding run times would count. I wasnt very happy because I didnt have a great seeding run, and I knew that I could have do a much faster time.
Huge thank you to the race organisers, but especially to Grant from Adrenaline Cycles, and Andre from Rush Sports for their help.
