Greg Minnaar/Mongoose DH Series #5- Giba Gorge - 10 July 2011

The final provincial race of the year was held at Giba Gorge bikepark. It was rather sad to be finishing off the 2011 Mongoose/Greg Minnaar series, which has been so much fun. The Giba Gorge track was so much fun, and I was absolutely loving riding it! The track was relatively straight forward, with some sneaky lines all the way to the bottom. I had gone the day before the race with some other Maritzburg riders to practise the track. The runs I did went well and I was enjoying spending time on the Morewood.

While lying in bed the night before, I suddenly thought about a new line that my team mate and I hadn't thought of. As I arrived at Giba Gorge on race day we walked up the track to check this line out. From the looks of things, it was faster than our previous one. I headed up for a few practise runs to get the track dialled, and to try out the new line. It was faster, so I did a few more runs. On my last practise run, a mate of mine showed us a few more good lines which helped in the race runs.

My first race run started off really well and I had the top section pinned. I had a good middle section, and finished off strongly on the last section. I managed to string my lines together nicely and I was super happy to find out I was in the hotseat after my run. After being there for a couple of riders, Tiaan Odendaal finished his run with a faster time than mine, kicking me off the hotseat. My first run's time put me in second junior amd third overall.

I was hoping to improve my time in the second run and I was well on my way to doing that after feeling quite a bit faster on the top section. I ended up having a little crash as I tried to hop onto the rocks to get into my line. My back wheel washed out and I rag dolled on the rocks.I was sore and winded so I pulled off the track to make sure the other riders didn't get held up by me. I slowly made my way to the bottom pulling off for riders, including my team mate who came flying past me. My wrist and injured knee were in a bit of pain.  My first run's time obviously stood.

I was really stoked with my result. I finished 2nd in juniors and tied for 3rd overall with Jono Philogene. This was my first time finishing on the podium for overall. A huge thanks needs to go out to Morne Odendaal, Nigel Hicks and everyone one else who put together this absolutely amazing provincial season! I enjoyed it so much. Andre from Rush Sports and Adrenaline cycles helped so much, so a thank you goes out to those guys.