SA DHI National Championships - Mankele - 22 July 2012

With Mankele being steep, technical, and rocky all tied together with lots of tight turns, I had set my sights on this race since the beginning of the year.

There was a mad scramble to get my bike sorted out the night before we left, with my practice wheelset only being built up the day before we left. However we managed to hit the road very early on Thursday, and we got to the track at around lunchtime. Track walk really got me amped to ride. The track was everything I had hoped for and more! 

Fridays practice was full of surprises - first of all I was surprised with how loose it was and secondly I was surprised at how sore my arms were at the bottom. Saturdays practice was even harder with the corners getting more blown out. The track was shredding tires as well as riders elbows with lots of guys getting some mean roasties from the loose gravel.

 I felt good on race day and was looking forward to seeing how my time stacked up against the other riders. I was on a good one in seeding until I came into a 180 degree corner too hot and I went down. I hopped straight back onto my bike and finished the run well. I was stoked to see that I was seeded 5th.

A luck would have it, as I got into the start gate for my race run, my nose began to bleed. I was putting pressure on it right until the last few seconds. If anything, this got me more pumped up. I cranked it out the start gate. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, covered in roasties and dust. As I looked back at the wooden berm, I saw the big hole where my front wheel had disappeared into after it broke as I hit it. The picture speaks for itself. I carried on my run but my head was out of it and I had a few more incidents on the way down. I ran the last part of the course and and managed to at least cross the line. I was offered a re run due to the course giving way under me, but with the state of my body, and World Champs to look forward to, I decided against it. I was super disappointed as I was hoping for a good result to end off the SA season. 

I have moved on from it though, and am focused on preparing for World Champs in Austria in September. Big thanks to the guys from Jeep who helped out! Very lucky to have such awesome people behind me.

A closer look

KZN Provincial #4 - Giba - 8 July 2012

With SA Champs just around the corner the last of the provincial series wasn't at the top of my priority list. However I did well on the track last year and so I was keen to race it. My brother and I went down on Saturday to check out the track and get some runs in. The track was super loose and in some sections it was like riding on the beach. I can't say I had too much fun that day.

My prayers were answered on Saturday night when the track received some needed moisture. I did a couple of runs on a much better feeling track and actually enjoyed myself. There was a pretty sketchy line that I tried on one run, but after that, my better judgement took over and I chose not to do it because of the risk factor.

My first race run was fun. I enjoyed myself the whole way down and I had the 3rd fastest time. My second run went pretty much the same although the track was a bit drier. I improved on my first time by about half a second. Finished up 2nd Junior and 3rd overall. My goal for the weekend was to finish the race safely and come out 100% healthy. Getting the result I did is just a bonus so I am stoked. The provincial series has really been a lot of fun this year and I am stoked to see the increase in riders and the growth of DH on KZN.

National Series Wrap-Up

With all four of the national series completed I am super stoked to finish in 4th overall and 2nd Junior on points. The only race left is National Champs in Mankele later this month. I can't thank everyone who has helped me out during these races. Special thanks to Team Jeep for all their help and support! Couldn't do it without them.

SA DHI National #4 - Worlds View - 24 June 2012

The last time we rode the Worlds View track I was really stoked with my result and with a whole new section added to the bottom, I couldn't wait to get the weekends racing underway. This was the last national of the series and I wanted to get as many points as possible.

The event had very efficient shuttles running, so I was exploiting this by getting in as many runs as I could during Fridays practice. Come Saturday morning, I was super confident on the track and I didn't really have to look at many new lines. I spent most of Saturday doing runs with my good friends, helping my younger brother (first race on a DH bike) get his lines dialled and having tons of fun while doing all of this.

I have yet to race at Worlds View when it hasn't rained. Lots of rain on Saturday night made the first run on Sunday a little bit slippery, and I was only planning on doing 1 practice run, but I was enjoying myself too much to limit it to that. As luck would have it, I had my first and only experience with the ground that weekend, on my second practice run. It was merely a slide out and so after some food, a change of kit and a good warm up, I was ready for my seeding run. I had one of the wildest rides of my life. I sent it far too big of the rock drop at the beginning which set the tone for the rest of my wild ride to the bottom. I was all over the track which isn't how I usually like to ride. I managed to be seeded 4th overall which I stoked with.

I calmed myself down after that seeding run and was soon ready to do my race run. In the start I overheard that fellow Junior, Adi Van der Merwe, had posted the fastest time of 2min:30sec. I knew I would have to push it to beat his time and I absolutely cranked it on the peddling section after I had got through all of the technical sections cleanly. I was super stoked to find out that I had set the fastest time with a 2min:29sec. I ended up finishing 3rd overall behind Jonty Neethling and Tiaan Odendaal. 

Huge thanks to everyone involved!

KZN Provincial #3 - Rico's - 10 June 2012

My weekend didn't get off to a great start, when I trashed my rear wheel on my first run down the track. I managed to hit a very solid stump while rolling down, and scouting out the track. After a quick drive home and a wheel change that a F1 team would be proud of, I was back on the track busting out some runs.

The shuttle was super quick and so I did quite a few runs, not because I was trying new lines or anything, but because I just love being on the bike. The jumps weren't huge and there weren't tech sections, but it flowed really well and was good fun to ride.

A lot of water was dumped from the sky on Saturday night and didn't affect the dry sections very much. However, the small forest section became very slippery and managed to claim a few riders on their first runs. I also had a nice slide on the dirt in the first corner, when my sneaky inside line on the grass turned out to be slicker than expected.

My first race run was good. All went according to plan, and I had a clean run. I was in the top 5 and was happy with that. I was feeling good at the top while waiting for my second run because I knew I had more in the tank and I knew where to try and push harder. I had a great run which was a couple of seconds faster than the previous one. I finished in 4th overall, with less than half a second between myself and 2nd place and a mere 0.01 sec off 3rd. I was 2nd fastest Junior on the day. Really stoked with how well our provincial series races have been run this year and I hope this efficiency and great event co-ordination will continue into the future.