Going into the weekend I wasn't quite sure how I was going to take to not being able to race with the confidence or ability that I was used to having. I decided to take things as they come which was the only way to do it in my opinion. Leading up to the weekend I had Stefan Garlicki and Adi Van der Merwe staying with me, which was good as we got some planning done for the European racing season, where we will be travelling together.
I wasn't feeling quite at home on the bike during Fridays practice runs, but started to feel slightly better during Saturday and I ended up having a ton of fun in the slippery mud of Cascades. Heavy rain on Saturday night made the race track unbelievably slippery on Sunday morning. We were on a bit of a tight schedule and so after one practice run,] and struggling to find grip on the track, we went straight into seeding runs.
I, along with almost all of the other riders, had a slide out during my seeding run but I was pretty pleased with being seeded 11th after a very mediocre run. I had no expectations going into my race run which was a good thing because a pretty big crash left me winded on the side of the track for a while as the clock ticked away. When I got my breath back, I finished my run. At the end of the day my result on paper was not great at all, but looking back at the weekend, I see it as a win, with my shoulder surviving a big crash and me making it out of those conditions alive. I am really looking forward to what this year has in store. Will keep you posted.