IXS European Cup #4 - Wiriehorn

After two consecutive races with mechanicals, all I was hoping for going into Wiriehorn was to have a clean race run. Straight after Ilmenau we went to Christian Textor's place. Christian is a good friend and top German rider, and has some really good riding right in his area. We got to ride some dirt jumps, do some flips into a foam pit, shred pump track and send some massive downhill jumps. After a week of riding almost every type of bike, it was time to get back into race mode for Wiriehorn.

After my pedal mishap in Ilmenau, I decided to change pedals. I was really battling to stay clipped in during practice on Friday and Saturday. I thought it was just because I wasn't used to the pedals yet, but after I uncleated a number of times, one time right before a big jump, during my seeding run, I had to change something. I put new cleats on my shoes that evening, and straight away felt better during Sundays practice - I still don't know what the problem was with the other cleats because they were also brand new. My seeding run obviously wasn't that good due to all of my problems. I seeded 38th.

My practice runs on Sunday went a lot better because I actually felt confident that my feet would stay on the pedals. I didn't make any costly mistakes during my finals run, but as I rode sections I knew that I should and could be hitting them faster. As a whole I had a very mediocre run, which reflected in my result. I finished 37th which is far from what I was hoping for. I think spending some time is Morzine, just riding, chilling and training will really do me some good as I have been getting pretty frustrated with all of my bad luck with regard to mechanicals and my race run in Wiriehorn.

I am really looking forward to tackling my last 4 races here the best I can.

IXS German Cup - Ilmenau

German Cups always seem have the craziest crowds, but Ilmenau fans were on another level. After switching accommodation on Friday morning because the place we booked wasn't what we expected, we got practicing straight away. The track was pretty flat and you needed to pump a lot for speed. It got more difficult as practice went on, with the turns getting more blown out as hundreds of riders came through.

An unexpected rain shower, right before seeding on Saturday, didn't affect the track as much as expected and the track was pretty much dry for most of my run. I had an alright run in seeding, but made a couple of costly mistakes which reflected in my time - I seeded 27th.

The next day I finalised my lines, and got ready for my race run. My bike was prepped and I was ready to go. I had a good start, but managed to make a small mistake in one of the turns up top, but I quickly got back into the swing of things. About half way down, my pedal snapped off at the spindle and sent me over the bars. After that, I rode down to the bottom of the track on one pedal and seat bounced most of the bumps to the bottom. I couldn't believe my luck. This was my second race in a row affected by a mechanical, which isn't ideal. Hoping my luck will change soon!

IXS European DH Cup #3 - Pila

I had heard so many good things about the Pila/Aosta area, leading up to the race, that I had high expectations about the riding. When we arrived, I took a little evening jog up the race track, and it looked awesome.  After the first day, I can safely say it didn't disappoint. The race track was really fun, but the really good riding was the long 13km DH trail from Pila down to Aosta. 

The first day of practice on Friday went really well. I learnt the track pretty quickly, and managed to get most of my lines dialled in. The track was was loose and dusty, but all of that changed on Saturday afternoon right before the Elite men's seeding runs. The weather turned so suddenly and a massive hail storm with extreme wind forced race organisers to postpone the seeding runs to sunday. In the mean time I was getting soaked while trying hold our pits down and stop them from blowing off the mountain.
After drying and cleaning my kit, even though I didn't even ride, I prepared for sunday.

The weather was beautiful on race day, and the track was drying out as the day went on. The first run or two down the track was a bit sketchy in the rocks and on the roots, but it got better each run. My seeding run didn't go as well as I had hoped, and I made a few mistakes. I also didn't push that hard in the pedal sections, because I knew that my race run was coming up next and I wanted to be fresh for that. I seeded 30th.

The top section of my race run was going a lot better than seeding and I was feeling really good until one of the wooded sections where I felt something go wrong with my rear end. I also couldn't really pedal, and I thought that my derailleur had snapped off and gone into my spokes. I slowed down a lot so that I could have a look and see what the problem was. I looked and couldn't see a problem although I knew something was wrong. I carried on to the bottom, pumping where I could and still attempting to put some pedal strokes in. I crossed the line in 50th, 14 seconds off the win. I then worked out that problem was a spoke from the left side of my rear wheel, which snapped and somehow wrapped itself around my cassette, under my chain. I am super disappointed that my result didn't get to reflect the way I felt I was riding, but a mechanical is out of my control. 

Although the race didn't go according to plan, I had the best week of riding in Europe so far on the trails in the area. We even stayed 3 days longer to do more riding. Ilmenau is next, for a round of the IXS German Cup. 

UCI World Cup #3 - Vallnord, Andorra - 28 July

The Andorra World Cup track definitely lives up to the stories that I heard before coming here. Things like "it's one of the steepest track around" and "bring your brakes" come to mind, and after walking the tack on Wednesday afternoon, I have to agree with what was said. The track is very interesting and starts off pretty mellow at the top, with a few off-camber sections, and some bridges over the roads. It gradually gets steeper and more technical, until the bottom third, where it just gets ridiculously steep and tough to ride. I suppose you know its a gnalry track when Sam Hill describes it as "the best downhill track he has ever seen" after track walk.

I was really excited to start riding the track after raising my front end a bit more to make the steeper sections a little easier. Missing out on some of the national races back at home at the beginning of the year due to my shoulder injury, I don't have enough UCI points to part of A group practice, which is the top 150 elite men based on UCI rankings. So basically my first day of practice was spent just trying to learn where the track went, because the lines only form properly after A groups practice. I managed to get a few runs in, and in my last one, I slipped out and dug my shoulder into the ground. The bottom of the track was still pretty muddy and slippery from a storm a few days before, but gradually started to dry out as the day progressed. I walked the track again, later that afternoon, and was pretty surprised and how the lines had formed and changed. I scoped out a few new lines and went home to ice the shoulder and prep my bike for qualies the next day.

I was up early for start of practice because I had quite a few things that I wanted to try on track before my qualification run. The track was a lot drier but I still decided to keep my full spikes on just so that I could have as much traction as possible. I managed to get 3 runs in, and then the five and a half hour wait for my qualy run began. I sat in the van trying to pass the time a bit but I just wanted to get out there and do my run. 

Finally it was time to start warming up, and before I knew it I was in the start gate. A slip of my gears right out of the start gate didn't help much but I was soon back on it and pedalling as hard as I could up top. I was feeling good, not as as good as I felt during some practice runs, but a loose rock or two  just before the open section caught me off guard and I went down hard in a cloud of dust. I got back on my bike as soon as I could, and when I got the chance I hit my brake levers straighter, so that I could at least ride to the finish. I ended up having another crash, this time less high speed, as my brake levers were not where they were supposed to be. 

I am very disappointed with how my qualification run turned out because I really wanted to qualify at this track. I was really beginning to enjoy myself on track and I would have loved to make it to finals on Sunday. Sometimes things just don't go according to plan I guess. Its onto Pila next week and I am really looking forward to that one.