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!