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.