UCI World Cup Round 1 - Peitermaritzburg 22 April 2011

The UCI MTB World Cup had finally arrived, and with it, an excitement I had never had before. This was my first experience at riding in an international event alongside some of my heros of the sport. The weather had been looking good the whole week and was no different on the weekend. The sun was shining, and the track was dry. The course walk on Wednesday went well, and I managed to find a few good lines.

Thursdays practice started off rather early for me, because the top 80 had timed practice runs in the afternoon, so I did as much riding as I could in the morning. I had a few good runs, and I was feeling  rather good on the track. The Morewood Kalula was abolutely perfect, and it felt so good! I went home that evening, and prepared myself for Qualifiers the next day.

Friday morning  couldn`t have come sooner. I managed to get one or two runs in, just to see what the course was looking like. Everything seemed to be the same, I felt good and I refuelled myself. The shuttle ride to the top felt so long. The sound of stationary trainers, as riders warmed up, was all over. I waited until about 15 minutes until my run to start my warm up.

My run started off well, and I was feeling good on the top section. I started to feel tired just before the peadally section. The timing couldn`t have been worse! I pushed down on my pedals as hard as I could, and as I entered the lower section of the track I was battling to hold on. I crossed the finishing line, not knowing whether my time would be in the top 80, resulting in me qualifying. Unfortunately I didn`t have a good enough run, and my qualies time put me in 94th.

I obviously would have loved to race in the final on Sunday, but I am just so thankful to CSA for giving me the oppotunity to partake in the event. It was such an amazing experience. Big thanks to Andre for all the help with the bike.