SA DHI National #2 - Pretoria - 15 April 2012

After seeing some helmet cam footage of the 139 Track in Pretoria I wasn't too sure that the track was going to be any good. The video didn't do the track justice because it was such an awesome, fun track. I walked and rode the track on Friday and I enjoyed it the more I rode. Leading up to the event I wasn't feeling that great. I had a throat infection which caused my chest to tighten, and after only a couple of runs on Friday I had no energy so I called it a day.

Saturday's practice went really well. I got all of the jumps dialled and I finalised all of my lines. I didn't want to stop doing runs because I was having so much fun on the bike, but I had to conserve as much energy as I could for my race run the next day.

I did two runs on Sunday before my seeding run. I felt awesome on the bike so I sat back and re hydrated with some GU Brew. My seeding run felt good. I was seeded second fastest overall behind fellow Junior rider Tiaan Odendaal.

My chest was feeling a bit tight before my race run but I put that out of my head and focused on my run. I pedaled hard on the top section and felt smooth through the middle sections. When it came to the bottom section I really pushed on the flat bit. I made a slight mistake on the final corner and nearly lost the front wheel but I managed to recover. This set me up slower for the final straight. I crossed the finish line in a time of 2:09.67 which placed me in 2nd Overall and 2nd Junior. This was definitely my best result of the year, and I hope that this is just the beginning of it. Congrats to Tiaan on an absolutely awesome ride for 1st place. I am super stoked with 2nd.

A huge thanks must go out to Patrick Morewood for helping me out with my suspension set up. Its great to work with such a knowledgeable and passionate person. Thanks to everyone at Team Jeep for all of their support and to GU Energy for all of their nutritional support! Lastly thanks to Marnus Swanepoel and the event oranisers for putting together an awesome track and a good event. Looking forward to the next one for sure!

Overall Podium

KZN Provincial #2 - Worlds View - 1 April 2012

The Worlds View race is always awesome. This year, my good friend Shane Martin decided to rebuild the old track with some nice new changes. We really worked hard on the track, and the entire thing was handmade. The  finished product was a fun, challenging track that everyone would enjoy.

Saturday poured with rain, and so I put the full spike mud tires on the Morewood and got out all the wet weather gear. I woke up to sunshine on Sunday, but the track didn't dry out too much in the beginning of practice. My spare wheels had just been built up and so on my third practice run, all of the spokes came loose. I thought there was something wrong but I carried on riding, which was a mistake. M wheel was so loose and was flexing so much that when I hit the rock garden I lost control and did a complete 180 and nearly crashed. I put on my rear wheel that had my dry tire on and did another run. The track was so tacky that I ended up putting my dry wheel on the front as well.

My first race run went according to plan. I hit all my lines and got to the bottom in a time of 1min:45, which put me into 3rd place overall. I was really happy with that but I knew that I would have to step it up to hold onto that position.

My second run went pretty much the same, except I pedaled harder than before and I felt a bit quicker in some sections. I posted a time of 1min:43 and was super stoked with my run. I managed to keep 3rd overall and I couldn't have asked for a better result!

I finished 2nd Junior behind Tiaan Odendaal, who rode awesomely, and 3rd Overall behind Tiaan (1min:40) and Greg Minnaar(1min:37). It was super cool to have a world class rider such as him attending the race. It was a great weekend and I loved riding the track. The race organizers did a great job once again and a special thanks must go out to Adrenaline Cycles for all the pre-race bike prep.

Overall Podium

Junior Podium

2012 UCI DHI World Cup Round 1 - PMB - 18 March 2012

My favourite time of the year was back again! The vibe created by World Cup is one that no other event can match. It was such a nice surprise to be selected for the South African Federation team and to be told that I could ride, because I didn't expect it after my performance in Cape Town.

We had ridden the track the previous weekend so I knew it well, and didn't have to do too much practice. I still needed to clear both N3 tables and the huge hip at the end, Money Maker. I got the tables dialled in the first couple of runs during Thursdays practice. I decided to attempt money maker on my last run of the day, and it went smoothly so I was feeling confident on the track.

On Friday I did two practice runs and everything went according to plan. Qualifying runs started in the afternoon and so I sat in the car, relaxed, and listened to some good music. I headed up to the top with my mechanic (aka my brother Josh) who had my spare wheels with muds, in case the weather turned. Thankfully I didn't need them. Andre van Aarde also helped me so much at the top, and I am so grateful for all his help.

My qualies run was going really well right until I slipped a pedal and unclipped in between the first and second N3 tables, so I rode over the second table and got back on the gas for the pedal section. I finished my run strongly and felt good until the finish line.

I was so disappointed to hear that I wasn't fast enough to qualify for the final - top 80 men went through. I was even more bummed when I heard that I had missed qualifying by 2 seconds! I did a 4min:27 and the guy who was in 80th did a 4min:25. In the end I was 91st. The riders this year definitely stepped it up a lot from last year.

A huge thanks goes out to everybody who helped me out - Andre from Rush Sports, Adrenaline Cycles, Pat Morewood for my suspension set up, Mark Hopkins from cSixx for letting us pit with them, Conrad Davies for his help and to everyone from Team Jeep South Africa. I had so much fun and it was such a great experience.