After a long drive though the border into Canada it was an exciting time as I was to prepare for the biggest race of year - The World Mountain Bike Champs!!!
Like last year where I got to race in the World Champs Team Relay I got this opportunity again and thought it was a good time to see the track at full on race pace. After pre riding the course it had quite a good feeling about it and with a range of technical sections, short power climbs and tricky rooty forest sections it provided an ultimate XCO race track! The first race was Wednesday competing in the Teams Relay - it was a very hot day! After training through the Winter here in New Zealand it was certainly a shock to the system and the heat got to me on the steep power climbs. I felt like I could have definitely gone faster if I was more used to the hot weather but this was all good preparation for Friday!
After a couple of easy laps Thursday I was ready Friday morning to set off to the venue and warm up for my big race. I started a few rows back from the front in 34th(?) position and had a pretty good start entering the single track not wasting myself too much up the first climb however it was still mayhem pulling apart bikes from bikes to run along the track through the bottle neck of riders. Throughout the race I picked riders off and on the last lap was chasing down a group of about 4 riders. I managed to stuff up a couple of lines in the forest and chased hard to end finishing in 32nd place not far behind the group of riders in front of me. I rode a very consistent race and was pretty happy with my race but as always I would have liked to have done a bit better!
Overall it was a well worth experience and I am happy with how I raced - looking forward to the next season after a break!
I would like to say a special thanks to my sponsor Cycleways, my family, friends and parents and to all my support out there helping me out!
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