Last weekend was the first round of the New Zealand Cup so it was a good test to see what form the legs and body had.
On the trip down it was raining and the course was very wet. Each lap demanded a very steep climb up the hill (that proved quite a struggle to maintain traction in practice even with mud tyres on!) and a neat downhill through the trees to complete a lap – simple, well that’s what I thought…
Race day came around and the climb had dried up as the sun managed to come out. I still opted to leave my muds on as the downhill was still very wet. I was actually looking forward to the downhill each lap as I was having a ball during my practice but after the morning race the track had cut up big time. Even with muds on it was still full on!
The race went well for the first couple of laps, I felt comfortable on the first lap not smashing myself and even put a gap on the Top Australian riders that came down by the top of the hill. On the first downhill I came up behind Dirk and noticed he had a wee miss-shape on the track. I got a bit off the ball here and had a crash and had to dive at a tree to save my fall! Somehow each lap I crashed at exactly the same spot! So after the first few laps I lost a bit of time due to my crashes and unfortunately my bike setup was not appropriate with the demanding climb and I destroyed my legs. It became quite a grind in a 34tooth front ring when the other riders were in there 26tooth small rings!
I still managed to come in 5th Elite (3rd Nzer) which looking back isn’t too bad when I know I had the measure off the Top Australians if I had held it together. Roll on Round 2 Living Springs!!!
On the trip down it was raining and the course was very wet. Each lap demanded a very steep climb up the hill (that proved quite a struggle to maintain traction in practice even with mud tyres on!) and a neat downhill through the trees to complete a lap – simple, well that’s what I thought…
Race day came around and the climb had dried up as the sun managed to come out. I still opted to leave my muds on as the downhill was still very wet. I was actually looking forward to the downhill each lap as I was having a ball during my practice but after the morning race the track had cut up big time. Even with muds on it was still full on!
The race went well for the first couple of laps, I felt comfortable on the first lap not smashing myself and even put a gap on the Top Australian riders that came down by the top of the hill. On the first downhill I came up behind Dirk and noticed he had a wee miss-shape on the track. I got a bit off the ball here and had a crash and had to dive at a tree to save my fall! Somehow each lap I crashed at exactly the same spot! So after the first few laps I lost a bit of time due to my crashes and unfortunately my bike setup was not appropriate with the demanding climb and I destroyed my legs. It became quite a grind in a 34tooth front ring when the other riders were in there 26tooth small rings!
I still managed to come in 5th Elite (3rd Nzer) which looking back isn’t too bad when I know I had the measure off the Top Australians if I had held it together. Roll on Round 2 Living Springs!!!
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