We arrived two nights out from the race driving through rain and I thought it might be a good case of putting the muds on before I had ridden the track. I waited until the next day and was suprised when the course was super fast and tacky as it had been quite dry recently and the rain had hardly left a puddle.
I really enjoyed the track. It was not super hilly but was very fast and still had a couple of neat downhills but was just a fun track to blast around - perfect for a first hit to blow the cobwebs out and shake off the jetlag!
I started on the front row of the Elite mens race which was a six lap trace. It was a very cool feeling starting a race like that alongside a few of the pro`s. My start went well and I just held my own sitting off the line within the top 10. I quickly thought otherwise to running my dry set up (Maxxis Aspens) tyres as soon as I hit the singletrack but that was the setup I had on and so be it (although the Maxxis Beavers were looking quite inviting!) I managed to hold a very good position for the first and second laps but got passed by a couple of riders throughout the race.
Each time we completed a lap the course was cutting up more and more but I held it together and kept upright and smooth. Think the big wheels made life a bit easier on a course like this!
The final laps saw a solid push for the line, the legs had been working hard and I finished in the Elite men in 14th position and 5th Under 23.
Overall pretty pleased with that result for the first race. This weekend I have the Raid race which should be fun, more of a point to point rather than a circuit but all good training. The World Cups are in just under 3 weeks time and are looking very exciting!
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