Saturday, August 20, 2011

Italy World Cup Round

The Italian World Cup Race was the final round of the UCI World Cup. The course was steep, hard and fast that involved some solid short climbs mixed with some neat wee downhills that kept you on your toes and eyes wide open.



During the week I had a serious problem to sort with my bike. I had a cracked frame on my hands, this was also the case in the Czech WC race last weekend which I found out the day before. With the help of dad back home he was able to communicate to the Trek Reps and with the expertise and professional business that Trek represents I had a frame couriered to me over night! I can’t thank the Trek Family and everyone involved enough as this weekend’s race was going to be good – no dodgy frame on the back of my mind.



During practice the days were very hot! But luckily our race was at 9am so while the sun was out shining it certainly wasn’t as bad as what the Elites had to deal with in the afternoon..



My race went pretty well – I was pleased with how I rode especially after a chaotic first lap! There were about three sections where I had to get off my bike (along with many others) as all it takes is one muppet to make a mistake and the rest of the field pays the price while the riders in front simply ride ahead! So while I would have lost over a minute just like that on the first lap with all the bottlenecking once this was over I started to make some solid momentum. The first main climb up the open grass was one of the sections I rode very strong. Most riders’ small ringed it up here but I smacked it up in the big ring and passed a lot of riders and was improving my position.



The race was a 5 lap race and on my second to last lap the legs were starting to feel it after I had been attacking most of the race. I knew the last lap was going to be a bit of a “well here we go!” but after a couple of climbs and some sketchy down hills with the concentrations levels dropping, I was back over the line with very little left in the tank. I finished 61st out of roughly 100 riders.



After last weekend performance I am very proud of the way I rode, as mentally I was positive the whole race and remembered a couple of quotes and words “pain is temporary, winning is forever!” and “attack attack attack!”. For myself today I won my own race and the biggest thing was overcoming the lows of racing such as last weekend but as for today it was a huge turnaround physically but mostly mentally. With just under 2 weeks of training left till World Champs in Champery I am looking forward to a solid result and will be aiming for a top 50 as a first year under 23 of 4 years.



Big thanks to Mum and Dad back home and to the Trek family for getting me a new frame in no time. Also to Mark Wallace-Bell for the mental side of things and to my coach for a bit of a motivation kick also! Thanks to all my support back in NZ also – the motivating emails and messages really do help!



As for me now, time to knuckle down into my last couple of weeks of training, I have a Swiss Bike Trophy race on Thursday night on a street course and after that am off to World Champs. Time for me to keep on attacking!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Czech World Cup 2011

We arrived to our accommodation in Czech on the Wendesday night after a solid couple of weeks training up in the hills of Fanas, Switzerland. I was looking forward to our first race and being able to see where my fitness level and speed was against the top competition. It was also fantastic to be able to ride some proper single trail and get amongst the World Cup atmosphere!

The course was a fast and overall a good amount of technicle trails. Throughout the practice days it cut up and rutted and there were quite a few roots to look out for.. It had a couple of exciting spectator sections over rock obstacles and one section called the Gigantic drop which was actually easily ridable on the big 29er wheels!

The night before the race there was rain forcasted.. This started to make me a bit nervous as with all the roots and ruts it would have got rather dicey but the rain was short lasted and my Kenda Karmas were almost perfect for the job.

After a good warm up I was called up to the line in 58th and was still rather happy with my start position considering I didnt get to secure my 3rd place in the Oceanias which the UCI points help with starting positions.
Before I had a moment to relax we were off and boy was it fast! I was stuck right in the middle of the bunch and started to loose my nerve a little bit when a couple riders beside me collided so she was all go as you would expect!
The start loop was fast, hard and intense. I went good up the first climb but the legs were a bit shy to give out serious power so it was a slow first downhill amongst the caos and cluster of riders.
First proper lap and I started to fall behind the main group of riders in the field. I kept trying to smack it but after just coming out of a cold New Zealand Winter the intensity was a huge shock to the body.
Second lap came around and I ended up crashing after getting off-line through a rock garden. After this I had lost quite a bit of time but I kept moving on until I got pulled 65 out of 86 starters.

So now it is time to refresh and refocus and get motivated to complete a successful race in Italy next weekend to get a solid result.

On the positive side of things well done to Anton for a awesome race winning the Under 19's and to Mat for finishing a fantastic 13th!