Perth National Round Race Report

By Rosie Barnes

Last weekend all four Swell-Redshift riders travelled to Perth for the opening round of the 2011-12 MTBA National Series. I think that most of us were pretty tired after some solid efforts at the previous weekend's Highland Fling, and probably weren't sure what to expect of ourselves at the season opener.

For me the Perth race was my first elite race in a really long time, and I was feeling pretty anxious about whether it was a good idea or not. I was completely unsure about how fit I was, as my training at the moment consists of only 3 days on the bike per week, in addition to a range of other things (like water polo, roller skiing, yoga), which I wasn't really sure would translate into form on the bike.

My new bike

I got a brand new bike (a fresh-off-the boat 2012 Felt Edict) the day before I left, and my practice laps on Friday were its first outing. The new bike is a whole lot lighter and more xc-appropriate than my Felt Virtue trail bike that I had been racing on, and about 10 seconds into my first practice lap I was appreciating the difference. The course started off with a Euro-steep climb up a dusty and rocky trail, before turning off onto a fast and loose winding descent. The course continued like that for 5.5km, alternating between steep and techy uphills and fast, technical descents.

Early in the women's race: Jenny Fay, Jody Willett, Jenni King, Rosie Barnes

The women raced on Saturday morning, which meant that we would get most of the race out of the way before it started heating up. It was a very small field, with just 6 elite women turning up on the start line. My plan was to take it very easy for the first half of the race, as I knew I would struggle with the distance and the heat. Luckily the pace was slow at the start, so I wasn't tempted to dig too deep off the line. Jenny Fay led up the first climb, and as we reached the top there was just a small gap between me and the top group (Fay, King and Willett). I quickly bridged the gap on the descent, and stayed in the group until Jenni and Jody went to the front on one of the short climbs about halfway through the lap, and pulled away. It turned out that these positions were to remain for the rest of the race, with gaps widening each lap. For the remainder of the first lap I stayed within eyesight of Jenny. She would pull away on the pedally sections, I would catch her during the more technical descents.

After the long climb at the end of the first lap/ start of the second I lost sight of Jenny, and basically rode around by myself for the last 4 laps. Judging from the large time gaps between all of us, I guess that this would have been pretty much the same for all the women, which is the consequence of such a small field, I suppose. Still, I was happy with how I rode, and surprised to be as close to the more serious women as I was. The final result was Jenni King 1st, then Jody Willett, Jenny Fay, then me in 4th, Sarah Holmes came in in 5th and Perth local Claire Garcia-Webb in 6th.

Me on the A-Klein descent

Next up for the day was the elite men's races. Swell-Redshift was represented by Andy Blair and Nick Both in the elite men, and Cam Ivory in the u23. I had struggled in the heat on my last couple of laps, and knowing that Andy "the Freck" Blair is capable of getting serious heat stroke at even 23 degrees, I was a bit concerned about how he would fare. Cam's dad, Mark, and I teamed up in the feed zone to give Andy a bidon of water to pour on himself in addition to one to drink to keep him as cool as possible. You can read Andy's race report here to get all the details, but basically Andy dominated the race from a couple of laps in and came away with his first ever, and much desired, national series win. I have never seen a bigger smile than his as he crossed the finish line.

Andy winning the men's - happiest man ever!

Nick was sitting in 4th place for most of the race, but was passed by a fast-finishing Ben Henderson with about a lap to go, which meant Nick finished in 5th, which is a great start to his season. In the u23, Cam finished in 4th place after passing Kyle Ward (who blew spectacularly after a really strong start) on the last lap. All 4 Swell-Redshift riders finished in the top 5, which was really great to see.

On the Sunday there were an additional 2 races as part of the inaugural "All Mountain Cup." The mini stage race format is a new concept for the 2011-12 National Series, and the Perth round acted as the guinea pig for the format. The day's racing was set to start at about 9am with the eliminator race. The course sent riders down a jumps and berms track before climbing back up the hill at the end. Every rider first did a time trial to gain seeding positions, and then there were heats of 4 with two riders progressing to the next round. The format was good in theory, but with so many separate races to run (e.g. 16 riders in a category means 16 time trials then 4 quarter finals, then 2 semis then the final) the race did drag out quite a lot. This was exacerbated by timing system problems. Still, it was an interesting race, and I imagine that any new format will have teething problems the first time it is introduced.

Cam smashing the eliminator time trial

Cam was amazing in the time trial, easily the fastest u23 rider, and in fact only beaten by Josh Carlson in the elite men. But he unfortunately crashed in the first round and got eliminated. Andy made the final in the elite men, finishing 4th. Nick and I were both eliminated in the early rounds.

The final race of the All Mountain Cup was a super D (basically a downhill race with more pedalling), which is a format that I absolutely adore. I have done a couple of these with my local club, CORC, and they are always heaps of fun. There wasn't a lot of opportunity to practice the course, and by Sunday afternoon I think everyone's energy and enthusiasm had reached a pretty low point. Still, I was really hoping to have a fast run, and the course was great fun, so I was looking forward to it. My run alternated pretty much 50/50 between complete spaz and awesome. I would take a few corners really well, but then take a stupid line over some rocks and nearly stack. I lost my chain at one point after a particularly unco attempt at the rocky A-Klein, but was able to get it back on without having to get off my bike. I was happy to finish second (despite what Cycling News says!) to Jenni King, whose fast run rounded out her hat trick of stage wins.

Nick rocks A-Klein

Cam also came second in the Super D, Nick was 6th and Andy 5th. All the major positions remained the same after the XC, which for the Swell-Redshift riders was Andy 1st, Nick 5th, Cam 4th and me 4th. There were double points awarded for the Perth round as an incentive to get riders to make the trip across the country, so all of us are looking good to have strong series results this year.

Men's overall podium, L-R: Henderson (4th), Carlson (3rd), Blair (1st), Taberlay (2nd), Both (5th)

Women's overall podium, L-R: Holmes (5th), Fay (3rd), King (1st), Willett (2nd), Barnes (4th)

I would like to thank Perth Mountain Bike Club for their efforts. It was such an awesome track, and I would love to see more like it in the future. I also want to thank Paul Aubrey and Tim and Jo Bennett for their hospitality and chauffeuring, and Mark Ivory for more driving and help in the feed zone.

Now it is quite a long break until the next national round, which is Mt Buller in late January. I really enjoyed the venue last time (except for the terrible weather), and I am looking forward to racing there again.

Thanks to Russ Baker for the photos!

Swell-Redshift Wins Cape to Cape MTB!

Swell riders Andy Blair and Nick Both recently returned from a successful trip the Cape to Cape MTB stage race in WA. Nick rode a solid race to finish in 12th and Andy took the win, here is Andy's race report:

The Cape to Cape MTB stage race takes competitors on a journey from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste in the Margaret River region of WA. The race has been growing in numbers since it's inception in 2008 and the 4th year attracted 800 riders that came for the 4 stages and 220km of singletrack, forest trails, dirt roads, beaches and road.

At only 40km, stage one from Cape Leuuwin was shortest but it was probably the hardest with a few solid climbs, plenty of sandy trails and a killer section of energy sapping beach.  Fortunately for me, it was one of those days when you just feel great.  On the first main climb at the 6km mark I went to the front to apply some pressure and hopefully cause and split.  It didn’t quite go to plan as I ended up off the front on my own, so I just pushed tempo and hoped that someone would jump across because I didn’t fancy 34km on my own.  I expected to be caught at any minute, but as the kilometres ticked by I started to think that maybe I should go for it and by the time I hit the beach I decided that I was 100% committed.  Despite being low tide, the sand on the beach was terrible.  It seemed to be like quicksand; sucking my tyres down and I felt like I was going so slow.  I started to panic that the bunch would come flying past at any moment and I just focused on keeping the power down & the momentum up, while constantly scanning for the hardest bit of sand which was sometimes in the salt water – sorry bike!  The remainder of the stage seemed to go on forever; the last few climbs seemed so tough but having now gambled so much energy on this stage I did not want to get caught. I pushed all the way to the finish line in Hamelin Bay to take the first stage, with a time gap back to Chris Jongeward, Craig Cooke & Jason English of 7 minutes!

 

Stage 2 started with predominately bush tracks and single track and finished with a very fast and open 2^nd half on dirt roads.  Predictably it was Chris J who was the main aggressor and he pushed the pace on all the narrow sections, I was super attentive and stuck to him like glue. After loosing time on the fist day he was riding with a kind of reckless abandon that makes him very dangerous; he is one of the best bike handlers normally, but when he rides like he has nothing to loose it is a sight to behold! As a result of Blood’s surging, the main group split and reformed several times, fortunately I was feeling good and able to keep contact.  The lead bunch swelled to 6 riders for the final 20km fast run in to the finish at Xanadu winery.  We all had a few digs to get away, but the day was destined to come down to a sprint where it was Hatto who out-foxed us all with Blood and Lewi 2^nd and 3^rd.

 

With 20kms of Margaret River’s best single track and the finish at Colonial Brewery, stage 3 was one of the most anticipated stages of the race.  The abandonment of Jongeward meant that it was English that assumed the role of pace maker for much of the first half of the race.  It was in the 2^nd half of the stage that things got serious with Peter Hatton making his intentions clear with several venomous attacks.  With 15km to go he managed to snap the elastic and get away solo with Craig Cooke and English dragging me along in a chase group.  With 6kms to go we hit a steady climb and I attacked Craig and Jason to set off in pursuit of Hatto, but it was too little to late.  Peter Hatton is a classy bike rider and when given a sniff of the finish line he is very hard to beat. He held on for a second consecutive stage victory, but more importantly took more time out of his rivals to move up the GC to 4^th. I came across alone in 2^nd with Craig Cooke popping English for 3^rd.

 

The final stage to Dunsborough is renowned as being fast and I can see why; the majority of the stage is on dirt roads and with GC positions up for grabs the stage was the most aggressive of the race which ended up with an average speed of 28kph...not bad on a mountain bike! With only a handful of seconds separating 2^nd and 4^th, Hatto, Craig and Jason had a titanic battle to decide the make up of the final podium.  Hatto and Craig were super aggressive, with Hatto in particular launching an unrelenting barrage of attacks on Jason in an attempt to bump him of his 2^nd place overall.  The constant surging kept splintering the main field with some lulls and the odd wrong turn seeing it come back together again time after time. With about 8km to go Hatto finally got away for good and a couple of kilometres later I attacked in an attempt to solo across to him.  I was able to join Hatto with about 5km to go and the two of us worked together; him for a GC result and me for the stage.  Having had a much easier stage than the super aggressive Pete, I was able to take the stage with him on my wheel stopping the clock for his anxious wait to see if he had gained enough time to make the podium overall.  Lewi was next in with English on his wheel doing enough to hold 2^nd overall, but Craig Cooke came in an agonising 18 seconds too slow to drop back to 4^th overall.

I certainly left my first Cape to Cape with some very fond memories; good company, scenery, wine and food, new & old friends, fast & fun racing and a lot of laughs.  Thanks heaps to the Bennets, the Kennedys, the Aubreys and my Swell-Redshift team mate Bosch, for all the support and good times. I can't wait to get back over to WA for the National Series opener in November.

Swell-Redshift wins Scott 24hr Mixed-6!!

Report by Andy Blair

What a weekend it was for the Scott 24hr; a few small showers over the weekend made the track super tacky and the mild temperatures overnight made it less intolerable getting out of bed for that 4am lap. Swell Design had the usual army out on course with a total of 24 riders in 4 teams. The Swell-Redshift mixed six consisted of Cameron Ivory (fresh back from XC worlds), Nathan Spencer, Nick Both, Peter “Pinky” Kreillis, Rosie Barnes & myself. I opened the account with a double lap and was happy to get the team off to a good start despite a very scary encounter with a massive Eastern Grey kangaroo that actually took a swing at me. Hendo (who was ahead of me) had managed to piss him off so much that he certainly wasn’t going to cop any shit from me and he stood his ground as I approached.  At the last moment I swerved off the track to go around him and he tried to kick me, definately a scary and sureal experience.  From there, the team took control and we soon overtook Anytime Fitness and built a small lead over Merida. During the night Anytime went to bed, but Merida closed the gap.  Just before dawn, Ryan Standish (Merida) passed Rosie on the red climb and got a gap over the top. Sensing that the situation wasn't good, Rosie desceded like a woman-posesed and caught Ryan, eventually following him into transition.  I was out next and managed to get a gap again, and as Merida threw everything they had at us, Cam, Nick, Pinky and Nath lifted and punched out some great laps to get the gap out to 6 minutes again. With two laps remaining Rosie and Standish had a rematch on the red lap. The tension in transition was crazy as AJ and I (and our respective entourages) waited for Rosie and Ryan before we could comence our "ride-off" for mixed-6 glory. 24 hours of racing and it came down to this......Rosie was first into view and the Swell crew cheered, seconds later Ryan appeared!  The gap was 9 seconds.  Pacing the lap was a bit tricky; I did not want to give AJ a chance to catch me so I had to start fairly hard, but I didn't want to go too hard and blow.  Luckily I had the aid of a head start, and Cam & Clarkey out on the track giving me splits so I could measure my effort fairly well.  In the end I was able to do my team proud and hold of the 'flying ginger' to finish the 2011 Scott 24hr with a big skid into the arms of my team mates. Wow, what a way to finish after 24 hours of hard racing! That is what these races are all about; everyone digging deep for the good of the team and the excitement of it all coming down to the wire.  The stoke from this race is sure to hang around for a while.

As usual the support from Swell Design was second to none. My Felt Edict LTD with Sram XX was amazing and I was having a ball on both laps. And thanks to 2XU, we looked good all weekend.  An especially big thanks to my awesome team mates!

The snow is melting and the MTB pre-season continues

  I got the hole-shot from Gracie at Dwellingup!

The start line at Tathra,

R-L: Cameron Prosser (who lead the first lap), Paul Brody (old school pinner), Me, Ryan Gormly (snowboarder and backyard bike mechanic)

I've been flat out since the last post; I quit my job, had a little break, did some skiing, surfing, training and racing...and then started my new job, which is conveniently located at Mt Stromlo!

As far as training went, there was a couple of sessions on the Jindabyne trails, solo road missions around the Illawarra (with a few of the old favourites like Saddleback, Jamberoo pass and Glen Garry), road riding with the boys in Wollongong and a fair bit of Queanbeyan MTB gold. For the racing, there was the Tathra 3hr, Dwellingup 100 and the Rocky Trail Entertainment 4hr at Stromlo.  I managed to win the Tathra and Stromlo enduros, and got fairly smashed at Perth in the Dwellingup 100 to finish 4th, but overall I'm pretty happy with how the form is coming on. Looking back I suppose I have been doing a fair bit, which isn't bad considering I snuck in some spring skiing and and few waves. I certainly feel like Ive been busy and have the droopy eyes to back that up. 

With the Scott 24hr coming up and the warm weather and long days kicking in I get more and more motivated everyday.  It doesn't hurt that I just got a new F-series Felt road bike, and I am currently tinkering in the shed with a new Felt Nine (29er MTB).  I really liked the Nine that I road in Alice, but this one is on a strict diet and when it's finished it should be a rocket ship....my aim is for it to be lightest bike on the start line at the Highland Fling in November. We will have to wait and see.

Go riding....now!

Val Di Sole World Cup By Cam Ivory

After almost 30 hours of travelling, I arrived in Mezzana, Italy with Trenton Day, Michael Crosbie and the U/19 MTB team. We spent the first week of our 2011 World Championships trip preparing for the Val Di Sole World Cup. The track proved to be a great physical test. The climbs were long and steep, with a gradient of 20% in places, but we weren’t really rewarded with many long descents. It seemed like most of our time was spent on the three main climbs. The descents were fun with some technical skills required.

Saturday was race day, so we performed our various warm up routines and gathered in the start boxes just before 9 AM. I started from 79^th position, but lost positions on the start loop. This consisted of a flat grass loop a couple of km long. There was a crash on the first corner that held me up, and I crossed the start line at the back of the 95 rider field. From there, I made a few positions on the first steep climb, watching my heart rate dramatically rise in the process. After the first lap I was already 3 mins down on the leader, but still had many positions to make up. I continued riding to my race plan and chased down several bunches in front of me to finish in 73^rd position. I’m happy that I finished and didn’t get lapped out, but I would have liked to have finished higher up.

This was my first major race on my new dually, the Felt Edict. I loved every minute on it! It felt great on the descents and felt like my hardtail on the climbs. I’m glad I brought it over with me and I think it will suit the World Champs track. I’m looking forward to racing next week in a Swiss Racer Bike Cup, then World Champs after that. Hopefully I’m at my peak for that!

2011 UCI MOUNTAIN BIKE AND TRIALS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - By Cameron Ivory

We travelled to Champery on Monday 29^th of September for the 2011 World Champs. We had less than a week to prepare for our biggest race of the season on one of the hardest and most technical tracks. The Worlds course was located in Val d’Illiez, a valley in Switzerland that remains damp for the majority of the year. The terrain is steep and full of slippery roots. Comparing Champery to any track at home is near impossible, and we were all eager to put our skills to the test in this unfamiliar European territory.

Throughout the week, we did easy sighting laps, worked and reworked the gnarly sections, and did some short efforts to get our legs and lungs fired up. By the end of the first day, only two of the eight riders managed to stay upright; myself and fellow Newcastle rider, Chris Aitken. However, by race day nearly everyone was confident and had their lines nailed. Some showers set in Wednesday night and wet the course for the juniors on Thursday. I was hoping that the course would dry up a bit by 5 PM Friday, my start time, but more rain came Thursday night. I gathered as much info as possible about the new course conditions from the U/19’s, but I knew I would still be ‘hitting and hoping’ in some sections.

I awoke early on Friday, keen to get my pre roll over and done with, then relax until the late 5 PM start. We left our accommodation at the top of the ski village Les Crosets and descended into Champery, arriving just after 3 PM. Our dynamic warm up and individual warm ups commenced at 4, and by 4.45, we were in the holding boxes, eagerly waiting to be called to the start line. Number 87 was called, so I rode up to the back of the other athletes, and chose my starting position. As the remaining 4 riders took their place, I was already beginning to slightly move up through the bunch, a typical move by all riders in European races. I gained another row at best, but at least I wasn’t sitting in 5^th last anymore.

The whistle sounded and we swarmed around the first corner and along the main straight of the start loop. After about 1km, I was unfortunately caught in a crash. This left me in the last few wheels, but I stayed focused and kept riding a good pace, clawing back some positions. I tried to ride smart and consistent, and this seemed to work. Each lap I was gaining positions, but my time behind the leader was increasing. The course suited me fairly well, with many fast technical sections, but I felt I was losing valuable time on the 24% gradient climb towards the end of the lap. I could feel myself slowly closing gaps on the technical sections. My favourite section was near the start of the lap. We climbed and descended along some steep single track, had a slight right hand corner, then a step down jump. It was approximately 2 metres high and had a 2 metre gap. The landing ramp was still very steep and this lead into a super fast and tight berm. We then rode a fireroad and climbed again for 50 metres. The track then turned left into a steep chute, with shaly rocks everywhere. It was difficult to make the left hand corner at the bottom, but my ability to ride with my opposite foot forward allowed me to get into a better cornering position. This skill was required in many other sections to maintain balance whilst the bike slid beneath us on the roots and rocks. This track really showed me how important little skills such as switching feet are. In Australia, you can get away with basic skills on most courses, but over here, there’s nowhere to hide! At the end of the 4^th lap, I was pulled by the officials due to the 80% rule, but I was satisfied with how I went.

I finished 2 laps down in 58^th position. I’m happy with my performance and my result. My goal was to beat my start number, and I did this. I moved up 29 places from my starting position and this was better than I expected. This race was the end to my hardest season yet. It was filled with many ups and downs, but the amount of experience I gained was incredible. I can’t wait to put it to use next season and improve on my results. 

By Cameron Ivory

Urban Criterium in Bern

The town of Bern, Switzerland, approximately 1 hour from our accommodation played host to the craziest, most exciting, and most enjoyable crit I’ve ever raced in. The crit was raced around the Prime Minister’s house with no dirt to be seen anywhere. The loop started with a long straight, half on the road, half on the footpath, before we met wooden crates, piled two high. We bunny hopped over these and sprinted for the next obstacle 50 metres away; a two metre long section of logs that we jumped onto and bounced over. It was about another 50 metres to a jump that launched us towards the first corner, where we jumped up onto a platform, turned 90 degrees, and rode down some more crates. We rode along the footpath some more, jumped back onto the road and had a sweeping right hand corner that seemed to tighten up towards the end. As you come out of the corner there was another jump, and this shot you down a small descent then a pinch back up. The next section was the hardest bit of the track. We had a hairpin corner on the footpath with handrails beside us. It took us down a short, steep descent to another hairpin the opposite way. You rolled away from the corner and gained speed for the next jump. As soon as you landed you are on the brakes to navigate a hay bale chicane, still on the descent. Another hairpin corner finished the chicane and you kept descending to yet another hairpin bend, however this corner was at the top of a staircase. Technical skills were required to ride down the stairs while still turning onto them, then making the right hand corner at the bottom which led us to a longer staircase. We rode down, performed a tight right hand corner and faced a long steep climb. The climb would have only lasted about a minute but it was flat out each lap. We jumped up three stairs at the top, rode through a covered driveway and navigated the next few corners to another jump, then to the finish. Apart from the start loop, we had a right hand bend under a tunnel just after the finish line. We jumped onto three roll over jumps, then continued turning right before a steep pinch onto some scaffolding back over the track, and down some logs on the other side.

At 8:00PM, about 15 mins before the start, an electrical storm set in and soaked the entire track. This made all of the obstacles, especially the logs, a lot more slippery and challenging. The rain eased up until we were on the start line. The gun went and the 68 starters all raced down the start straight. The storm came back and the rain was even heavier. Rivers were forming on some sections, and we could barely see through the rain and excess water being flicked up. It was also dark because of the late start, plus the clouds above. We were racing under lights and it was a great atmosphere with spectators all around the track, and music playing as we came across the start finish line. It was an 18 lap race, but unfortunately I only finished 7 laps before being pulled. After being pulled, I watched from the side, and saw Florian Vogel and Thomas Litscher battle for the win. Bury Stander was one of the other big names racing, and I was excited to hold his wheel for a section when they lapped me.

I only lasted 7 laps, but it was close to the most enjoyable race I’ve been part of. I would definitely come back here in the future and hopefully improve on my 34^th place finish. My only regret about the race is not using my helmet camera!

By Cam Ivory

NSW State XC Champs - Nowra

With the unseasonably warm August weather melting all the snow, it was a perfect weekend to go down to the coast for a mountain bike race. The NSW State Champs was a fairly laid back affair just South of Nowra and the track that they put on was great fun. Heaps of cool single track and some fairly fast fireroad climbing made the race quite exciting. Ben Hendo and Mitch Codner broke away toward the end of the first lap and Andrew Arthur and I tried in vane to chase for a while. We could see on the odd occasion throughout the first couple of laps but after that it became a race for the last podium spot. Hendo (the burglar from the ACT) eventually unloaded Mitch for a 2 minute win and Andrew and I came in for a sprint finish another 2 minutes later, which I narrowly won. Andrew had waited for me on the last lap to take a stick out of my wheel, what a gentleman...should I have let him have the sprint? Nick Both finished a respectable 6th place.

A good fun day out in the forest and with the fitness slowly starting to return I've definitely got the stoke back for mountain biking. What's next? Tathra?

Andy

Cam's Vermiglio and Windhaag Race Reports

I am a bit late getting these reports up as they were lost in my inbox for a while. But better late than never, I suppose. Thanks heaps to Cam for all his great reports during his European racing adventures this year! - Rosie

Vermiglio and Windhaag

By Cameron Ivory

The race in Vermiglio, Italy was fast and hard. The quick pace from the gun was set by Marco Fontana and Gerhard Kerschbaumer. I had a good start and was in the first 10 wheels around the first corner. Unfortunately I began to move backwards through the field due to lack of stamina and strength, and was forced to retire at the end of the fourth lap, obeying the 80% rule. I was disappointed in my result, but happy that I could back up relatively well considering I had just finished the extremely fatiguing Alpentour Trophy the previous weekend.

We travelled back to Austria on Wednesday, ready to race the Osterreich Mountain Bike Grand Prix that weekend. We lapped the course on Thursday and were surprised that it was only a 2.5 km loop with no technical riding whatsoever. However, the next day we realised we had missed half a lap; this half lap being the most technical terrain I’ve ever raced on! The lap started with a fast descent around a right-hand berm, over a large jump and into a tight left-hand berm. A tight right hander pointed us towards the fire-road which took us to the top of the ‘techy’ section. This section was not like anything at home! It was loose, rutted, had roots and tight corners, and was super steep. Stopping midway was almost impossible without falling off. Even slowing for the corners was hard. We had to get used to sliding down the rut, leaning into the corners and letting the bike slide underneath us with hardly any control. We were then taken over some roots before dropping into a rock tunnel, barely wide enough for our bars. After the tunnel came some more roots, a steep, tight right-hand corner then down another drop onto a short stretch of fire-road. We then came to yet another technical section; we jumped some roots and performed a tight left hand corner, dropping off a rock mid turn. We dropped onto off camber wet roots and this lasted for 50 metres. The track then undulated until the final techy section. This section had a thin line over some roots and rocks before a steep roll-in, into a 90 degree left hand corner. Everybody was locking up the brakes and sliding to try and make the turn. The safety mattresses played a part in helping us hold our line and wash off speed. This was just about the end of the first half of the lap. We all fell off at some stage during practice, but got off lucky with minimal injuries. The second half of the lap was quite tame, with a somewhat easy singletrack climb, a long fire-road loop, then a fast descent down a wooden bridge to the finish.

Sunday was race day, and we had to sit around all morning waiting for the 2.30 PM start, a typical European race time. We spun the few km to the track and began our various warm-up routines just after 1 PM. I was called to the line in 28^th position and chose a spot on the left hand side. The gun went and we all raced up the start loop climb through the town of Windhaag. I gained a few positions on the start loop before joining onto the main lap just before the wooden bridge descent. I was surprised that the field was riding the technical sections on the first lap. I was expecting we’d be walking due to the nervous energy and bottlenecks off the fire-roads. I finished the first lap and wasn’t looking forward to the remaining 6 laps. I was losing positions until I managed to find form at the end of the third lap. I began to make my way back through the field and was feeling great. The second last lap came and I went as hard as I could, trying to make up as much time and positions as possible. Surprisingly, I was still feeling good at the start of the last lap so I continued to hold a good pace and felt like I finished strong. I came 20^th overall, and 7^th in U/23’s. Apart from the first few laps, I’m happy with my performance.