About two weeks ago I left a chilly New Zealand and took the long haul flight over to a warm/maybe to hot South Africa to compete in the world champs U23 men XCO, and eliminator XCE racing. After catching up with Dirk at the airport we picked up a teeny rental car and headed to the Jays B and B where we stayed for a week before catching up with the rest of the New Zealand team at the Regal inn express(frogs).
I had still been carrying a lingering chest infection which did not go well with the change of time zones antibiotics couldn't be avoided as things started to get worse. Luckily I had arrived 11 days before my first race and although I didn't come right completely I could still race reasonably well.
The course was perfect with 2 big climbs and one shorter climb, all followed by tricky technical descents with more than one good line in each to keep both spectators and riders entertained. But still hard enough to make a couple of people in my race take the B line.
Race day came quickly and I felt the best I had since arriving in South Africa, we had a starting time of 3.15 which was when the clouds had started rolling in for a dark afternoon but perfect temperatures. I started well and made it into a good position quickly but at the crucial first climb I lost a lot of places and at the first rock garden section a hasty German fellow took a different line to mine and came across in front of me forcing my line to change, I rode over a rock slightly too big scraping my big ring, stalling out and going over the bars, luckily not much damage had been done with a slightly bent hanger I raced on. Riders were still coming past on the second climb and I was losing a lot of places, then coming round into the 2nd lap it had started spitting ans I got into a good rhythm latching on to a good Belgium rider who would gap me on each climb but I would catch up again on the downhills and sit in on the flat sections, we spent the rest of the race playing cat and mouse passing a couple of riders each lap. It had started to rain heavier on the second to last lap and riders were starting to pull out from crashes on the rock garden sections. I didn't have the legs in the last lap and the Belgium finally got away but a couple of people were still fading and I pushed on, moving up 5 places in the last lap to finish in 38th place.
It was honestly pretty cool being able to finish the race let alone crack the top 40 after not quite recovering from a virus I picked up after the World cup in Val Di Sole earlier this year. and is a boost to see what I can do next year when fit and healthy!
The Eliminator was hard and I finished 49th.. woo.
It was a great trip and went really well! a big thanks to my parents who made it possible to get there/feed me/loudest supporters and all my sponsors. Also to Jeremy Christmas for managing the NZ team and all the NZ parents who helped out, definitely cant forgot to thank Conrad and Ein who did an awesome job as our team mechanics from South Africa and all the volunteers and commissars who put a lot of time into organizing a great event.
For now I am heading home for 10 days before flying out to China on an all expenses paid trip to race a category one cross country race on the 21/22nd of September which sounds to good to be true! Cant wait!
And then back home to celebrate my 21st, mean.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
Sam
I had still been carrying a lingering chest infection which did not go well with the change of time zones antibiotics couldn't be avoided as things started to get worse. Luckily I had arrived 11 days before my first race and although I didn't come right completely I could still race reasonably well.
The course was perfect with 2 big climbs and one shorter climb, all followed by tricky technical descents with more than one good line in each to keep both spectators and riders entertained. But still hard enough to make a couple of people in my race take the B line.
Race day came quickly and I felt the best I had since arriving in South Africa, we had a starting time of 3.15 which was when the clouds had started rolling in for a dark afternoon but perfect temperatures. I started well and made it into a good position quickly but at the crucial first climb I lost a lot of places and at the first rock garden section a hasty German fellow took a different line to mine and came across in front of me forcing my line to change, I rode over a rock slightly too big scraping my big ring, stalling out and going over the bars, luckily not much damage had been done with a slightly bent hanger I raced on. Riders were still coming past on the second climb and I was losing a lot of places, then coming round into the 2nd lap it had started spitting ans I got into a good rhythm latching on to a good Belgium rider who would gap me on each climb but I would catch up again on the downhills and sit in on the flat sections, we spent the rest of the race playing cat and mouse passing a couple of riders each lap. It had started to rain heavier on the second to last lap and riders were starting to pull out from crashes on the rock garden sections. I didn't have the legs in the last lap and the Belgium finally got away but a couple of people were still fading and I pushed on, moving up 5 places in the last lap to finish in 38th place.
It was honestly pretty cool being able to finish the race let alone crack the top 40 after not quite recovering from a virus I picked up after the World cup in Val Di Sole earlier this year. and is a boost to see what I can do next year when fit and healthy!
The Eliminator was hard and I finished 49th.. woo.
It was a great trip and went really well! a big thanks to my parents who made it possible to get there/feed me/loudest supporters and all my sponsors. Also to Jeremy Christmas for managing the NZ team and all the NZ parents who helped out, definitely cant forgot to thank Conrad and Ein who did an awesome job as our team mechanics from South Africa and all the volunteers and commissars who put a lot of time into organizing a great event.
For now I am heading home for 10 days before flying out to China on an all expenses paid trip to race a category one cross country race on the 21/22nd of September which sounds to good to be true! Cant wait!
And then back home to celebrate my 21st, mean.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
Sam
