I left Chile and began my 22 hour journey home arriving at 10am in Wellington feeling like a zombie but didn't have any time to rest or recuperate as I had to get off the plane and head straight to Burkes Cycles to pick up my new bike. After getting the guys to set it up for me I jumped in the car and drove up to Napier for the second round of the North Island DH series. Arriving at Eskdale mountain bike park on practice day I wasted no time in heading up the hill for my first run of the season and the first pedal strokes on my new bike.
Right from the outset I was loving being back on a big bike and on a proper DH track, the extra speed the DH bike allows you to carry over rough ground is a nice change from tippy-toeing around on little XC bikes. I was having so much fun on the new bike that I did 9 runs throughout the day and was definitely sore later that night.
Even so I woke on race day in high spirits and was mega keen to get a timed run under my belt to see if my training in Chile had paid off. My seeding run went well, I hit all my lines and was in the right gears for the pedaling sections but didn't try too hard as I knew I had to save myself for the race run so I was quite surprised to come across the line in 2.54, a full 3 seconds faster than the second placed rider and win the seeding run. This put the pressure on for race run and I went back to the top a lot more nervous than I had been for my seeding run.
When the call came for me to get into the gate I was feeling good but still had some nerves going around in my head which was bothering me a little but I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on the race. Everything started great, I flew out the gate, scrubbed the first two jumps and just started pedaling as hard as I could off down the track. I was going strong until I hit the first rock section where I got bounced off line by a particularly solid rock and spent the next few seconds getting all my limbs re-attached to the bike. Once everything was back in order I re-focused and carried on down the track, I was still carrying good speed and feeling strong until the steep section at the bottom of the course, I came in with too much speed and didn't make the turn at the bottom of the first chute and plowed straight through the berm and fell off.
I quickly got back on and pinned down the rest of the course having a good run for the rest of the track and crossing the line in 3.03 and putting me into 5th place for the day. Needless to say I was gutted with my 2 crashes but still stoked to get up onto the podium and stoked with how the bike and I were riding over the weekend. Now I'm preparing for the first round of the South Island DH cup in Nelson on the 5/6 February and aiming to get back on that podium!!
Editor: Check out Bryn ripping it at Levin DH track....styling it!
