Hi All,
It has been a hectic 2011 and I have been remiss in failing to update my Blog for some months now however; with all that has been going on - I just have not had the time (poor excuse, I know!!).
Well, to start with I have had a change of team and sponsors! I made the decision to accept a ride with the ForTheRiders/Santa Cruz Team on a new Santa Cruz V10 carbon bike in July 2011. Whilst I had been with Banshee Bikes for a few years and they have been extremely good to me in that time, I felt that I needed to move to the next level particularly when my selection for the Australian National Junior Downhill Team to contest UCI World Downhill Championships 2011 was announced. I will always be grateful for the opportunity afforded me by Banshee Bikes and Team Banshee Australia - it set the path for me to follow my dream, thank you!
I departed Australia on 8 August and flew to Zurich, Switzerland with Team and then did a road trip to Pila, Italy where I competed in a round of the IXS European Cup. It was a different experience and took some time getting used to high altitude training and racing although I did not have a lot of time as the race was 4 days after my arrival. I raced up a level in Elite along with some of the quickest riders in Europe and it was a great experience however; nerves got the better of me during Qualifying on Saturday and I crashed resulting in me seeding in 67th position. I managed to settle myself for the next day's racing and practised well during the morning session along with my Team mates. Because I qualified out the back I was an early rider on the track for the race and managed to put together a good run almost free of incidents which resulted in me sitting on the Podium in 2nd place for a long time. I ended up placing 29th in Elite and 6th in Juniors which I considered a good result for my first race outing in Europe.
The Team then headed across to Val di Sole for the World Cup Series Final. The weather was really hot at around 36oC most days and our accommodation was anything but great with the aircon finding it hard to keep up! The nerves returned when our official track walk was on and here I was walking the track with some of the fastest downhill riders in the World - awesome!! We started practice on Wednesday and whilst the track was a monster, I was starting to get up to speed and understanding the technical difficulty of Val di Sole. Thursday saw me take a big digga and I bruised my sternum pretty bad which made riding difficult but I still pushed on - after all, it was a World Cup race and the Finals to boot!! Qualifying took place on Friday and I got out of the start gate pretty good but shortly after I got booted off the pedals and could not get my feet set again for the entire trip down the mountain. Crashing just seemed to be order of the day but I managed to stay upright and finished in 132nd place which was disappointing but I kept reminding myself that it was my first WC race!
We departed Val di Sole and headed for Morzine, France where the Team was to undergo some serious training prior to World Champs. Morzine is an awesome place for riding, training and generally chillin out particularly when most of the population during summer are Aussies, Kiwis and Brits! It was also an opportunity of catching up with one of my Sponsors, Nigel Reeve of NSDynamics who works in Morzine during the summer - thanks for sorting my suspension out prior to World Champs, Nige!
Enter World Champs week and we arrive in Champery, Switzerland. The Aussie Team (including the Cross Country and Trials riders) were accommodated together and whilst there were some issues with facilities like washing machines and dryers it was good to get to know the other team members. Official practice started on Tuesday however; we were limited to around 1.5 hours a day which did not give a lot of time to get many runs under my belt. The Champery downhill track is legendary and it was everything + more that I had heard about in the lead-up to the event. To say that my first ride down was the scariest thing I have ever attempted is an understatement! I had mega issues with rolling tyres off the rims due to the steepness of the track and also with one particular corner where I kept penguin diving and crashing! It remained dry, dusty and loose all week up to Thursday evening when it rained and the track became slippery for Friday's practice and this then raised the question of tyre type selection? The Juniors were required to do a Seeding Race and I rode conservatively to ensure I got to the bottom in one piece and qualified in 32nd place.
Saturday evening and the heavens opened up over Champery!! We arrived at the track early morning and it was still raining heavily which made my first run down the mountain very interesting to say the least. I only did a couple of runs prior to my race because of rain and the temperatures were crashing down to around 12C which was cold compared to the 4 weeks I had been in Europe. I went up for my race run and unfortunately; a rider was seriously injured on track which required the track to be closed for 45 minutes whilst they extracted him by helicopter and this just added to the 30 minutes lead time I had given myself. I sat at the start gate, cold and wet but was accompanied by our Coach - Jared Rando and Team Mechanic - Tim Chadd who kept my spirits up.
Finally, I got over the start line and the rain kept coming down which made the track like a river of mud. It would not have been so bad except that there were no ruts formed at this stage and brakes were useless for most of the ride. I crashed just after the first split which was not a bad crash but trying to get me and the V10 upright again was difficult. I continued on and crashed again prior to the 2nd split, ending up in the catch net which hooked up my bars and controls making it almost impossible to extract! I got going again and decided to give it all as my race had already been run - put my head down and pedalled my arse off to the finish line. I finally placed 23rd in Junior's - World Champs and I am happy with this result considering the conditions we had to race in.
Overall, a fantastic experience which I will never forget! I would like thank my Sponsors, ForTheRiders - Santa Cruz Bikes - NSDynamics.com.au - Chunked.com.au - Elka Suspension - Diverse Springs - KWT-Maxxis and FreeLap Timing for your continued support of my racing and giving me the opportunity of pursuing my dreams. I would also like to thank Cycling Australia / MTBA and their entire World Champs management team but in particular, Jared Rando, Simon French and Tim Chadd, Dad (Harvey Power) & Glen Piazza who ran errands, washed and dried clothes and generally helped where needed during our campaign.
