Hey all,
The Australian National Gravity Cup 2011 got underway last weekend in Thredbo, NSW. The last time I attended a race at Thredbo (2 years ago) it rained for the entire 5 days we were there and frankly, I was not looking forward to a repeat of that time however; the weather forecast seemed to suggest that rain and thunderstorms including very cold temperatures were to be the order of the weekend. On that basis I packed lots of warm weather clothes and very little in the way of summer attire!
We arrived in Thredbo on Thursday afternoon to be greeted with clear blue skies and temperatures in the range of 26oC - hardly the cold & rainy weather forecast and expected!! Anyway, not to be deterred, we got started with practice on Friday and it was not long before the 6+ minute track was starting to blow out and get very dusty. I managed to put in a big day of practice with around 10-12 runs knowing that Saturday would be limited practice time. Every thing seemed to be going well until towards the end when tiredness started to set in and I took a few 'digga's) but then again, so did most of the riders.
It was a great experience practising along side racers like Sam Hill, Troy Brosnan, Jared Graves, Ben Cory, Rhys Atkinson and heaps of other fast Elite Aussie racers including Ricky Boyer. This was my first race in a National event as an Elite racer and I must admit - I was a bit nervous!! Seeding was held on Saturday afternoon with about 80 Elite riders vying for the top spot. My seeding race run was anything but smooth - I am not sure whether it was nerves or what but I missed most of my lines from start to finish, almost ran off the track a few times and at the bottom. I blew both feet off the pedals and went off the track over the last berm before the finish line in front of the timing tent and officials but managed to hold it wide on the grass and get back on track and finished in 10th place with a time of 5m 53.72sec!!!
Sunday came and so did the rain overnight! The rain actually made the track quite slippery and it continued this way most of the day with small showers coming through from time to time. An announcement came soon after lunch that we all had to head up on the chair lift because thunder and lightning were present a short distance away and the officials were worried that the lifts may get closed. Anyway, race time came and I hit the start line in a good frame of mind, relaxed into my race and hit all my lines down the mountain. I opted to ride within myself particularly in the forest because I knew that the timber structures would be slippery but when I got into the open I pedalled my arse off!! That worked and I managed to bring my FTR/Santa Cruz V10 Carbon home in 7th place with a time of 5m 44.23sec to claim the Hot Seat for a short period of time.
I am stoked with this result in my first National Elite race particularly when beaten by Brosnan, Hill, Graves, Cory, Atkinson & Mudd!! I would like to send out a big thank you to Nigel & Aaron - NSDynamics who travelled to Thredbo and provided support for Tracey Hannah, Mat Dodd and myself over the weekend. I would also like to thank Santa Cruz Bikes, ForTheRiders, Elka Suspension, Diverse Springs, Chunked.com.au, KWT-Maxxis and family friend, Paul Dymalla who builds all my race wheels. Next race planned is Round 2 of the National Gravity Cup at Mount Buller, Victoria.
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