World Champs in Leogang, Austria have come to an end over a hectic week of riding, living with the NZ team and keeping my head in the right place.
The week started off with us girls sadly leaving Morzine on Sunday which held so many great times of riding the sickest tracks and madddd times all round, but old White lightning got packed up, push started and away we drove a near 9 hours at 160/70km consistently, with maybe 1 or 2 speeding tickets arriving in the small town of Leogang in the Austrian alps.
The NZ team met on the tuesday and had opening ceremony on Wednesday and chilled in-between. Thursday was track walk then training with everyone for 3 hours which was mayhem. Got a feel for the track which had quite a lot of pedaling in the middle and a bit of technical sections cutting though. Friday was Junior and Elite Women practice for 2 hours and it was throwing down man! totally throwing down, wet practice was forecasted and it was wild. The top corners started to form ruts and holes which made it rougher and fun! The dirt was surprisingly still quite grippy though so hooking them turns was still possible.
Saturday was practice and timed run. The aim was to have a chilled, clean run down for the timed run and see were I ended up, but as the rain had still been going over night the track was still muddy but grippy at the same time. On my timed run I was the very first rider down the hill which played with my nerves a bit and I got pretty loose up the top which made me back off a bit. One corner down the bottom which was quite slick and slippery caused me some trouble. I dropped in and my front wheel slid out under me and I went over and off, also coming off was my seat..!?! so I stopped for a while and was confused but the whole thing had shaped off the carbon railings. I cruised down from then on as i did not want to have sharp carbon rails railing me anywhere else. Came 8th but obviously time wise was down by a lot which I didn't really take in to consideration due to the circumstances.
Sunday, race day. Biggest race of the year, the one thing that would be on my mind hourly, everyday since last year when I went to champery and guttingly broke my wrist the day before race. Keeping calm and relaxed was one but a very big thing to do. By now the rain had stopped and the sun was starting to peak through the clouds for practice which started at 8am for a hour. The track had been roughened up from everyone smashing it out on timed practice so the breaking bumps had gotten deeper, ruts wilder, but only mainly in the top section. The gravel pedal remained..horrible. Freeride or die yo! My second practice run started off so mint, just loving the top, then disaster struck, my derailer fell off. I rode down the road and got it all fixed up by our NZ mechanic but it left me with no time to get in another run. I was pretty annoyed as the track was different. But luckily it wasn't on my race run.
By now so many emotions were going through my head. I had about a hour before I was set to be on track so I chilled out, listened to my iPod and got in the zone. The mental side of downhill is one of the hardest things to train and control. Training your mind, head space to not freak out or stress over that one run, the one chance you get to do this certain ride down the hill. The only one which matters. Its pretty crazy and thats defiantly one thing which takes time and experience. I pulled on my New Zealand race jersey and was at the top, once again, the position were I had been all week, but finally World Champs race run. I warmed up and the start ramp was awaiting me anxiously. The race organizes called me up and by no time I was in the start gate. 2nd down the hill with a 3 minute gap in-between all of the girls. Time was ticking down too slowly and cameras were on me. I looked down and people were everywhere , all eyes were on me. aghhh!! The green light flicked over and I was gone. I was disappointed in my run in Leogang, I took it too cautiously because I didn't want to crash and muck up big time. I felt like I could have ridden faster but that run just didn't pull through right, at least I made it to my race run this year and had the opportunity to do it! :)
I ended up 8th position not the result I was hoping for but I have learnt so much from spending 2 amazing months in Europe, racing, riding, training, meeting new people and seeing the way different cultures live. I know what I have to do for next year when I return back to be faster and stronger and ready to pull some results. This year was my final year in junior so next year I have a huge step up in to elite, with all the big timers. I Just flew into NZ, then having a few days to chill then getting back to school in Methven. Trust me school is the last thing on my mind right now.
Thank you so so much to EVERYONE who has helped me get over and helped me out along the way, it has been the best 2 months of my life! You guys are so awesome and it means the world to me :) :)
No comments:
Post a Comment