Having spent a few weeks in Morzine just shredding trails, climbing mountains and sending some big jumps it was time to move on from France and smash out some Kms on the odometer all the way up to Hafjell Norway. Big ol drive about 2000km and a ferry in-between. I was excited to get to Norway as I had never been there before and everyone always rants on and says how awesome it is. As we were driving in I fell in love with the majestical landscape.
We arrived in Hafjell on the Saturday night, getting there early to make the most of the lengthly drive. On Sunday I went up riding on the hill and it was awesome, riding a track called 'roller coaster' ahh ohh ohh ohhh it was awesome, couldn't wait to ride the downhill course. Track walk commenced on wednesday and what it held was something rather beautiful. Big ol jumps, nicely made, rock gardens and fast sections in between. So much fun to ride . Practice went well, the jumps were probably some of the biggest i have ever done, but they were built so nicely they were just easy! Norway is very expensive, Norwegian krones are sneaky little devils. Before we left from germany I stocked up on many of foods that would keep and supplement me for the week. I ended up being vegetarian for a couply of days as to by one singular piece of meat would have costs $20, instead I went out hunting for my own meat. Caught a moose.
Qualifying run did not go as well as expected. I didn't crash but I got kicked off my line in the main rock garden, causing me to stall and loose a bit of time. The track had gotten so beat up from everyone thrashing out runs.
Unfortunately one of my van brothers, Bryn Dickerson decided to break his fema on his qualifying run which has left him in hospital ( still) 5 surgeries later he might be heading home. Heal up Brynos!! We had to leave him on the Monday to catch our 18 hour ferry from Oslo to Germany. The boat was so much fun, the caption made it very fun. Had a casino, stage show, bars, shops, gym, arcade and so many activities.
Leogang was next on the map and we arrived on Tuesday night. There was snow on the top of the downhill track on the Monday and Tuesday which showed us that it was almost time for us Kiwis to get back home.
I wasn't to eager to get to Leogang, as with everyone else, hoping for some track changes to make it a bit more technical and not so fast and straight. They had sort of changed it, more or less they tapped it in a funky way and threw some rocks on a part of a track .It wasn't more flowy, sort of just made it more awkward but it was a change. Practice day was okay until one of my last runs down. I was checking out a new line, instead of going low in a section, going middle and more off camber. My back wheel ended up sliding out on some wooden object causing me to get wild and go over the bars and land on my head and back. My back was pretty sore after that and my whole body. It was a big job just trying to maneuver around, bruised up!
Qualifying was the next day and it was raining in the morning. I don't mind riding in the wet so it didn't really concern me. I just didn't want to do the washing. It dried up before qualifying run though. I was so extremely sore that day, but it was the last World Cup so I wasn't going to give up easily. I qualified 24th which I thought was a half decent effort considering.
So thats that, 2013 World Cup season is over and what a mayyyd adventure it was! 11 countries traveled round, 80kgs of luggage lugged, and over 8000kms driven. First year out of school traveling round Europe to race my bike was the only thing on my mind. Im glad I didn't go off to University and do what everyone else is doing, same old. I have gained an immense amount of knowledge and experience from this trip which puts me in a perfect position knowing what I need to do to get better results for the 2014 World Cup season. As my first year in elite what I was wanting to gain from this experience is purely, experience. I have met so many new people and made contacts which are and will be extremely helpful in the future for where ever I travel too.
Thank you to everyone who has helped me out and made it possible for me to get over and do what I love. I am in the process now of trying to find a job in Queenstown for summer as it will be perfect training grounds with the only gondola in New Zealand open in summer for mountain bikers. Also trying to find a flat , might just couch surf until thats sorted!
Thanks to the Adastra Foundation, Lenny at Leatt, Boys at Worralls, Mandy, Aaron, Peter ,Christine, Brent. Nanna and Grandpa . Lastly Anne and Chris Tyas love youuuuuuu xxxxxx
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