S.A National #3 - Addo - Hayterdale Trails

After a bit of a break since the last race I put in some solid training hours and made some gnarly adjustments to my bike, with thanks to Conrad Davies. I was really looking forward to the Port Elizabeth National. I was hoping that this year the weather would play its part! Myself and Alasdair Fey along with our driver, my dad, made the trip down to Addo in a little under 10 hours. I was really keen to see what this years track was going to look  like and was super stoked when I saw what I did. Tight, twisty, and some rad fast sections. The corners were awkward and there were a couple little jumps. Needless to say I was pumped to thrash some runs on the new set up.

My first practice run down the track was way too much fun, and I guess I got a bit carries away when I decided to huck one of the tricky jumps and about a split second later, found myself lodged in a thorn tree. I couldn't get out by myself and I was seriously stressing out because Hayterdale trails and the world spider population are best friends! Duxbury came to my rescue and I was really shaken up after that. My shoulder, elbow and lower calf were pretty sore, but at least there were no spiders on me. The rest of the days practice was relatively good, I was feeling comfy on the bike but I just wasn't having such a good day on the hill. So I packed up, headed back to the accommodation and prepared for day2 of practice on the track.

When Saturday dawned, I was up and about... really beaten up and still pulling thorns out of my wrist, shoulder and fingers. I suited up and headed out to the track! We were there early so I decided to let some of the other riders go down first to clear all the spiders out of the way, and in the mean time I watched fellow team mates destroy the XC discipline! But eventually I hit the track, and wow! Once I found my rhythm, I loved every part of the track! I did so many runs and was just having so much fun. I got all my lines dialed, found myself a couple tiger lines too and was feeling confident and ready and Sundays race.

It was an early morning for us Downhillers, and a cold morning too. Abit of rain on the track made the conditions PERFECT, and I did a solid 2 problem free runs down the track! By the time it was time for my seeding run, I had refreshed with my GU Energy product and headed to the top of the hill. Did a little bit of a warm up and waited in the start gate for the countdown to begin. Once on track, I just had fun with it, didn't nail all my lines and stalled a couple time in a few corners, I got down to the bottom in a time of 2min59sec...  a few seconds off the pace. I knew I could go faster though. So I refueled once more and made my way to the top for the last time! Sitting in the start gate, I knew what I had to do... and when the gate dropped, I went crazy. I was stoked to smash all my lines, still not getting every corner dialed but was over the moon when I heard my final time at the bottom. It was a 2min54sec! I was second junior and fifth overall!



A really good weekend for me, and well done to everyone who raced! A big well done to the organizers for putting on such a sick event and track! Next one is KZN provincial here in Pietermaritzburg! A huge thanks must go to Conrad Davies for all the last minute prep on my bike... It rode like a dream!