Monday, September 13, 2010

Missed the Champs but Got the Chick's!!





What a disappointing end to the Queensland State Championships after a round trip of 3,500km from Brisbane to Townsville in North Queensland. This track is long (5-7 minutes at race pace), dry, dusty, rocky and steep but with a killer flat section in the middle of 200+ metres and then uphill to start the final downhill section!!

Everything was going real smooth during practice on Friday and Saturday however; some tire selection to capitalise on rolling qualities ended up with me crashing several times on both days. A quick discussion with Harvey (Dad - roadie, mechanic, chef and sponsor to name a few)and I decided to get back onto Minnions up front and leave the High Roller on the back. The Legend was flying and never once gave me any cause for concern other than it was going extremely fast and solid as a rock!!

Sunday came and up we went for our seeding run and I was ranked No. 2 behind Brandon Yttiharo (Giant Racing). I finished seeding with a time of 4:59 to claim pole position and the jump on Brandon (5:06) who I have battled with many times over the years. Come race time and I was feeling really good in clips (first time for 2 years) and pushed hard across the flat pedally and uphill section then onto the final downhill section. Harvey had the split times working and at the top of the final section I had put 7 secs into Brandon but alas, shortly after I pinch flatted on a sharp rock and my race was over.

Despite the disappointment I came away from the race feeling super confident about the Legend and its all round race abilities, my own ability and the positives of hard training, good eating and hydration. I now have 7 weeks to get into shape for round 1 of the Australian National Series which is on my home track here in Queensland where I plan to push hard for hopefully a good result.