I often get thrown in the deep end and this time round was no exception that's for sure!
I decided to take part in the second MTN cross-country national mtb event of 2010 in Maritzburg. Cross-country mountain biking is obviously very new to me seeing that this was going to be my first cross-country race I've ever done! As this type of racing is not my main focus I wouldn't have normally traveled to take part, however, I happened to have a wedding in that region that same day. I'm always game for riding my bike, a race or a challenge, I thought I'd take my bike along and participate.
As normal I did a loosen up ride that afternoon before. This time it involved riding the course. This turned out to be a bad idea as now I knew what I was in for and made me doubt whether I should go through with this race! Being one to never pullout or back down from a challenge this was obviously not going to happen!
Being a cross-country race I knew that it would be technical. My general feeling is that my level of technical skills are fine, the single tracks of Tokai are my back garden. But here almost the whole course consisted of technical single track with a few sections of unridable-only-launchable drop-offs and we would have to do this course seven times!
One thing that really struck me was the difference between simply riding single tracks during training (like I only really do as most of the races I take part in don't involve much technical single track) and racing on them! The other thing that struck me was the sudden intense pace from the gun! As I'm more of an endurance person that normally takes a little while to warm up, the first lap consisted purely of adrenaline, burning lungs and muscles. The first few laps also saw some sketchy moments with the near tree collisions, drop-offs and terrain, however, after the third lap I had a decent rhythm and was taking everything the trails threw at me with ease. I felt a lot more comfortable and was really enjoying it! The only problem was that by this time I was quite far behind.
It was an interesting experience and one that I will definitely take into account for my training. I will return to improve on my performance and better my position in some more cross-country races, however, with a bit more practice under the belt.
The funny twist in the tail was that I crossed the finish line at 14h00 exactly and the wedding was scheduled for 14h45!!! With great team work and detailed prior planning, myself and Roan Exelby (who is a cousin of Jayde that we were staying with and also competed in the race and was attending the wedding) arrived exactly on time to the wedding at 14h45!
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