IXS Swiss Cup Round 2 - Wiriehorn - Switzerland - 18-19/08/12

After completing the IXS race in Pila I returned to Morzine where I have based myself for this race season. The decision to go to Wiriehorn to race was a last minute thing as I have been reliant on others for transport. We arrived there late on Thursday night and I just grabbed a meal from what was available and slept on the van floor.

Friday rolled around and it was time to register for the event. I hadn't pre-registered due to the last minute decision to race but was lucky to find there were no difficulties with registering for the race. I was really looking forward to the event. Soon after registration I headed up the hill to walk the track. My impressions of this track were that it was going to be fast up top, a bit slower in the middle, then a big pedal and some more high to mid speed sections at the end. Practice runs went well. Got to know the track relatively well and was loving it by the end of practice. I was feeling confident on the track and couldn’t wait for seeding the next day to see how I was doing compared to the other riders.

I woke up Saturday and decided to have a bit of a sleep in since I was feeling good on the track already and didn’t want to overdo it in the heat. I did some practice runs later, with one of them a full run at race pace pedalling and worked out I could let go of the brakes even more in some sections. Seeding rolled around and I was ready to go. The track went by so quick that it didn’t feel like the 5 minutes that it took. I ended up seeding 2nd which I was pretty stoked with. With this in mind I was only going to be happy if my race run on Sunday was a sub 5 minute run - preferably a sub 4 minute 55 second run.
Sunday took its time coming around and again the weather was stinking hot. I opted for a sleep in again. I did a cruisey first practice run and was feeling a little bit all over the place on the bike so went for another run not long after. After the second practice run I was once again feeling on form. I then made the decision that that was all the practice I needed for the day as the track hadn’t changed since the previous day. However, I started getting an uneasy feeling about an hour after my 2nd practice run and started thinking I needed to do a 3rd run for some reason. Ended up going with my gut feeling and was pretty happy that I did, as I ended up getting a flat, not even half way down. After that the uneasy feeling went away and I could relax until race time.

For my race run I was aiming for the sub 4 minute 55 seconds as mentioned before and was feeling good. My run started terribly with blowing my feet off the pedals pretty much the whole way down the top 3rd of the track until I calmed down. I got to the pedally section and I was knackered, but hammered through it. Now it was just the last section to go. By now I thought that I was miles off my sub 4 minute 55 second goal. I was trying too hard and ended up crashing in the left hander, just as the track went into the trees for the final time. I was gutted. I came down to 2nd place with one rider left to race, which surprised me. I was only 1 second slower than my seeding time, despite the terrible run. Once Miriam came down into first, I ended up 3rd which I was stoked with, all things considered.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank my sponsors Monster Energy NZ, Specialized Bikes NZ, Shimano and Fox Racing shocks for their support which has given me the opportunity to race this year in Europe. I will be back for another season next year. Also a special thanks to my friends/family for their support and all the other people who have helped me out this year. It is really appreciated.