World Cup Round 7, Val di Sole

Last weekend was the final round of the World Cup series in Val di Sole, Italy

The race weekend started out on wednesday with the registration and track walk, the track was looking pretty similar to last year, with a few small changes and it looked like it had been used alot since the last year, with alot more roots and rocks exposed!
Thursday was the first day of practice, the dirt had a bit of moisture in it so it was super loamy and heaps of fun to ride! although with the 30 degree heat the track was drying out and getting cut up pretty fast and the lines were changing alot
Friday morning was another short practice session, after walking the track again the night before i changed up a few lines and was starting to feel good on the track.
Friday afternoon was Qualifying, and i wasnt really too sure what to expect, after only being back on my downhill bike twice since breaking my hand in Windham i wasnt really feeling to strong on this gnarly, rough track. I managed to put a run together that felt pretty bad with some big mistakes up top and ended up in 9th place, so i was pretty happy with that, as i knew i could take a bit of time off in my race run.
Saturday was a short practice session in the morning, and after having over 250 people Qaulifying on the t'rack the day before it was super rough and blown out and with every day being super hot it had dryed out alot and was now ankle deep dust. I decided just to have a couple of cruisy runs as there were alot of people getting wild and getting injured with the speed and the gnarlyness of the track.
Sunday rolled around and it was another sunny and hot day, i put in a couple of practice runs in the morning, i wasnt feeling amazing on the track as it was pretty blown out and rough and was hard to have a good run, but after talking to a few people in the pits after it seemed everyone was feeling the same.
My goal for this race was to crack into the top 15 as i had been just outside it all season, my race run ended up going pretty good,  i got all the top sections pretty good with just a few small mistakes, but then coming into the bottom section i was pushing a little bit hard and made two big mistakes, luckily they didnt loose me too much time, and i finished up in 10th place. So i was pretty happy with that! Especially with a messy run like that

World Cup Round 6, La Bresse

Last weekend was the 6th round of the World Cup series in the small town of La Bresse, France.
After breaking a couple of bones in my hand at the last World Cup in Windham, i wasn't sure whether i would be able to race in La Bresse or not, but after cutting of the cast on the Monday before the race to see how it was feeling, i decided i would race, although it wasn't feeling too flash after being in a cast for the last couple of weeks, but i didn't want to loose my 19th position in the World Cup overall!

We headed up to France on Wednesday and after about 10 hours of travelling and being stuck in traffic jams we finally arrived!


Thursday was track walk, and the track was looking pretty much the same as it was for the World Cup back in 2009, although the had made a few small changes to help it flow a bit better.

Friday was the first day of practice and i wasn't really to sure what to expect as it was my first day on the bike since Windham.After getting the first practice run over with my hand wasn't feeling the best but it wasn't too bad, and the track was good fun to ride especially with the rain the days before in the open grass sections! I got 4 runs in before my hand started feeling a bit average so i decided to head up and walk the track.

Saturday was practice and Qualifying in the afternoon, after changing to dry tires and getting a couple of good practice runs in, it was qualifying time, and i ended up in 39th with a pretty slow run, on a short 2 minute track like this though the times were super tight!

Sunday was race day and after a massive storm overnight the track was looking super wet and loose! so my aim for practice in the morning was just to tidy up my lines and try carry some good speed. but after 2 days of riding my hand had taken a bit of a hammering and wasn't feeling good at all, I got half way down the track and had to pull off and ride down the road. I decided to sit out practice and give the hand a bit of a rest and hope it was feeling better for the finals. Finals came around and after re-strapping my hand a bit differently it wasn't feeling to bad, but I wasn't too sure what to expect from the track after not doing practice.

I ended up having a pretty messy run with a few too many mistakes for a short track, and i ended up in 42nd place, not so stoked, but it was enough to keep my 19th in the overall standings.
Next up is the World Cup final in Val di Sole in Italy, so hopefully my hands feeling a bit better by then and i can get back in that top 20!