Second... still a shot at the Games
May 15, 2008
After 10 days at home after the recent World Cup and national championships in Adelaide, it was time again to pack the bags and haul myself across the world to Europe - Denmark to be more precise - for the next round of the BMX World Cup.
It was a strange feeling, packing for a World Cup in May, but a BMX World Cup and not a MTB World Cup, which is the norm. That feeling soon left as I sat on the plane for yet another 36 hour epic.
First though, before the World Cup we spent three days in Aigle, Switzerland at the UCI training center to get some time on the newly rebuilt track there.
I'm kinda like a little kid on my BMX when it comes to new places and new tracks, I get all excited and can't stop riding. The rest of the Aussie crew were burnt out from the flight over and didnt want to ride much, which is fair enough, but the way I see it, why fly for almost two days to just sit down and recover when you could be out there hucking some dubs!
Add to that the fact some of the US and NZ teams were there and that was all I needed to keep riding.
Steven Cisar is a cool guy and with a chance to just ride, do some gates and have fun playing around on the track with him was awesome. The same can be said for riding with Willdog....woof woof!
While we were there Sam Willoughy was in Germany for the European championships, and to cut a long story short, he shredded! He won both days in junior elite. He had to have mad people watching the Euros see him as Sam Willoughwho? to Sam Willoughwoo!
Anyway, back to why I went on this trip!
On Thursday we were meant to have practice, but the track was too wet, so it was cancelled. Friday, we were meant to have practice and qualifying, but it was too wet, riders protested against the conditions, practice cancelled. Saturday, race day, which ended up being, practice, qualifying and race day, a looooong day!
To me it seems to always be the case that I never get lucky with the race draw - which I actually like - because if you're not good enough to cruise through your heats, you'll never win the big races.
If you're interested my heats had Maris Strombergs (2nd at the last round and possibly the fastest 1st straight in the business), Rob Dewilde (2007 World Cup Champion), Ivo Lakucs (European ranking leader) Javier Colombo (2006 World Champion) Bubba Harris (2005 World Champion) Brandon Meadows (former Junior World Champion). For sure the hardest of all the heats, as 3 of us 8 would end up in the top 5 for the day!
My gates were on and I was having a good day, I felt strong and I cruised into the quarter final. Unfortunately I had an incident in the 3rd heat, resulting in a slow lap which gave me the always awesome and very outside lane 8 for the quarter final (sarcasm).
No worries, I had a good first straight and kept it safe for a second place and a pass to the semi final.
I really enjoyed this race as it also featured Sam Willoughby, Marc Willers and Luke Madill. We were all next to each other in the gate and it felt like racing at home.
I got a good gate, so did Sam and we hit each other pretty good about five pedals into the race, but with him being my main man, I made sure to lean back more into Willers' direction to my inside after we hit to free him up some room for Sam, resulting in Willers getting cut off (sorry Willdog it was intentional)! I hit the first turn in a good spot but got hung out pretty wide. I got a good run down the second straight and had to fight a bit to get back to third. Sam was on the bubble in fifth looking for a pass into the fourth and final qualifying spot, and he looked odds on when Willdog made a boo boo, resulting in Sam running up the back of him and putting and end to his charge.
I was pretty much buggered by the final, it was a long physical lap and racing was being run pretty quick, but you find that extra something when adrenaline and nerves kick in for the main event!
I once again got a good start, and had a drag race going with Strombergs for the lead down the 1st straight, I got ahead by half a bike length, which was just enough to lean in on the first turn and hit the lead!
Down the second straight I was going flat out, as you do in a World Cup final.
Only I overshot the second jump, allowing Donny Robinson to pass me. After seeing the video footage back, it wasn't that I lost a bunch of speed doing this, it was more that Donny rode this straight very well, and snuck past me into turn two.
That is where I stayed until the finish, I kept looking for a pass back on Donny but it didnt happen.
Second at a World Cup and I'm pretty happy, but can't help but feel a bit dissapointed after getting the holeshot. I know I have the goods now coming into the Olympics and feel like I'm getting stronger with every race. I know my training is working and I have so many positives to take from the event!
With Olympic selection now only three weeks from being announced, I finally have peace of mind that I'll be in.
The coaches and selectors are very tight lipped about everything, but with my results over the last nine months, I'm very confident for the forthcoming announcement.
On a final note a big congratulationss to my MTB team mate Justin Leov for a killer start to the 2008 season with 8th place in the 1st round of the DH World Cup! A sure sign of even better things to come!
Next event for me: BMX World Championships, China, in 2.5 weeks!
It was a strange feeling, packing for a World Cup in May, but a BMX World Cup and not a MTB World Cup, which is the norm. That feeling soon left as I sat on the plane for yet another 36 hour epic.
First though, before the World Cup we spent three days in Aigle, Switzerland at the UCI training center to get some time on the newly rebuilt track there.
I'm kinda like a little kid on my BMX when it comes to new places and new tracks, I get all excited and can't stop riding. The rest of the Aussie crew were burnt out from the flight over and didnt want to ride much, which is fair enough, but the way I see it, why fly for almost two days to just sit down and recover when you could be out there hucking some dubs!
Add to that the fact some of the US and NZ teams were there and that was all I needed to keep riding.
Steven Cisar is a cool guy and with a chance to just ride, do some gates and have fun playing around on the track with him was awesome. The same can be said for riding with Willdog....woof woof!
While we were there Sam Willoughy was in Germany for the European championships, and to cut a long story short, he shredded! He won both days in junior elite. He had to have mad people watching the Euros see him as Sam Willoughwho? to Sam Willoughwoo!
Anyway, back to why I went on this trip!
On Thursday we were meant to have practice, but the track was too wet, so it was cancelled. Friday, we were meant to have practice and qualifying, but it was too wet, riders protested against the conditions, practice cancelled. Saturday, race day, which ended up being, practice, qualifying and race day, a looooong day!
To me it seems to always be the case that I never get lucky with the race draw - which I actually like - because if you're not good enough to cruise through your heats, you'll never win the big races.
If you're interested my heats had Maris Strombergs (2nd at the last round and possibly the fastest 1st straight in the business), Rob Dewilde (2007 World Cup Champion), Ivo Lakucs (European ranking leader) Javier Colombo (2006 World Champion) Bubba Harris (2005 World Champion) Brandon Meadows (former Junior World Champion). For sure the hardest of all the heats, as 3 of us 8 would end up in the top 5 for the day!
My gates were on and I was having a good day, I felt strong and I cruised into the quarter final. Unfortunately I had an incident in the 3rd heat, resulting in a slow lap which gave me the always awesome and very outside lane 8 for the quarter final (sarcasm).
No worries, I had a good first straight and kept it safe for a second place and a pass to the semi final.
I really enjoyed this race as it also featured Sam Willoughby, Marc Willers and Luke Madill. We were all next to each other in the gate and it felt like racing at home.
I got a good gate, so did Sam and we hit each other pretty good about five pedals into the race, but with him being my main man, I made sure to lean back more into Willers' direction to my inside after we hit to free him up some room for Sam, resulting in Willers getting cut off (sorry Willdog it was intentional)! I hit the first turn in a good spot but got hung out pretty wide. I got a good run down the second straight and had to fight a bit to get back to third. Sam was on the bubble in fifth looking for a pass into the fourth and final qualifying spot, and he looked odds on when Willdog made a boo boo, resulting in Sam running up the back of him and putting and end to his charge.
I was pretty much buggered by the final, it was a long physical lap and racing was being run pretty quick, but you find that extra something when adrenaline and nerves kick in for the main event!
I once again got a good start, and had a drag race going with Strombergs for the lead down the 1st straight, I got ahead by half a bike length, which was just enough to lean in on the first turn and hit the lead!
Down the second straight I was going flat out, as you do in a World Cup final.
Only I overshot the second jump, allowing Donny Robinson to pass me. After seeing the video footage back, it wasn't that I lost a bunch of speed doing this, it was more that Donny rode this straight very well, and snuck past me into turn two.
That is where I stayed until the finish, I kept looking for a pass back on Donny but it didnt happen.
Second at a World Cup and I'm pretty happy, but can't help but feel a bit dissapointed after getting the holeshot. I know I have the goods now coming into the Olympics and feel like I'm getting stronger with every race. I know my training is working and I have so many positives to take from the event!
With Olympic selection now only three weeks from being announced, I finally have peace of mind that I'll be in.
The coaches and selectors are very tight lipped about everything, but with my results over the last nine months, I'm very confident for the forthcoming announcement.
On a final note a big congratulationss to my MTB team mate Justin Leov for a killer start to the 2008 season with 8th place in the 1st round of the DH World Cup! A sure sign of even better things to come!
Next event for me: BMX World Championships, China, in 2.5 weeks!
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