Swiss IXS cup

The past week, me and all the NZ crew drove to a few hours from Morzine to Wiriehorn to compete in the Swiss round of the IXS Cup. As per normal the trip was fun and full of activities from the start till the end. One of the boys managed to buy a tazer at some market which keep us all on our toes for most of the trip as everybody was a target.

We had a special group of hecklers to keep the NZ riders on form, this consisted of Matt and Jack the broken Kiwis that weren't able to race. They managed to make a hell of alot of noise just for the two of them, the peacefull French spectators didn't know what had hit them.

The track was different.. really awkward and rough in places with about three corners that flowed, followed by a massive uphill pedal near the end of the track. Not my ideal track, but after a few runs down the track I started to get the hang of it and pick the pace up. After the first day we decided a dam would be our project for the afternoon, as we needed somwhere to cool off after each run. We even brought rubbish bags to block up the holes for maximum depth. Everyday it was in the 30's so the dam was used by pretty much every rider at somstage! we tried to say "you swim you build" but they would just looked at us wierd and talked back in swiss haha.

After two days of practise the kiwi hecklers managed to con everybody into renting mountain scooters to bomb down this big hill. This was the loosest thing ever, we probably reached speeds of about 60km then the speed wobbles would start to kick in. Dez managed to over cook a corner and wash out in the gravel. I had a tyre blowout mid run on one of the fastest sections, causing me to slid down the road out of control and just about went off the bank.

We managed to catch it all on GoPro.

Check it out.. http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=4613742220875

After my near death accident (well thats what it felt like) race day seemed some what easy compared to mad scooter riding. But First run down I ened up having a huge one. When a rider went down on a fast blind section and I came over and smoked him at full speed sending me flying down the track and causing my second set of bars to snap! I was very lucky to walk away with only two dead legs. After a poor start to my day, I managed to pull out a 10^th in Pro men and 4^th in juniors only a few split seconds off 3^rd. The weather was perfect dry and dusty all weekend and the same for everybody.

And as we were in the middle of nowhere.... there was no after party, so we had to make our own. This involved trying to get some cow bells off some of the cows in the field opposite our place. We were gutted to find out the cheecky Swiss cable tied them on so we couldn't get any. The following day the drive back to Morzine was full of activities. We stopped at lake Geneva to do some cannon balls and what not off some huge diving boards. We then continued onto some choice gokarts, where all the DH boys got rowdy and let loose on the track. Matt coming in at 1^st and me back in 4^th. All in all it was an insane weekend full of good times and some good results.

Off to World champs next week, so lets hope for some good results there too!

THE KIWI'S DAM

Some round about on the edge of lake Geneva

Second Pair

Racing with the boys

V iew down the vally from Val d'isere

Van all packed and ready to go.

Hey everybody, sorry I have been so slack over the past few weeks.

It has been full up with traveling and racing from Val d'isere France, too Pila Italy. Internet has been pretty patchy as wee have been gypsying it at cheap camping grounds or on random pieces of grass.

The racing has been going alright, would have liked to be doing abit better but the weather has been playing havoc with me and my results.

The road trip to Val d'isere was a huge mission as we had to fit 9 people, gear, riding gear and 8 bikes in our small van, and try get there without being pulled up by the local police Bags and bikes were stropped to the roof so everybody could pile in. The rubbish bag tints came out to stop things looking so bad from the out side, this wasn't the smartest idea as we soon realized it was imposible to see out when reversing. Owell all played out well and we arrived at the 6 round of the World cup safe and on time.

Val d'isere is a small but expensive wee town with huge mountains towering up either side. The World Cup track was pretty old school, all out in the open winding its way down the side of a ski slope with loose rocky turns. Practise day rolled in and everybody started loving it as the loose rocks started rolling off to the side, and huge breaking bumps started to form. All Practise the track was bone dry, with loamy corners and piles of rocks either side of the main line. This turned the track into pretty much one line because if you went off main line you were highly likely to crash in the fist size rocks. Photographers and spectators weren't aloud in certain areas as the risk of rolling rocks from bikers or animals was too dangours. This wasn't taken every well with many, but there was nothing that could be done.

Qualifing came around fast, and I was amped, feeling fast and ready to try get top 80! The Start list was orded from fastest too slowest, the top 60 riders getting to ride down in the bone dry and then the storm rolled in. Leaving the rest of us to pretty much battling it out for the 20 spots left. I ended up coming down in 100^th two seconds off the pass. So gutted as I knew I could have made that time up easy, was just to cautious as I hadn't riden the track in the wet. I just wish everybod had the same conditions so I would have an idea where I am at, but thats racing I guess. Big ups to Brook Macdonald though, who took the Win! Go Kiwis.

Next race was in Pila Italy, land of the pizza and pasta. We arrived a day earily to get some extra riding in but this didn't end up happing, instead we ended up going to a pool party with all the kiwi boys. Not much riding was done the following day...

Pila accomadition

The Pila track was aweosme, had abit of everything, rocks, roots, berms and jumps. For some reason most of the weekend I was on a down buzz and couldn't get amped or excited about the riding. Was a weird feeling that I hope doesn't come back next race or any day I go riding. With 300 hundred riders the track was getting rougher every run, the zerode g-1 was loving it, just not me. The weather played games with all the riders once again during seeding, being dry for the first half of the field and then raining for me and the rest. To my suprize I ended up seeding 36^th out of 300 riders, putting me back in the start list for the following day. Over the next day and a half the track slowly dried out for racing..... but again only for the first half of the field which I wasn't in! I Rode down in the poring rain into 71^st, place. I was out the arse, I have never in my life raced in rain like that before, it was so loose and fun. Changing conditions are starting to get anoying, but owell racings hard, got to pick up my balls and go faster wet or dry.

Hopfully I have some better results next time I update my blog.

Catch yous up.