amynz
Unsoiled
Joined: Jan 24, 2003
Posts: 4
Location: Christchurch
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 Posted: Wed 9th Jul 12:53pm Post subject: Late Report But....world Champs - Deer Valley Norba |
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Right now Cam and I are travelling with the Maxxis truck and trailer (with driver and rider Joanna Petterson) from Boulder in Colorado to Wyndham, New York (3,600 miles) for the next American National Race (NORBA). This mission will take 4 days and we are in the 3rd day and as I type we just passed a sign saying we are 33 miles from Chicago. But before I get carried away I must go back a few weeks to World Champs in Valdisole, Italy and then the Deer Valley NORBA in Utah for a late report.
I left NZ and arrived in Milan, Italy on a Saturday after nearly 2 days of travelling. Cam left home nearly 3 months earlier so I was looking forward to seeing him again when he arrived on Monday night from racing Wheels of Speed in Germany. I had a 4 days to get over any jet lag as there was no World Champs action until Tuesday when we were allowed to walk the track, and then from Wednesday until race on Saturday we were practicing the on the race track.
My week started in a destructive way when we went out with coach JK to ride some other tracks before the race track opened and a big stick managed to ping up and rip half the spokes out of my new back wheel, it may have been payback for hassling Brooke and Scarlett who I was following when they went over the bars due to other big sticks scattered all over the track. Needless to say Brooke and Scarlett had the last laugh. But lucky for me the NZ team had Craig Pattle acting as rider and mechanic extraordinaire and he built me a new wheel that is still going as strong as ever.
By the time Tuesday rolled around the whole NZ DH team was itching to do something, so walking the course was a welcome relief. The track was probably one of the harder tracks I have ever seen, it was all roots, rocks, really steep and to top things off it was wet. I was looking forward to getting my first few runs out of the way and finding out how the track rode. My first run down the track was really good thanks to Brooke who let me follow him. From there the weekend just got better, the track dried up and the predicated thunder storms never eventuated. Seeding was early in the week on Thursday and I was still learning the track so didn’t have the best seeding run, I was surprised to find that I had seeded 14th and actually only found out after my mate text me from NZ. My goal was to keep improving on earlier World Champs I had raced at; my first World Champs in Rotorua was still my best result when I was 14th, in 2007 in Scotland I had had a nightmare run and was 25th I think. So this year things were on track to improve.
On race day I was at the top of the hill before my race run and we heard Aari and Brooke had finished 4th and 5th and were both really close to a podium result. It was awesome news and to top it off they both have another year as juniors so that’s really exciting for next year. It’s hard to explain the atmosphere at the top of the hill and when you are sitting in the gate before your race run, all I can say is that there is no feeling like it. My race run wasn’t great I had 2 big mistakes but I stayed on my bike and finished 16th. Scarlett finished 9th after seeding 5th and it was great to see her back racing overseas and pinned.
The men’s downhill was the most exciting race I have ever watched. NZ had the most guys in the top 25 with Justin, Sam, KB, Cam and Wyn all doing a great job. Its great watching your own team mates come down. But I guess Sam Hill stole the show again, at the bottom you could see his whole run on the big screen and he made riding the track look effortless. When Sam crashed right near the bottom the whole crowd went quiet. Sam did an amazing job of getting back on and still only being 0.5 seconds off the current hot seat holder Steve Peat. To tell you the truth after Sam crashed I think a lot of people were thinking finally it might be Steve’s year and he might finally win. Unfortunately he went on to take 2nd place for the 7th time (I’m told) in his World Champs career and the Athertons dominated the men and women’s categories. Italy sure knew how to throw a celebration and on Saturday night and the new World DH champs were certainly well celebrated.
Sunday the final day of World Champs was saved for the elite men and women’s cross country races and what a hot day it was, it was too hot to stand anywhere but in the shade so I cant say how impressed I was by everyone actually racing in the heat. In the women’s class NZ had Rosara Joseph coming back from a broken ankle about 8 weeks earlier and Kaytee Boyd. Rosara did a great job to finish top 30 and so disappointing for Kaytee as she flatted but still managed to finish 58th. In the men’s class Cam and I went and cheered on the riders, we had Kashi from NZ to cheer on and Cam’s team mate Canadian Geoff Kabush. These guys are machines they are so fast and we were in awe of what they do. Kashi didn’t have the best race and ended up 47th and Geoff pulled back from a bad start and around 30ish to make 16th.
After World Champs was over we were in Milan for a few days before flying to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Deer Valley NORBA. The Deer Valley downhill track is pretty rugged and rocky. It was the track where Cam had his big crash and hurt his wrist last year. Before the downhill there was the dual slalom race to watch, it was exciting racing as I had Sam and Cam from NZ to cheer on. Sam was eliminated during one of his races when he just missed the flag, so Cam was left to represent and he raced super well to take the win. In the downhill I crashed out in seeding but stayed on in a conservative race run to take 4th place and a podium spot. Justin looked really good and took out the men’s field by nearly 6 seconds with Sam in 3rd, Kieran Bennett in 6th and Cam had a mechanical near the top of the track and couldn’t finish. After the downhill we had the Super D to race which is a cross between downhill and cross country. In my class I had other pro cross country women and downhillers to race against. Cam and I had been talked into racing the Super D when Sam and Justin had said that it was a really fun track and that it didn’t have too many up hills in it so was more suited to downhillers. I didn’t have a bike to race on but that was fixed when Cam said I could ride his 4X bike (with some adjustments to the suspension settings required). After one practice run on the super d course we were hooked, it was great fun. I ended up finishing 2nd by 2 seconds on a 7 minute track. Sam won the guys class with Cam up on the podium to in 5th and Justin flatted on track. So all in all a fun weekend had by all.
Anyway that’s my late report from my first two races over here. I will get onto my Windham NORBA report and Canadian World Cup reports sooner I promise! Will get some photos sorted for next time as well.
Hope the winter weather isn’t stopping you all from riding lots. See you in NZ soon. Amy
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