Aidan Peterson doing what he does best
The 2014 DirtDevils summer Cross Country series went off with a bang, having five rounds throughout the season. All of which were a lead up to the main event - the club championships. This year, not only were the club XC championships held at Tolosa, but the state Downhill championships were sharing the venue too! We were in for an action-packed weekend.
The Saturday saw only Downhill practice runs - no qualifying yet. It also held the final race in the Cross Country series the day before the championships, and it was a TT hill climb - which wasn't fabulously ideal. Anyway, that got underway early in the morning and was very quickly won and run by Dan de Groot in the Open Male category. I had no one to race in U19 this day so I guess you could say I won, but I wouldn't count it.
Warming-up with the main opposition on the Sunday morning
I had made plans to enter the Downhill State championships, but it was on a borrowed bike that I had barely ridden up the street on, it would have been directly after the suffer-fest that the XC race was going to be and to put it quite simply, I absolutely destroyed myself on the first jump of the whole course - which didn't help in a good mindset to be honest! I decided I'd better leave until next season which would give me some time to train for it, as well as not be mentally and physically drained from a XC race an hour beforehand.
It got to the Sunday. After making the decision not to compete in the Downhill a lot of pressure had been taking off me, allowing me to concentrate on the Cross Country. I'd done my warm-up, gotten prepared and about 20 minutes before the race decided to relieve myself... As I rode back towards the main venue, I felt a prick on my side. I'd practically ridden through a blackberry bush, and in doing so, ripped a gaping hole in my knicks - all of my mental preparation had just left me at this moment. I rushed back to the car, grabbed some Duct tape (works miracles it does) and made a patch. Couldn't have been better, in fact, by the time I rode to the start line I didn't really even need to stop.
Look ma - One hand!
The U19/Veteran start was fast paced at the start
It was close race between me and the others - especially the junior who came down from up north especially (he wasn't actually in the club). In the long and much-hated climb at the start I managed to get a small gap on him with my sprint- maybe 15s - which I somehow managed to keep for the whole race. He got close a few times, as we found he was faster on the uphills while I made up time on the descents. In the end I got him by 2 minutes, which was a relief! Dan (who was mentioned earlier and also is supported by Cyclingo) wasn't as lucky today in Open, and was beaten by Scott Bowden, riding for 4Shaw.
The Club Champions come the end of race.
I was happy to take the win, as you would be, especially because I'd never competed in a club championship before (for some reason i've just missed all of the previous ones). I also came out with a medal! Medals seem to be hard to come by down south in Tasmania for Cross Country racing - not that it matters but it's nice when you get something for all the effort.
Overall, it's been a great season of racing and I can't wait to see what's in store for Winter!
Overall, it's been a great season of racing and I can't wait to see what's in store for Winter!
Some extra XC/DH Photos:
The Duct Tape didn't last very long
Dan Booker qualifying with plenty of time to spare
ALMOST didn't quite make it, but was pretty impressive
I felt destroyed.
No one really liked riding the roots anyway.
Welcome to the world of blogging James :)
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