Yup, still getting surprised by the onslaught of proper racing season. The first World Cup Triple is already in the books for 2011. And it’s a good thing, as folks are evidently FIRED UP to race. I need to get fired up too if I plan to make good in the World Cups this summer, which I do, obviously.
Last week’s racing at the Sea Otter Classic was a good warm-up for the beginning of the World Cup, it just happened to be on the other side of the globe. I departed Monterey, CA (a couple hours late) at 1pm on Sunday and didn’t land in Durban, South Africa until noon on Tuesday. Dang. Fortunately, I planned a “long layover” in New York City and spent the night at my cousin Jen’s place in Brooklyn, getting a few hours of sleep and some great catching up on non-bike racing world stuff. Like her being very pregnant and very excited about it. We all grow up someday and I’m happy to see her moving into a new phase of life.
I’m pretty sure everyone who traveled to Pietermaritzburg from California felt like they started a new phase of life, or maybe ended one… Making up the American travel crew, Katie and I met the rest of the Rabobank/Giant team guys at the Cool Winds lodge and caught up over a nice dinner prepared by the staff there. South Africa is nothing if not a place where there’s plentiful help available, we’d have meals prepared all week as part of our stay. It was good to meet our other new female teammate, Rosara Joseph, who joined Katie and I at the “Gluten Free” end of the table for the week. We got a few more veggies and had some good old-fashioned conversations in English over the course of the week. Welcome to the team, Rosara, and good work riding your New Zealand National Champion’s kit to 14th place.
Resting is training. Jelmer and Fabien hard at work...
With the Cross Country racing on Saturday there was little time to do much other than one solid day of training before a bunch of lying around trying to get over the obvious jet lag… I think proper training on Wednesday, including some sweet riding in the Cedara Woods trail network with Emil, got me tired enough to establish at least some semblance of reasonable sleep but I was still keeping the light on well after Jelmer hit the sack and was definitely the last one to show up for breakfast in the morning. I can never tell if I’m in trouble for that, but I guess it is what it is…
That's a big Grasshopper!
Race day came fast, as it always does, and I felt pretty ready. Not super duper ready, but as good as I could be given the time of year and week prior. Turns out anything less than 100% just isn’t even close to good enough for the Opening round, or any round. I started with #39, my ranking from the 2010 series, and pretty much stayed there as the course funneled into singletrack after 300m or so. Which was a victory in itself, not losing positions in the start melee, that is… We all knew the nature of the new racecourse they’d built for this event would make the field string out quickly and overtaking would be difficult without miracle legs for the few false flat dirt road sections. The rest of the track was super fun to ride, all bench-cut singletrack with great flow, both up and down, but it just wasn’t the kind of track where you could be clever and make a difference without using brute strength. Which I didn’t have, even on the XTC 29er with amazingly awesome Enve Composites Tubular rims… I felt pretty strong, actually, and feel like I rode pretty well, but all I have to show for it is basically maintaining my position mid-pack while losing a minute and a half per lap to the lead duo of Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter, who I’m sure were able to make a difference somewhere on the track… Nino made the biggest and took first blood of 2011. Todd Wells showed why we won the Sea Otter last week by riding to a solid 10th place. I got 50th. Kind of pathetic but also kind of concerning considering the fact that I didn’t really feel bad at all. I just couldn’t push that extra little bit to pass guys on the road sections. Guess I’ll have to work on that in my next block of training at home…
For 2011 the World Cup is featuring a separate race for Under 23 riders. Of my young Dutch teammates, Michiel Van Der Heijden, Marco Minnard and Tim Lemmers raced this event while Henk Jaap Moorlag elected to race with the big boys. Coming off winning the Junior World Championship in 2010, Michiel announced his arrival to the Adult age bracket by riding steadily from his last row start position to 5th place on the last of 5 laps. Damn. That was a solid effort. Watch this kid…
Shimano had a Braai (BBQ) after the race. They're smart and we love them.
Anyway, I’m kind of at a loss as I travel home, which is essentially taking forever. For not really feeling bad it’s kind of hard to stomach getting smoked. Hopefully this isn’t a trend as the races shift to shorter, less selective, more man-made courses and I shift more towards wanting to have fun and feel good about what I’m doing… Pretty sure doing some more homework and it getting closer to “summer” will take care of it though. Till then, thanks for reading, hope you’re doing your homework too, whatever it is.
Cows living a happy life out in the countryside must be why the beef at The Butchery is sooooo delicious! Man it's good.
