World Cup 1 – Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

By Wednesday the pits had transformed into a World Cup site and riders were beginning to show up. It was great to have been here for a week already as I was already used to the humidity and I had already ridden the track so I was able to conserve some energy during the run up to the race. They made a few alterations to the track from the national, just adding an extra line at the top and putting in a few extra corners and lines here and there, otherwise it was pretty much the same.

Practice took place on Thursday and by Thursday afternoon it was already time for timed practice. This year the world cup schedule has been changed slightly and we now qualify the day before the race, and just have one race run on the Sunday. For this race it was actually qualifying on Friday, so you had to be up to speed pretty quick.

I worked on a few sections that I hadn’t ridden that well the week before and was ready for qualifying. With the race run 2 days away you could really afford to give it everything in qualifying in the quest for points as there was plenty of time for recovery. I had a pretty strong run apart from two very scary moments where I landed a jump having not turned quite enough and had to plough through some rough stumps and undergrowth on the side of the track, I then had another sketchy moment when I cased a jump and got a big double bounce ! I managed to stay on but it was not the most perfect run! It was good enough to better my time of last weekend by 5 secs and put me into the 1st qualifying position with time of 4.29min. I was 9 secs ahead of Emmeline Ragot in 2nd place. That was a great start, but I knew I could definitely ride a little smoother and faster !

Rain had been forecast for Friday and it managed to hang on until after all the qualifying had taken place and just rained during the night. This meant that Saturday morning the track was going to be slick ! I opted not to ride as the forecast was dry for Sunday. Instead I went and walked the track and watched everyone sliding around in the mud ! The clay soil here is some of the most slippery stuff I have ever ridden and no one was able to get down the top section at any speed at all. In some way this was to my advantage as the riders didn’t have chance to really get any faster on the track. Sunday came and the sun was out, the track was still a little slippery at the top, but I knew it would be fine by the time our race run came. I checked out a few new lines and was ready to race.

Being the first race of the year and the first for my new team I was pretty nervous. However the clock soon ticked on and I was in the start gate. The crowd and atmosphere were great and straight away I was enjoying the noise of the crowd and it was good to be racing again. I rode the top section well and quickly settled into a pretty relaxed run. I hit all my lines really well and just tried to pedal everywhere I could. I crossed the line in 4.20min, 9 secs quicker than my qualifying time and over 6 secs ahead of Emmeline who took 2nd spot. It was a great feeling to get the year off to such a great start, and fantastic for my new team Trek World Racing to not only get their first world cup win, but with Justin and Andrew finishing 7th and 14th we also took the lead in the overall team standings.

Now the worst bit of the job occurs, after such a great weekend it’s then time to pack up everything and sit on a plane or a “germ tube” as I heard it called this week, for a big 24hrs of flying to San Francisco for the Sea Otter Classic this weekend. Fun !!

Tracy