Nissan Trailseeker #4

The Nissan Trailseeker series is scheduled till late in the season and will keep the standard of racing high till the end of the year. The 4th leg called #bundubash was a new venue for this year and everyone was excited to race a new route. I had no idea what to expect from the route until someone said keep some energy in the tank for the last 20km, that person was correct! The start was extremely fast and hard and very dusty. The first 15 to 20km the leading group was still huge with about 30 to 35 riders and it was a race inside the race to keep a good position at the front of the race.



Not long after the first tough section with a climb and some bumpy roads the group finally got reduced to about 12 guys. Two riders tried to slip of the front and that was a hard chase to catch up with them again. After that chase we were only about 6 riders left at the front,everyone trying to hold on and catch your breath at the same time.

We got some very nice single track sections on the route and a very lengthy one about 5km before the Hotspot on 45km. At that stage 5 of us entered the singletrack at almost the same time, unfortunately I entered the singletrack behind a guy who couldn't keep up with the guys up front and at the end of the singletrack the three guys in front wasn't even in sight and it was a very tough chase after that to catch them again and I used a lot of energy not to catch them at the end and with all that effort I forgot about that "last 20km" and I paid for my efforts! I suffered with about 10km to go riding all on my own for about 25km after the hotspot.  

From 5km to go there are indications telling you how far to go, with about 4km to go I pushed myself to the limit cause a chasing group of about 4 riders were just behind me and my goal was to finish in front of them as I counted to kilometers down 3km to go.....2km to go..... They passed me with a bang I could't even get on the back of the group as I nursed myself to the finish with 1km to go.  

                                                                              

I was disappointed not to finish in the top 5 positions but there is always a lot to learn from races and it is important to take the positive aspects out of a race and to improve in the next one. With only two races left for the 2014 season I hope to finish on a high. Thanks for all the support before,during and

after the race I really appreciate it.

I can't thank my sponsors enough for the opportunity they are giving me to live out my dream , racing every race to the best of my ability. Make a point to follow these great sponsors on social media to see their latest and greatest products (Team Jeep- @teamjeep) (Jeep-@jeep) (Gu energy-@GUEnergySouthAf ) (Salomon-@salomon_SA) (POC SA- POCSouthAfrica)

Till next time

Smurf