Pierre Smith : Double Touble

This past weekend was a busy one with a lot of races all over South-Africa. I chose to ride the Winter Fast one on Friday and the Parys Dirtmax on Saturday. I saw it as a great opportunity to get some racing fitness in my legs in preparation for the bigger races later this month.

Friday I realised the winter has arrived! It was a cold morning as everyone tried to warm themselves before the 8am start. The route was flat and fast and was mostly Jeep tracks and some sections of singletracks. The competition was tough and guys like Nic White, Henry Uys, delaney Impey and Andrew Mclean came out to show their form. Flat route or not the racing was on. In the early stages of the race the pace was high and the leading group were big. There was one hill to climb and it was the KOM (King of the Mountain) so everyone expected some fireworks there. On top of the climb I had a quick stop to take some grass out of my cassette and a small gap opened up between me and the leading five.

I charged down the hill trying to catch up with them again, when I heard a bad noise coming from my back wheel. It was a broken spoke and it got tangled up all over my wheel. I lost a lot time trying to fix the problem just to finish the race. Due to the high pace of the race it was difficult for me to catch the guys again and I just managed myself home. I finished 23rd overall.

Saturday was a different story. The race was a bit shorter but there were more hills to deal with. Luckily the start was 9am so the start was warmer. The first 15km was tough as everyone attacked all over the place trying to reduce the numbers in the leading group. After a few rolling hills the group at the front was ready to race. Not long after the rolling hills we entered a wild reserve with some hectic climbs one which is impossible to ride. Going up that hill three guys made a small gap , following was two other guys and myself. I bridged the gap on the next long drag, just to see one guy left the two of them behind. I passed them and was in pursuit of the lone leader. All went good I had him in sight all the time when I found myself on the ground completely overshooting a dangerous corner. Just after the crash was a technical section and two guys pasted me while I was down. Working my way through the technical section on a island I continued my chase,only this time for 3rd place. With about 5km to go I passed the 3rd place rider to claim the last step on the podium.

It was a tough weekend on the bike but as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! I'm looking forward to race the Walkerville classic ,Nissan trailseeker #1 and the Ashburton Investment national series #4 (SA Champs) . Thank you for all the support and motivational words out there. A Big shout out to all the sponsors for our team it's a pleasure to be in such a good team full of awesome people. Train safe and train hard .