Since my last update I have since raced the last two World Cup races on the circuit, continued training, fixed some niggley injuries, continued long distant coaching, worlds selection and changed a lot of plans moving forward into the second half of the season.
Upon arriving into Manchester, England we had a session on booked in on the track. With all the stories and rumours of the indoor track, I was expecting to struggle out there a little and be a little out of my comfort zone but 2 coffees deep to shake off the jetlag, everything went to plan and the track was easier than I had imagined. Training/sessions on the track came and went and race day rolled around fairly quickly. Come practise day it was pretty easy to get a handle on the track sending everything out first lap with a few others. Qualification day also came and went and after straightening a few issues out in motos, it was onto finals day. Come warm up on finals day, I took a pretty decent digger down the third straight having me wonder if I was going to be able to race but got back on the horse and did my best with a tennis ball knee and some fairly solid painkillers. I ended up hitting the gate twice out of three races seeing my day end in motos.
From there, we moved onto Holland where we had a few sessions booked on the track in Papendal to train and get ready for the second world cup of the season. I decided to miss the first couple of sessions due to my knee being purple, green and full of fluid. Once i got out there though, I felt fast and confident down the hill and into the first turn. From there, we headed to Belgium for a couple of days to ride this year’s world championships track. Track was fast and fun with a decent sized first straight for once.
Training, testing results and confidence had been ticking along nicely come official practise and felt ready for qualification day in Papendal. Pretty much all three motos I got out of the gate good and strong transferring down the first straight fighting up the front for an inside lane ending up getting held up a little into the first turn resulting in getting bombed by another and held wide killing all my speed down for the second straight and struggling to pull it back places wise. That was pretty much the story of my day by battling up front into the first turn and dropping back finishing with a 4th, 4th and 2nd ending my weekend there. The feeling of not making through to finals day was unreal for me knowing how I felt and what I was capable of moving into this weekend. It’s strange as it’s the best I have felt leading into a World Cup but the worst result on paper for me to date leaving a pretty big hole in the confidence and motivation.
I am now based in Aigle, Switzerland training at the UCI world training centre with the UCI team and loving it. I will be based here for the remainder of my time in Europe going back and forth to European Championship rounds and UCI rounds in Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark and here in Switzerland.
What's next for me......good question!! This year unfortunately I missed out on being selected for the World Championships which also sees the end of my international season and I will be leaving Europe earlier than expected on the 5th of July returning back home to New Zealand to clear the head, have a little break from the bike, hit some snow and re evaluate if I have the passion and desire to keep on keeping on and if so, what that will look like for me moving forward into next season needing me to make a few serious decisions along with finding some deep motivation.
All for now,
#Nine4nine
Upon arriving into Manchester, England we had a session on booked in on the track. With all the stories and rumours of the indoor track, I was expecting to struggle out there a little and be a little out of my comfort zone but 2 coffees deep to shake off the jetlag, everything went to plan and the track was easier than I had imagined. Training/sessions on the track came and went and race day rolled around fairly quickly. Come practise day it was pretty easy to get a handle on the track sending everything out first lap with a few others. Qualification day also came and went and after straightening a few issues out in motos, it was onto finals day. Come warm up on finals day, I took a pretty decent digger down the third straight having me wonder if I was going to be able to race but got back on the horse and did my best with a tennis ball knee and some fairly solid painkillers. I ended up hitting the gate twice out of three races seeing my day end in motos.
From there, we moved onto Holland where we had a few sessions booked on the track in Papendal to train and get ready for the second world cup of the season. I decided to miss the first couple of sessions due to my knee being purple, green and full of fluid. Once i got out there though, I felt fast and confident down the hill and into the first turn. From there, we headed to Belgium for a couple of days to ride this year’s world championships track. Track was fast and fun with a decent sized first straight for once.
Training, testing results and confidence had been ticking along nicely come official practise and felt ready for qualification day in Papendal. Pretty much all three motos I got out of the gate good and strong transferring down the first straight fighting up the front for an inside lane ending up getting held up a little into the first turn resulting in getting bombed by another and held wide killing all my speed down for the second straight and struggling to pull it back places wise. That was pretty much the story of my day by battling up front into the first turn and dropping back finishing with a 4th, 4th and 2nd ending my weekend there. The feeling of not making through to finals day was unreal for me knowing how I felt and what I was capable of moving into this weekend. It’s strange as it’s the best I have felt leading into a World Cup but the worst result on paper for me to date leaving a pretty big hole in the confidence and motivation.
I am now based in Aigle, Switzerland training at the UCI world training centre with the UCI team and loving it. I will be based here for the remainder of my time in Europe going back and forth to European Championship rounds and UCI rounds in Czech Republic, Italy, Denmark and here in Switzerland.
What's next for me......good question!! This year unfortunately I missed out on being selected for the World Championships which also sees the end of my international season and I will be leaving Europe earlier than expected on the 5th of July returning back home to New Zealand to clear the head, have a little break from the bike, hit some snow and re evaluate if I have the passion and desire to keep on keeping on and if so, what that will look like for me moving forward into next season needing me to make a few serious decisions along with finding some deep motivation.
All for now,
#Nine4nine
