We arrived into Berlin 2 weeks prior to the opening round of Olympic qualifying at the World Cup race in Berlin, Germany. After the jetlagged settled we got straight into a track session and it was definitely different to any other world cup track with wooden kickers, tight corners, hip sections and tunnels. With a heat wave hitting Europe it definitely made it fun come training time as well as bed time with no air con in our apartments. The track was generally pretty easy to get around and actually fun to ride, but knew since the first time we turned up it was going to be pretty much single file racing after the second and third jump don the first straight. I was super pumped to get back on a big hill for the first time since last year and the first session out there consisted of touching up and getting the track sorted with no real plan of attack other than that.
Track session two seen a lot of focus on the hill and first straight and getting back into attack/charge mode on the hill finishing off with a play on the track. The third session out on the track was really just a light but direct session addressing all the areas needed. We also rode the German Olympic Centre track which when we turned up looked very interesting in a bad way but once ridding was actually a really dope track to ride and charge (except the over vertical dirt jump/pro jump into the second turn). Normal gym slots meant I kept my power and speed phase training on point leading up to the event as well as sprint maintenance.
In between track sessions and on our day off we did some good site seeing ridding around the city of Berlin checking out all the touristy spots. The culture and how the Germans used to live/believe in back in the day were damn strong and the city reflected that. We checked out the Berlin wall, Berlin's Holocaust Memorial and a concentration camp which was pretty damn heavy. Crazy history that’s for sure!
Practise day came around and all that was needed was a wake up/primer session to keep the legs awake. A few gates, a few second and third straights and shut it down. Same applied come qualifying day practise, just enough to prime myself then put the feet up to stay fresh for qualifying racing.
I cruised through qualifying racing with a 1st, 3rd and a 1st transferring to day 2 of racing. First moto came around and I drew lane 8 punching out strong getting the holeshot and taking the win. Second moto not much changed other than my inside lane of 2 also pulling a 1st. Third moto I punched out strong out of lane 3 but tagged the first jump pulling me back into the pack and dropping back going into the first turn taking a 5th place in that one.
After a 3 hour rain delay the track actually held up pretty well with the track team getting into fixing and sweeping the puddles off. Quarters came around and I had last pick, giving me lane 8 once again. I punched out strong once again moving into lane 4 by the bottom of the hill and trying as hard as I could to push over harder going into the first turn 3rd on the outside of Conner being held up allowing another underneath. Coming in to the hip section I had pulled back up to 3rd but that’s when a bomb went off in the turn. The guy in second tried passing for 1st washing out causing both of them going down leaving nowhere to go other than straight into the back of them going down. After a major scramble for bikes I realised my day was done with the riders in the rear passing for the lead....day done! Some really decent language came out of my life letting the emotions getting the better of me knowing what happened was out of my hands and my day was done after feeling so good out there considering I hadn’t ridden a world cup in 9 months.
I learned a lot of things out there none the less moving forward and will implement them moving forward into the next world cup. One major thing that I pulled out is I need to be on the gate at these types of events more often as it makes it pretty hard to race one every 9 months and expect big things out there.
I am currently back in America where I sat my university exams out in a Los Angeles university 12 hours after hoping off the plane. Stress levels and jetlag was at an all time high but I think I managed to get through both of them.....fingers crossed haha. Next weekend I will be heading to Rockford, Illinois for the next stop of the ABA Pro circuit then onto south park, Pittsburgh the following weekend. I am carrying a little injury from Berlin in my tailbone so training has been nil in void trying to get it healed up and pain free for next weekend which once again fingers crossed heals up in time. I’ll be heading down to the Olympic training centre in San Diego tomorrow to see how it’s all feeling and try get back on the horse gently. After those 2 races I will be heading back to New Zealand to catch up with family, plan out the rest of the racing year, do some fishing with my old man, see my girlfriend and wind down for a week or so up the mountain hitting the slopes.
All for now and hope all you shredders are getting ready and putting in some solid work for worlds! All the riders I coach back in New Zealand, if it’s raining, underground car parks are your friendJ. It’s only around the corner.
Peace #949
Track session two seen a lot of focus on the hill and first straight and getting back into attack/charge mode on the hill finishing off with a play on the track. The third session out on the track was really just a light but direct session addressing all the areas needed. We also rode the German Olympic Centre track which when we turned up looked very interesting in a bad way but once ridding was actually a really dope track to ride and charge (except the over vertical dirt jump/pro jump into the second turn). Normal gym slots meant I kept my power and speed phase training on point leading up to the event as well as sprint maintenance.
In between track sessions and on our day off we did some good site seeing ridding around the city of Berlin checking out all the touristy spots. The culture and how the Germans used to live/believe in back in the day were damn strong and the city reflected that. We checked out the Berlin wall, Berlin's Holocaust Memorial and a concentration camp which was pretty damn heavy. Crazy history that’s for sure!
Practise day came around and all that was needed was a wake up/primer session to keep the legs awake. A few gates, a few second and third straights and shut it down. Same applied come qualifying day practise, just enough to prime myself then put the feet up to stay fresh for qualifying racing.
I cruised through qualifying racing with a 1st, 3rd and a 1st transferring to day 2 of racing. First moto came around and I drew lane 8 punching out strong getting the holeshot and taking the win. Second moto not much changed other than my inside lane of 2 also pulling a 1st. Third moto I punched out strong out of lane 3 but tagged the first jump pulling me back into the pack and dropping back going into the first turn taking a 5th place in that one.
After a 3 hour rain delay the track actually held up pretty well with the track team getting into fixing and sweeping the puddles off. Quarters came around and I had last pick, giving me lane 8 once again. I punched out strong once again moving into lane 4 by the bottom of the hill and trying as hard as I could to push over harder going into the first turn 3rd on the outside of Conner being held up allowing another underneath. Coming in to the hip section I had pulled back up to 3rd but that’s when a bomb went off in the turn. The guy in second tried passing for 1st washing out causing both of them going down leaving nowhere to go other than straight into the back of them going down. After a major scramble for bikes I realised my day was done with the riders in the rear passing for the lead....day done! Some really decent language came out of my life letting the emotions getting the better of me knowing what happened was out of my hands and my day was done after feeling so good out there considering I hadn’t ridden a world cup in 9 months.
I learned a lot of things out there none the less moving forward and will implement them moving forward into the next world cup. One major thing that I pulled out is I need to be on the gate at these types of events more often as it makes it pretty hard to race one every 9 months and expect big things out there.
I am currently back in America where I sat my university exams out in a Los Angeles university 12 hours after hoping off the plane. Stress levels and jetlag was at an all time high but I think I managed to get through both of them.....fingers crossed haha. Next weekend I will be heading to Rockford, Illinois for the next stop of the ABA Pro circuit then onto south park, Pittsburgh the following weekend. I am carrying a little injury from Berlin in my tailbone so training has been nil in void trying to get it healed up and pain free for next weekend which once again fingers crossed heals up in time. I’ll be heading down to the Olympic training centre in San Diego tomorrow to see how it’s all feeling and try get back on the horse gently. After those 2 races I will be heading back to New Zealand to catch up with family, plan out the rest of the racing year, do some fishing with my old man, see my girlfriend and wind down for a week or so up the mountain hitting the slopes.
All for now and hope all you shredders are getting ready and putting in some solid work for worlds! All the riders I coach back in New Zealand, if it’s raining, underground car parks are your friendJ. It’s only around the corner.
Peace #949
