USN MTB CUP Series #1

Saturday saw the start of the USN CUP SERIES for 2013, with the inaugural race held at Stoke City Wakepark in Midrand. With rain starting to fall a day prior to the race and continuing through the night we were left to race on a very wet and muddy course. Who says you need a wakeboard to ski around Stoke City. Just bring your bike and come join in on the fun J

The only drawback was that my new bike, a Rocky Mountain Vertex, was barely a week old and we all know what mud can do to a bike...

My teammate Nicci Grobler joined me for the race, and under grey skies we set off to do two 30km laps of the 60km event.

The first 5km of the route was on jeep track followed by long sections of winding single track. Once exiting the single track we had another 5km left on jeep track before going onto our 2^nd and final lap.

In order to find out where my form is at the beginning of the season, I went pretty hard from the start. Halfway into the first lap it was only Nicci and myself out in front. Nicci and I started to work together in an attempt to establish as big a gap as possible on the rest of the chasing ladies field. The 2^nd lap took us a bit longer to complete than the first as the muddy track was churned up by all the preceding riders. We also encountered some traffic while catching the 30km riders and the back markers on the 60km race, but generally they were very considerate and would let us pass without too much hassle.

Nicci and I rode together from start to finish and crossed the line together to take 1^st and 2^nd place. I can’t think of a better start to the season for Team bizhub and for me racing alongside a good friend and teammate taking the top honours on the day.

Well done to the Velocourse Team for putting together a very well organised event with a great route despite the challenging weather conditions.