You shouldn't expect to win, especially at an Australian Titles.
And as I recently discovered, beating a South Australian in South Australia is hard. Well that may not be entirely true, but there was one I couldn’t beat, and I found it a little humbling.
Day one went OK. I found the sections enjoyable but much the same as each other - up a rock, down a rock, around a rock and out the gate. Given our wet year in Queensland I was hoping we could ride through the water in the creek a bit! But I kept on track and finished the day a little ahead on points and happy with how the whole event was going.
The second day was nice and fun, and I was pleased to find a big log in a section. It was a shame I had to go over the little pile of firewood next to it. Then just a few cleans later there was another log in a section. This one I was allowed to ride over but that put me on a tight line with red arrows, which weren’t so bad, but from then on I decided to play it safe and only ride on the logs outside the section. I should have practised on the rocks!
My first five shouldn’t have happened. It was section six. I walked it and walked it and walked it and walked it. Despite that I was still the first rider in. I knew exactly what I had to do though. It was the second corner that caught me out. I had intended to do a floater around the corner to avoid all the rocks on the ground. But as I was coming in to the corner I compressed my forks to lift up the front wheel and started leaning into the corner to float. My foot-peg caught under a lip on a boulder, “Oh crap”. I tried to compress my rear shock to get it out but it was mostly compressed. I was balancing and shaking the bike, until a huge piece of the boulder cracked off onto me and threw me over the other way – “Five”; it was so sudden. Every one who cleaned that section afterwards rode up my broken up piece of rock!
So I was behind on points. I kept it out of my mind for lap two – I was still in with a chance. The beginning of the end was lap three on section three. I had waited too long behind a group of open solo riders. I think I let my muscles cool down and with the long wait my mind dwelt on the score. I needed a lap of negative one – impossible. It was an easy section and nothing could go wrong, but in my mind I knew that if I didn’t get negative one I might not come first. Well I rode most of the section well, bar one bit where I put my foot down for no apparent reason…aghhh - I knew I was behind and not concentrating well.
Back to section six. The rock I smashed off earlier had moved. I took the Open Junior line to avoid it on lap two and got through, but on lap three it had moved again to annoy all the lines. I faltered badly, but got out of it with a three! For some reason I had no trouble with the small splat at the end which every one complained about.
My last mistake I think it was section eight. I was so annoyed with my self, and for no reason I lost balance and fell of. Five - unbelievable!
So that was it – Second. Because I was so annoyed with myself I became a little lost for words at the presentation. I feel like I fived the presentation as well! So just to set things right I would like to congratulate Connor Hogan for his exceptional ride. You held it together Connor and deserved to win. Good work and I hope you can make it two in a row like I meant to do.
Thanks Don Murray at Sherco Australia and Scott Carpenter at Sherco Queensland for the rock smasher of a bike. It is a fine bike and has not let me down. Thanks to Clice for the riding gear; Motorex for the lube; and Monty Pushbikes for the cross trainer. Bridgestone Nuriootpa let us use their tyre fitting tools. Esk Car Care provided huge support throughout the year and let us use a hoist for two days and helped fix our trailer and tow vehicle for the trip. Lockyer High School Chaplaincy also organised some local support for us. I can’t forget to thank Mum and Dad and thanks to the Chivers Family (central Queensland) for the fireplace, surrounds and support in the lovely Barossa Valley. Thanks to the South Australians too - you did a great job allround.