This year Cascades mountain bike park hosted the African continental champs which saw around 55 riders take on the world cup course from top to bottom. This is definitely one of the most physically demanding courses on the circuit with about 55 seconds of flat out pedalling half way down. Rain on Friday night made for prime riding conditions on Saturday with everyone having a great time on the course. However heavy rainfalls Saturday night turned the course into a slip and slide near the top steeper sections. With a different format of racing seeing as though it was a UCI sanctioned event saw the Elite riders seeding early. The track had improved since practice but was still rolling very slow. Tiaan Odendaal seeded 1st, myself 2nd, and Louis Smith 3rd.
As soon as we got to the bottom we barely had time to clean our bike before we headed straight to the top again for the final. My run was very conservative at the top, thinking back now a little to conservative so I had to push hard on the pedaling section. Overall I was happy with my ride but looking to improve. Overall results for the day were as follows:
1) Hayden Brown
2) Tiaan Odendaal
3) Stefan Garlicki
4) Tim Bently
5) Travis Browning
Thanks to Max cluer sports marketing, KZN MTB and Greg Minnaar cycle store for putting on a great event. Looking forward to South African champs on the same course in a few weekends time.
Ride safe,
TB
