So from a dry Fort William we headed over to Austria to face the mud in Leogang. Being in a valley with mountains all around, its a place where this time of year it rains more than it doesn’t. I’m used to this so it didn’t change anything really with me. A new section of corners up top was a good change to see to last years course. Being mainly on “bike park” style terrain it was good to see wet conditions as that would make it rougher and more of a challenge.
First day of training and it took me about 4 runs to get myself back up to speed. Being so different to Fort William I needed to change a few things with my setup. Dropping my forks in the crowns to raise my handle bars and some suspension tweaks got me feeling a lot more comfortable.
With a slowly drying course Aaron and I decided to use dry tires for qualifying. It was a gamble but we thought as 90% is all about rolling that could help us. Aaron put down fastest time again and I was 6th. Just like last week!
Overnight it rained again and this would mean even bigger holes in the top section. Getting through this section in the race clean would mean either a top 10 finish or off the back. We checked the lines in our morning practice but I knew in the back of my mind it would be a section you would have to just ride how ever you entered it.
Once again Aaron and I took to the dry tires, along with some others who had caught on. Starting my run I was riding messy. Hitting holes and getting sucked in. I regathered myself and started riding a lot better. The last technical section (in the photo above) was almost a gamble. Coming in I got wild and had to create a new line in the corner, after nearly throwing it away I popped back onto my line and got through the section. Crossing the finish line I had put down another solid race run and another 8th place. So close to the podium this week, just 0.7 off 5th. Aaron backed up his amazing qualifying run to take out the win. Stoked for him and my other team mates who all had great races. Yet again we were top team of the World Cup so it was back to the podium and take the reward.
With a two week break now, I’m going to enjoy chilling out and getting some intervals back under my belt. Canada is next and now I’m currently sitting 8th in the Overall. Tracy is leading the Woman’s and Aaron is leading the Men’s. Good times!
