It is hard to believe that the World Champs are now behind us! It feels as though so much of our year was spent building towards this event and now that it’s over I am not too sure what to do with myself.
The two weeks prior to the event was firstly spent with some team mates on a training camp in Lesotho then at the Tour of Legends with Epic Sports where we supplied a bike wash and tech zone for all the competitors. I was also a roaming bike mechanic near the tail end of the field which was good as I was still recovering from a cold a picked up the previous week. This made for an ok-ish build up that I knew I could make work and after one day at home to rotate some laundry I was off to Pietermaritzburg.
I had kept away from the course on purpose the months building up to the event and made sure not to get involved in all the hype which I think was a good call. The course had a lot of climbing -300m a lap which was significant and I knew that this would be where it would be won however most of the talk around the pits was about the descents. Honestly they didn’t bug me very much except for the pure length of them and the effect they would have when fatigue started to set in near the end of the event.
It was great to have the ASG Team trailer at the event and felt amazing to have our own set-up in the middle of a world championship, made for so much less stress! My Dogma felt fantastic as always and for this race would be the second time that I was going to use our special Ritchey race wheels which brought the weight down to less than 9kg’s!! The Dogma is one of the best climbing bikes I’ve ridden and with this combo it felt even better!
Race day came around and despite all the experience and preparation I hardly slept a wink the night before!! I was fortunate enough to be ranked first in my category as I won the SA Champs a few weeks before and lined up against a very international field. The gun went and it was game on! So excited I missed my clip-in and a second later was swallowed by the charging field. Luckily the start straight was long and after the first dual track split I made my way back into the top 5. On the first climb I felt good and obviously the training had paid off so I put in a surge and the next thing I knew the lead pack was down to 4. Another big surge on the second climb and we were down to 2, just me and the 4 time Italian World champ Mirco Balducci. I wanted to stay in front as I would then have better visuals on the downhill’s and as there is no “drafting” advantage in this type of racing it would made no difference on the climbs.
A problem I faced was that while Mirco was on my wheel he never made a mistake and on the climbs he stayed so close that sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was still there or not!! Finally it was me who made a mistake and dropped the bike in a loose corner allowing him past. I worked hard to stay on his wheel but then what turned out to be the fastest lap of any category for the entire championship he showed his class and got a gap which he held to the finish.
Looking back one would say that obviously I wanted that blue shirt but at the end of the day in the quickest field of the weekend I was beaten by a good rider and am therefore very happy and proud of that silver medal. Maybe next year that shirt will be mine!
Thanks soo much to all my supporters an especially to Yolande , my Dad and Arno who came down specially to support, it is an experience that I won’t forget!!
Also big thanks to my sponsors: ASG, Pinarello, Rudy Project, Ritchey, Powertap, Sidi, High 5, Continental, Squirt, Crank Bros, F Tech, Epic Sports, IMC, Dimension Sports, Scicon and Bat Seal for making this all possible.
Now time for a rest!
Chat soon,
Paul
The two weeks prior to the event was firstly spent with some team mates on a training camp in Lesotho then at the Tour of Legends with Epic Sports where we supplied a bike wash and tech zone for all the competitors. I was also a roaming bike mechanic near the tail end of the field which was good as I was still recovering from a cold a picked up the previous week. This made for an ok-ish build up that I knew I could make work and after one day at home to rotate some laundry I was off to Pietermaritzburg.
I had kept away from the course on purpose the months building up to the event and made sure not to get involved in all the hype which I think was a good call. The course had a lot of climbing -300m a lap which was significant and I knew that this would be where it would be won however most of the talk around the pits was about the descents. Honestly they didn’t bug me very much except for the pure length of them and the effect they would have when fatigue started to set in near the end of the event.
It was great to have the ASG Team trailer at the event and felt amazing to have our own set-up in the middle of a world championship, made for so much less stress! My Dogma felt fantastic as always and for this race would be the second time that I was going to use our special Ritchey race wheels which brought the weight down to less than 9kg’s!! The Dogma is one of the best climbing bikes I’ve ridden and with this combo it felt even better!
Race day came around and despite all the experience and preparation I hardly slept a wink the night before!! I was fortunate enough to be ranked first in my category as I won the SA Champs a few weeks before and lined up against a very international field. The gun went and it was game on! So excited I missed my clip-in and a second later was swallowed by the charging field. Luckily the start straight was long and after the first dual track split I made my way back into the top 5. On the first climb I felt good and obviously the training had paid off so I put in a surge and the next thing I knew the lead pack was down to 4. Another big surge on the second climb and we were down to 2, just me and the 4 time Italian World champ Mirco Balducci. I wanted to stay in front as I would then have better visuals on the downhill’s and as there is no “drafting” advantage in this type of racing it would made no difference on the climbs.
A problem I faced was that while Mirco was on my wheel he never made a mistake and on the climbs he stayed so close that sometimes I wasn’t sure if he was still there or not!! Finally it was me who made a mistake and dropped the bike in a loose corner allowing him past. I worked hard to stay on his wheel but then what turned out to be the fastest lap of any category for the entire championship he showed his class and got a gap which he held to the finish.
Looking back one would say that obviously I wanted that blue shirt but at the end of the day in the quickest field of the weekend I was beaten by a good rider and am therefore very happy and proud of that silver medal. Maybe next year that shirt will be mine!
Thanks soo much to all my supporters an especially to Yolande , my Dad and Arno who came down specially to support, it is an experience that I won’t forget!!
Also big thanks to my sponsors: ASG, Pinarello, Rudy Project, Ritchey, Powertap, Sidi, High 5, Continental, Squirt, Crank Bros, F Tech, Epic Sports, IMC, Dimension Sports, Scicon and Bat Seal for making this all possible.
Now time for a rest!
Chat soon,
Paul
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