XC Nationals #1 - Jonkershoek

(this is the start of the Junior men's XC race, I am on the right of the front four, next to teamate Travis Walker)

Shock and horror! (but in a good way!) Yesterday I absolutly suprised myself and everybody I knew. I ended up 2nd in Junior Men in my second national event, and my forth XC event ever! I still don't know where I found the legs to ride, but somehow it all just went right. On Friday, when I was doing my practice laps, I was battling in the singletrack and when I went for a fast lap I felt pretty sluggish. With no major expectations I lined up at the start of the Junior Men XC race, as a first year junior, hoping for a top 10. Junior is a category for 17 and 18 year old boys and it is often the most hotly contested race, fueled by huge amounts of ego and testosterone. The race kicked off at a blistering pace, and I was 5th into the first singletrack with my teammate Travis Walker following right behind. The long singletrack climb left no room for error, and a group of five formed on the next long, rocky jeeptrack climb. I managed to break away slightly with top athletes Adriaan Louw and Rourke Croeser and we finished the first lap with me trailing slightly behind. Then Rourke had a mechanical and I was into second spot and very shocked. Because of the lack of training, buy the end of the third lap I was cramping and so my last two lap times were much slower. I finished 2nd, and very happy. Travis finished 5th, and Sbu, the other guy in our team was 11th. 

Official Results

Junior (5 laps)
1 Adriaan Louw 2:02:44
2 James Reid 2:07:46
3 Ruan du Toit 2:11:29

Now I'm finally at home and I can get down to some proper training. I'm trying to make a habit of posting once every two weeks, so till then...