WynTV Stuck in Winterberg

After a couple of issues, I was stuck in Winterberg, what better to do than make a video.


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Maribor Mud

So the past weekend was the kick off of the 2010 World Cup season, with the first round held in a rather saturated Maribor, Slovenia. It kicked off with track walk on thursday and even then it was obvious we were in for a rather muddy weekend, I didn't even bother going to the first 4x practice session as it was wasn't really worth getting that dirty for a couple of runs.

So Friday saw our first runs on the DH track and I waited it out for a bit to let the track cut in a bit and also some of the mud to clear off, when I did go up it was pretty slick and a lot of sniper roots were coming through already but other than the rock section the track was running pretty good, the rocks were a different story though, you could ride them but virtually had no control of what the bike did, I stood there a bit long and watched some guys through there and about 20 percent actually made it through without hitting the deck. I can't say I've ever really been a fan of riding my bike without much actual control of where you are going and this was kind of what it was like. By Friday afternoon the track had started drying up and I was having some good fun on it getting my lines sorted even got to put a run in on dry tires, although that was to be the only one of the weekend.

Saturday morning we woke to another cold and wet day, and headed down to the pits to geared up and head up the hill for a couple of runs before qualifying the track was back to similar conditions to the previous morning but really cut up so many holes, a run was like 3minutes on a jackhammer breaking concrete. I headed up for qualifying and was confident I could put a solid run down, I hit the top section alright then fumbled a bit in the rocks and battled the rest of the way down, tripoding sections with both feet off, I can say I was glad to see the finish and wasn't stoked with the run at all, I went and washed the 20kgs of extra mud off my bike and sat in the pits I knew with the run I had I would be lucky to make the Top 80. I came in 66th and certainly wasn't stoked with that all.

Then I had to try and wash some of my kit and get ready for 4X racing, the whole weekend was full of this, trying to get googles clean or changing kits I was getting pretty over it. I can't even imagine how it would be for my mechanics Nige and Alan having to clean bikes after most runs and keep them running sweet, riding with wet shoes is bad enough but working on bikes for 12 hours a day soaked I dunno how they do it, but they are legends thats for sure, keeping my bikes running so sweet!

So I headed up for 4X and went straight into the start without practice as it was just too wet, and not really worth it. I got out of the gate last as I had expected and then struggled to get past the guy in 3rd for a bit as he kept blocking the inside, I was glad to get past him and set up a pass for 2nd then the guy in 2nd slid out and his bike went in front of me taking me down with him, I rolled to the finish pretty over it, and then to just put the icing on the cake crashed in the finish area like a true amateur and got soaked in mud head to toe, I had to go back try wash everything again then head back to the hotel and try to dry everything on the towel rail ready for the next day.

Race day rolled around and once again it was freezing outside, myself and Nathan Rankin were about to catch the gondola down to the pits from our hotel until we were told that it wasn't running leaving us with a bit of a dilemma, with mechanics, team van and DH bikes down the bottom in the pits, and us still at the top so I had to take my 4X bike borrow some pedals from another team as it had no pedals on it and ride down the wet 4WD road to the bottom, standing on the top tube half the way trying not to get too wet a mission just to get to the bottom.

With the gondola not running practice schedule was changed to one run only per rider using a bus uplift, I along with most other wasn't happy about this as I wanted to get a couple of practice runs in to sort out some of my lines before final run. I pushed a couple of sections to try get it sorted, and then headed to the pit to put some clean kit on have a quick bite to eat and head up in the van with the mechanics for final run, the one that the whole weekends effort depends on.

I left the start gate and went in to the first section trying to ride lines that I had just looked at and I couldn't really get flowing I was stalling up a lot and came to the first tear off pull section and somehow instead of pulling one tear off all three came off, leaving me with no more, it certainly wasn't a run to remember and I ended up with 54th place not the start to the season I wanted but I am just glad this race is in the books and now I can move on to the next one at Fort William. There were however a few kiwi's however who faired a bit better, Cam Cole and Justin Leov proved that their coach is doing something right drawing for 9th place, then Blinky was in 12th on the same second as them with a bit of a no footer through the rocks, Scolesy and Brook crashed in to still respectable placings of 36th and 38th.

Now I am in Germany where this weekend I have the Winterberg IXS cup and then after that I head to Scotland for the Innerleithen IXS and the Fort William World Cup Round 2.

Thanks to Team Kenda Playbiker, especially Nige and Alan my mechanics. Also to my personal sponsors, South Star Shuttles, T.H.E helmets and clothing, Backflips.co.nz clothing, Rockstar Racing, Taranaki Elite Athletes Foundation, Leatt Brace, E*Thirteen, Burgtec and last but not least Mum and Dad.

Onward and upward.

Wyn

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Dunedin Oceania Champs report

So here I am back on a plane again, this time out of Dunedin after the Oceania Championships last weekend, another really positive and successful weekend for me.

The week kicked off with us arriving on St Patricks day probably not the best choice of a day to arrive in "The student capital of NZ" staying in my younger brother Eddies flat myself and Donny joined in to the nights festivities and a good night was had by all.

We woke the next morning with slight headaches an had to get our bikes and gear ready for Dual Slalom, the Slalom track was pretty sketchy most of the corners we built from dust, but it still made for some fun riding, It even featured the "honesty start gate" after the one they had built fell apart halfway through the first round. I managed to hold all of my runs pretty well to make it through to the final where I was up against Aussie Haydon Lester we bumped elbows pretty well out of the start but I managed to hold my corners a bit smoother where Haydo was getting loose, so I ended up taking my first title of the weekend. I liked the piece in the local paper where it said something like this; "Masters managed to take the win, even after being out in the early hours of the morning celebrating St Patricks day"

So next up was to walk the Downhill course and see what we were up for there, I was pretty impressed with what they had come up with it certainly looked more like a World Cup course, the only thing I could say it needed more was possibly some more corners as it was all pretty wide open, I put in a few practice runs and started to work out a few lines I had looked at walking the course, it all flowed pretty well and the bottom "four cross" section was cool for something a bit different was similar to the finish of the South Africa World Cup last year.

From there it was off to Four Cross practice, I was lucky enough to have a bike to use for this after borrowing one from Jed Rooney, cheers mate. The Four Cross course was probably the best we had seen in NZ and the corners actually allowed for passing opportunities for once, practice went well and I started to get used to the bike in time for qualifying, I surprised myself taking the number one spot in qualifying but was happy as I needed that to have 1st gate pick throughout the heats. My heats went pretty well I was never really fast out of the start but had lines and made sure to make it through each one until I found myself in the final.

It was a surprisingly all kiwi final, as the Aussies had brought over some of the better riders for this event. The final consisted of Myself, Matt Walker, Kieran Bennett and young gun Daniel Franks, we were in the gate and set to go Daniel got the start by a fair bit as I expected with Matt Walker behind him and myself 3rd, Matt got loose in the first corner and I got round him following Daniel down until the 2nd to last corner where he finally left some room on the inside..I set up wide and hardly braked just drifting in to the inside of him and pushed him off balance on to the top of the berm, I went through to the finish to take the win again I was stoked with this as I didn't really expect to win in the Four Cross and its great to have a second oceania title for the weekend.

So that left my 3rd and final event, Downhill. Saturday was practice day and I did about 5 runs over the day, I had one decent stack in the afternoon in the rocks but was lucky to walk away with nothing more than a bruise. I did a couple of runs with Aussie junior Troy Brosnan and got some lines off him which was pretty helpful, by the end of the day I had the course pretty dialed and was looking forward to race day. Race day rolled round quicker than ever and I had a couple of good practice runs in the morning so I was ready for seeding, I put down a pretty solid run but felt I rode some sections pretty slow so had a bit more in the tank for finals, I seeded 2nd behind Cam Cole who was on form on this course and a full 3 seconds in front.

It was finally finals time and I was 2nd last to go off the gate I started off the run really well and stayed smooth through all the top rock gardens, and I was going well till off one of the jumps I landed on a loose rock and got bounced off down to the low line loosing speed in a crucial spot, I pinned it to the finish to try to make it back up and rode everything else really well. I came in to 2nd behind my team mate Nathan Rankin with only Cam Cole left to go, Cam put in an awesome run to beat Nathan by nearly two seconds and I took 3rd I was happy to be on the podium again, would have liked a bit better but I was stoked with how my weekend panned out taking two Oceania titles and a 3rd place.

Other impressive results were, George Brannagin taking the Junior win over Jed Rooney who put in an awesome ride to take 2nd in front of Aussie junior and Monster Energy team rider Troy Brosnan. Also one of the most impressive and slightly crazy results was in the Under 17 class with Rotorua's Louis Hamilton taking the win there even after crashing out on friday wrecking his bike and fracturing his scaphoid, he ignored doctors orders got his his old bike sent down, taped up his wrist and gritted his teeth to take the Oceania title, I guess he watches too much Chopper Read..

Finally but most importantly I would like to thanks everyone that helped me over the weekend, and all my sponsors, E.13, Blinky, Lapierre, THE, Backflips Clothing, Rockstar Racing, Southstar shuttles, Infamous Designs, Team Kenda Playbiker, Taranaki Elite Athletes Foundation and Mum and Dad.

WynTV NZ Cup5 and National Champs

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