Last week I have travelled to Slovenia for the 1st 2014 iXS Downhill Cup which turned out to be a really good race for me after all. The competition in Maribor was really big – specially with so many great riders from all over the world. The course itself is also found to be one of the toughest in the race calendar.
I was really curious how my NS Fuzz will handle the famous roots and rock gardens. The weather was a bit tricky and did make it any easier for neither me, nor my bike. The conditions were changing during the training runs non-stop. It was raining through the whole night so in the morning all the riders were introduced to the Slovenian mud. Next strong winds stopped the gondolas and swiped few trees which fell on the track. Luckily it helped too and dried the course. Finally on the second day of trainings the sun came out and the course changed again. So I had to pick the new lines over the ruts and roots.
It was a completely new and interesting experience for me and my NS Fuzz which was delivering exactly what I needed working hard to catch the flow and saving some seconds.
The seeding run on Saturday was another occasion to find the perfect line so I was focused mostly on that chilling in the other sections. The 3rd time was a real surprise for me as I felt that I can shave about 5 seconds more in the finals if the conditions stay the same.
Luckily the Sunday morning welcomed us with a fine weather and sunshine. The forecasts were not that good though but it started raining 5 minutes after the race.
In the finals I gave all my best and did not make any errors especially in the upper section of the track. There were few minor ones in the lower part but I am satisfied with my run which like I calculated was 6 seconds faster than my seeding run. Only one guy was faster than me that day. It was my friend and neighbour from Austria - David Trummer. I met him 2 years ago on the Red Bull camp with the Atherton crew. It was a really close battle and the payback for the Diverse Downhill race in Wisła, Poland…
But show must go on and I can’t wait for the World Cup race on my favourite track in Leogang. I did not have a chance to test the Fuzz in Austria but after the hell we went through together in Maribor and the way it performed I can be sure that it will deliver the best there too.
So stay tuned guys and I will see you on out there!
