Just like last week it was another early start for the Windham, USA round of the MTB World Cup. This was to be my fifth ever World Cup race and I was aiming to continue my perfect World Cup record and take win number 5 from 5. By 9 am the mercury was already soaring as the Under 23 men took off followed by us juniors only 2mins later. Starting just behind the under 23 men was something completely new to me in World Cup racing but luckily I was used to starting behind our Under 23 and Elite riders in NZ for our National Cup rounds etc so I was well practiced in picking my way through the field. I manged to pass 42 of the 53 riders to work my way up to 11th in the Under 23 field by the end of the race and was the first junior man by over 3 mins. The last two weeks have been perfect for me, everything has gone exactly to plan and I am loving the team environment.

It was great to see Aaron yet again prove his dominance in the Downhill by taking the win in front of his home crowd. Justin Leov, long time pro and team mate, also announced his retirement yesterday after a long and successful season.  Mathias got his first World Cup podium of the season taking 5th in the elite mens XC so team spirits were high. As I write this I am sitting in Albany airport waiting to begin the 40hr journey home to NZ where I will then spend 5 weeks training and studying hard at school before heading to Europe in mid August to add the finishing touches to my World Championship build up.

Thanks to my coach Dave Plew for keeping me in good shape, my family and all my supporters back home, I can’t wait until World Champs in September!