One month ago exactly I was sitting in the emergency room of the Nelson Hospital with one hell of a sore right hand which ended up being a fractured metacarpal bone in my hand just below my index finger. There I was thinking things probly werent looking good as the doctor decided to stress me out by telling me my scaphoid bone may be broken but it was too hard to tell as they dont show up straight away, great! For those of you who dont know about the scaphoid its a stupid little bone in your hand down between the bottom of your thumb and your wrist and is a bitch to heal usually taking like 6 weeks.
Well luckily I was taking a trip to Dunedin to see my Fiancee so while I was there I went and saw a doctor at the New Zealand academy of Sport and got it rechecked again (3rd opinion as id already seen another doctor in nelson). After some more x rays it was all clear and I was ready to get back on the bike but with one problem, the knuckle in my thumb was still very swollen (and still isnt much better) so I decided to not risk and wait as long as possible so the first day at plattekill was my first day back on a bike in was seemed like for ever!First run was a bit dicey but it didnt long to get back into the rhythm and straight away the new 2011 Fox suspension was running like a charm, after a change up to a heavier spring they were amazing!
Looking at the weather forecare earlier in the week we spent all weekend waiting for the rain it finally showed up Saturday night just in time to wet the track before race day but it passed over pretty quickly and really just ended up making things better by the time we raced in the afternoon.After one slippery practice run first thing in the morning I was ready for qualifying and decided to just take it easy and have a clean run and see how it went. There was still some pretty slick spots but it was beginning to dry up a lot and after getting down pretty clean I was sitting in 13th.
After a nap in the van and a long time waiting round it was time to race, heading up the chair lift I heard a few of the chicks times and noticed how much faster they were in their race so I figured it must of dried up a lot so it was time to hang it out in the finals and push it a harder.
My race run ended up being pretty good bar a couple of minor mistakes and once I got out into the open flat sections at the end I just put my head down and sprinted as hard as possible knowing the suffering would ended pretty soon! Coming through the line on 2.47.99 I went into 1st which was an awesome feeling, its been a while since ive had a race like that. I ended up sitting in the hot seat for quite a few riders until #4 qualifier and good friend Justin Leov came down and bumped out, by then my time was guaranteed for a top 5 so I was stoked!
I couldn't of asked for a much better start to the season standing on the podium with 4 factory world cup riders!
Were in Vernon, New Jersey now for the US Open of Downhill which is on this weekend, $7500 for the win so I think it might be a death or glory run this weekend!
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