Well, where to start? With another fabulous international experience under my belt, I firstly have to thank three major supporters for making this trip possible. Motorcycling Australia international grant for part-funding my outside of TDN events, Gas Gas Motos. Aust. for supplying the new 2010 Gas Gas and Global Racing Oil, both Australian importers, Solo Motorcycle Imports and head office in Spain for supplying the lubricants for my bike.
The trip started terribly (re my Aus. titles report) with leaving Australia on crutches and unable to walk. After landing in Spain I started to wean myself off the crutches as it was already Wednesday and I was supposed to compete at a World Championship level on Sunday. Thursday I drove to the Gas Gas factory to pick up my new bike from the friendly guys at the factory.
I then left Girona and headed for Tona, where the Spanish round was held this year, to set up my bike. Tona is about 1 hour north of Barcelona within the Catalonia district of Spain where all the great trials riders hail from. Like most of the smaller towns in Catalonia not much English spoken but certainly a welcoming community. The paddock base was in the middle of town at their local sports centre that boasted some high class sporting facilities.
Thursday came and I had an appointment with Global Racing Oils Export Manager, Santiago Moragas, at the GRO factory where I was delighted to find that he honestly valued my opinion on their products and was told some of the GRO products I use were developed by Adam Raga. He then filled my van with enough oil for my own use and enough for the entire Aussie Team for the TDN.
Thursday afternoon I headed to the event where I met up with Kevin Zarczynski and tried to teach myself how to ride a bike again. Friday was filled with resting and some training. Saturday was the European Championship, which was held on the same lines as I was to ride in the junior world championship the following day. I chose to watch and take in the lines used. This day I had a very nasty fall trying to protect my ankle and hurt my hand instead! Luckily this didn’t stop me from riding the next day.
Sunday came and I was up nice and early to meet my Spanish minder Toni (who didn’t speak a single word of English) and was kindly organised by my friend Jordi Pascuet (thanks Gary Grealy!). After some brief interpreting of a few key words by a friend of Toni’s who was also an event official, I set off with my new minder and had a shaky start to the day with a 3 and a 5 for the first two sections.
The sections in the Spanish World Championship round made the Australian title’s sections look short, easy and small! They consisted of nothing much other than huge open hills that just went up, and up, and up, some of them ending with ropes at the top for the safety of the minders. I definitely struggled a lot with my injury and came to the point where I couldn’t walk the sections because the pain was becoming too much. I finished a disappointing 21st but happy to have finished the day. Thanks Toni!!
On Monday I headed up north in Spain to La Seu D’Urgell, to Jordi Pascuet’s home where my Dad arrived to help me out for the rest of the trip. Jordi’s training property, Tost, is set on the edge of the Pyrenees Mountains and consists of an enormous stone building built in the 1800’s that sleeps about 25. It has workshop facilities and lots and lots of great terrain at the doorstep. Tuesday Jordi joined me and we spent the day together training, catching up, and tuning up dad’s riding skills ready for his minding job in France!
Wednesday my parents and myself travelled to France to meet the Girls, Denis and Phil Whittle. The World Championship round in France was for both women and men and was held in the ski resort Isola 2000, inland from the French Riviera city of Nice and on the southern side of the Italian border. We rented a fully equipped chalet and the resort is well equipped for summer activities and had several restaurants and boutiques open for the event.
The altitude was well above 2000m. This trial was yet again held on terrain nothing like that any of the Aussies have ever seen at home so it was going to prove a difficult weekend for the women and myself and fellow Aussie, Lewis Nolan. There was rock, and some more rock throughout every section and the sections were LONG, with some boasting more that 8 major obstacles, which I don’t believe is practised enough in Aus. Saturday came and Dad was asked if he could mind for Kristie McKinnon so I decided to follow them for the morning and then practise in the afternoon.
Sunday was very wet like the rest of the week in Isola 2000 and let me tell you when the rocks in Isola are wet they are SLIPPERY! So from the beginning I lacked a little confidence and my riding showed it. I finished the day in 23rd spot, in a slightly larger field than the previous weekend at Tona, not really showing that my ankle was beginning to recover. Once again the sections were more difficult than we ride in Australia. The time was ridiculously tight, with many riders timing out on what appeared to be well-ridden and flowing sections.
The experience gained from mixing it with the best of the trials community at a world championship level is something that cannot be achieved any other way. Practising on the same rock as Adam Raga and Toni Bou is not something you get every day at home. Access to these events for more riders, especially the younger ones coming through, I believe, would help Australia’s TDN team move up at a world level. The international community is extremely welcoming and I take home a vast collection of extra knowledge and ideas that I will draw upon over the next 12 months.
From here we headed north to Italy to prepare for the TDN. (report on the TDN to follow, with photos and videos!)