Gary Barnard George national race report
Super fast Sub-Vet/Elite guy Gary Barnard did not have an easy national…
The scene:
3rd round of the SA Cup Series in George. 1st race run went ok but felt more like a practice run than a full-on race run. I am lying 5th in Elite with a 3:25 but am keen to go sub 3:20.
The craziness begins:
Up at the top of the course 5 minutes before my start and I hear: “Pssssssstttt” look around and it is coming from my rear-wheel! “F#@3″, I think. What now? I frantically ask around at the top and establish that a legend who organises the TransBaviaans race has a tube and allen keys in his VW Syncro. We race down there and he has everything I need except for an 8mm to get the rear-wheel off..damn so close. I think stuff it let’s drive to the bottom. Luckily my Good-Samaritan agrees and races us down almost taking out a few spectators, Lance Davies and the race organizer on the way. I sprinted the 100m to my car to get a pump, 8mm and DH tube. Sprinted the 100m back.
GS had turned the syncro around and dropped the clutch just after I got in and we were off to the top. Passed Jarrod Hayley pinning the chicanes after the quarry while I was trying to take my tire off with the wheel still on the bike. Got to the top with no riders in sight 
Battled with the rear axle, got him out, got the tube in there, tyre leverage the tyre back on, fought with the valve but eventually got the sucker pumped up, ran to the start and heard “1 minute”. Helmet and gloves were still in my hand…5 seconds to go and I put my bike in the start gate!
The craziness continues:
3,2,1 GO……Sprint out the gate. As I am sprinting I can actually feel my heart rate dropping and a sense of relief wash over me! The run was real fun and the 15 minutes of craziness beforehand got me into a good “race” mindset. I was on the gas out all the turns and carrying good momentum. The excellent George rock-shoot was awesome, hit the berm perfect at the bottom. Into the best built bottom section of any course period, pumped, squashed and scrubbed my way through the finish. Time: 3:21….I was stoked to have dealt with so much chaos and held my head for a 4 second improvement.
The disappointment:
As the SA Cup’s are now UCI rated events the commisaires were having a discussion at the finish table that my “time” was 3:21 but my official time was 17:21. I had missed my official start and had done all that stuff and got back to the bottom in 17:21. I accepted what they were saying. I ended up just off the podium with 6th in Elite. If ever you are keen to maximise your adrenaline levels before a race run and get an excellent warm-up you know know what to do.
Keep it Pinned,
Gary Barnard
Morewood bikes
Rush Sports
Leatt Brace
Tags: gary barnard
May 25th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
The George National was extremely well run and the people volunteering really did a great job of keeping it all together. The track was fantastic and the guys there have put in loads of work keeping it in such great shape. The last section of the downhill, the 4X section, was just awesome and really good for drawing in the spectators- downhill needs a course like this! Well done to the guys there and a huge thanks from all of us who participated.