Jake Whitaker

Today I rode the British World round at Hawkstone park and I found it really hard going. I started off really nervous as always with a very shaky first few sections. I was hoping that after that i would be able to find a rhythm but things just didn’t want to click for me. The sections were very steep and slippery which made the massive down hills extremly scary and was very hard to stop inside of the tape at the bottom of them.

After a very disappointing first lap i started my second on a slightly better note as the sections were starting to dry out a bit but was still finding it really hard to get any grip to get up the rock faces. The amount of people that turned up to watch this event was just amazing and was a pretty cool feeling to clean a section in front of them all as the cheers were really loud. But in the end I was only able to manage 14th place.

I was giving it every thing i had to try and get in the top ten today as this was my last world round for this trip but it just wasn’t enough but I have learnt heaps and now know what I need to work on for next year.

This week we will be taking it easy and getting ready for the British championships where Luke will be riding and I will try to do some minding and attempt to catch his bike if he falls off.

On Friday we got the bike ready for inspection and sign on and had a couple of hours of practice in the stinking hot heat.After all of that we got showered up and headed down to the middle of town for a fiesta. This was such an experience not to be forgotten. People everywhere, all the community coming together to have a great night. The Italians there were very friendly and were patient with us when trying to have a conversation.

Saturday it was down to business. We had a morning of practise and the afternoon consisted of signing in and walking the sections. As i thought i was riding the red line i was concentrating soley on that. Later that night we found out that the entries were incorrect and I was unable to ride for the youth cup, I had to ride the international line.

Sunday woke up with a stomach full of nerves, but got on with things. Cleaned the first lap which put me on top for going into the second lap. On the third section we hit the ques of riders which slowed us right down and caused a lot of pushing and shoving.

Section nine, the pressure got to me in trying to get a clean trial and put a one down. This put me even with Jordi Tarres’ nephew. I didn’t lose anymore points for the remaining sections but because of the ques i was behind on time and ended up coming second behind Tarres.

We’re on the road again heading for England for my third World round at Hawkstone Park.

On Monday morning we travelled to Germany and picked up John, Luke and Libby from there we went to a camping ground close by. Having five in the van was more than anyone could handle, as a result Warren and i slept with the slugs outside.

Tuesday we dropped Warren off in middle of some town as he was on his way home. the rest of us started our trek to Italy. We past through some amazing hills going through Switzerland, with a freezing cold river running below us. We stopped for a little stone skimming comp.

After being stopped at the border with questions about paperwork we thought we were sorted. That was until we took one small wrong turn and it all went pear shaped, it definitely tested how far we could push each other. So after two and a half hours of what should have taken 20minutes we arrived at the camp site near the lake.

Stayed there for two nights and just worked on the bike, watched the paragliding and just had time to lax out.

Now we are at the event site in Lazzate, Italy. It is extremely hot and all we want to do is sit and drink ice cold still water but we keep buying the sparkling water!!!

Yesterday I rode in my second World round and I was a lot more relaxed than the last which resulted in some slightly better results. I cleaned the first two man made sections without to much trouble at all but failing to get up a big rock step on the third. After that I got into a bit of a rhythm with only a few silly mistakes here and there. I finished the first lap on 13 points which put me in 11th position but was struggling on the second lap with the extreme heat. I also had a awesome clean ride on section three the one I fived on the first lap but to be given a five for hoping backwards 3 inches. Half way through the lap we cuaght up to the top boys so there was some big ques to get into the sections which caused me to cool down and make some unnessesary and frustrating mistakes. Once the ques cleared I had some awesome clean rides and finished that lap on 20 points which put me down one place to 12th on 33 points over all.

Im pretty happy about yesterdays result as I feel like I rode good but just not as consistant as the other riders. Warren and I rode around after watching the top boys do their final lap as they had some really big ugly rock faces to go up. The top five riders do most things with ease but the others have really big crashes. Adam Raga (Spain) won the top class on only two points which was awesome, Alex Wigg (UK) won the Junior grade on a 125 with only 4 points and American Patrick Smadge won my Youth class on a clean day with no points lost. The competition over here is really tough with so many good riders.

There is still plenty to work on and I know what I need to be practicing for the next round. We’re off to Munich today to pick up Luke, Libby and John Ravo.

Yesterday I went out for a practise and after a good warm up i was feeling pritty good on the bike. The terrain here is really good and has lots of grip with some massive rocks under some high trees so its the kind of stuff that i really enjoy riding. Today I had another little practise but it was so hot that i didnt last very long and ended up coming back the van for a bit of a sleep.

After lunch it was time to take the bike through tecnical inspection so we went and got all that done then headed out to the sections to have a look. They have some really big stuff in most of them but they are pritty straight forward so its pritty much what im used to but again the hardest thing is going to be the setting up to get up the rocks and its forcast another very hot day.

Im hoping to finish in the top ten tommorow and i think that is very achiveable if i just ride my own trial and forget about that im even at a world championship.

Im hoping i will be able to report some better news to you all tomorow.

On Wednesday we went to the biggest Nazi concentration camp in the world (Auschwitz) and it was horrible to see what they used to do to millions of people and the living conditions that they were put in. There was this one masive room that was just full of the so called prisniors, shoes and another room fulled to the top of just prosthetic limbs.

We also got to walk through the gas chambers and got right up close to the burners were they were murderd and then burnt to nothing. Man what a crepy felling I got running through me then. The large scale of everything was unbelievable.

After the tour had finished we started to make our way to the next trial in the Czeck Republic. We had some van issues on the way with the roof vent blowing off down the motorway, so we had to circle around and luckily found it unbroken and its now taped permanently to the roof. We also lost all electrical power to the back living section of the van so we are now in the dark at night and have no running water which is annoying. The bumpy Polish roads must have done something to it. We stayed the night in the van in a truck stop and then got away nice and early and we arrived in Czech about three oclock the next afternoon so we set up and I was able to have a quick look at the first four sections for Sunday and they look really good but also a bit harder than last weekends trial with some really big rock steps.

Friday and Saturday will be spent practicing and preparing for Sundays trial.

On Monday morning we went out practising at the same place where the trial was. I have been having a lot of problems with my balance lately and I’m trying to get it sorted so I was working on that and the little turns and setting up rather than the big stuff that I seem to be handling pretty well.

After about half an hour a four wheel drive came down the track and two army police got out, we didn’t quite understand everything that they were trying to tell us but they were waving their arms around a lot so we decided that they didn’t want us riding there any more. So we headed around the corner were they couldn’t see us and we made another practice section.

On Tuesday we packed up and drove into a City called Kracow were we found another camp ground where all the Aussie riders were staying too. That afternoon we caught the train down into the middle of town were we found thousands of people everywhere. We had a look around for a few hours and had dinner then we all got back on the train and headed back to the camping ground to find that our washing that we had hand washed before heading out was still wet as the weather over here hasn’t been to great and it was raining again. At the moment all our wet washing is hanging over the bikes in the back and across the dash so when we are driving we have the heater on to dry it all. The whole time we have been here we have had only a few days with no rain and we cannot find a laundramat anywhere to wash anything.

Jake

Another bad day at the office!

Today we were hoping on getting at least in the top ten, but things were going bad right from the start, with lots of threes and again afew silly fives. I was one of the first riders away today which wasn’t the best as some of the sections from yesterday had been changed and were alot harder.

You would think my second lap would be better with the sections bedding in but again things just weren’t clicking and it was harder with the big crowds. I caught up to the top world class riders on section two who had just started as they were last away and about two hours later than me. Starting and having Adam Raga and all the top riders in the world physically pushing me out the way so they could get in the sections before me was not to nice. We managed to get past the top five or six riders over the next few sections but that in itself was hard work. We needed to pass them as my finish time for my last lap was ahead of their finish time for their first lap. A string of fives amongst some really good rides ended my chances of a good place.

We finished our lap, then followed the top boys through their last lap, watching how to do it properly. Man they are really good.

Most of the course was the same as yesterday which makes my poor performance the more frustrating. We are putting this weekend down as a learning curve and trying to get the positives out of it, but going from finishing in the top 3 in every event back home to finishing 15th over here is a bit of a shock and it does get you down a bit.

I will be putting eveything I have into trying to make at least the top 10 next weekend and I know I can do it if I ride like I normally do back home. At least I have my first World Championship point for 15th, which is a start.

Jake

Today I rode my first European Championship and it was a tough one with some scary steep down hills. 15 sections on a 15km course with 3 1/2 hours for the first lap then another 2 hours for the second before time penalties are incurred. I was very nervous and shakey throughout the whole day,which caused some silly mistakes that wouldn’t of usually happened if it wasn’t for the whole atmosphere of the event. I had a lot of good rides but just wasn’t consistent like the others were.

My first lap I was right up there in eighth position on 17 points ahead of last weeks winner USA rider Pat Smadge. Going into the second lap I was feeling better and was on lower scores than the previous lap but two silly fives put an end to that pretty quick with a bad lap of 26. The first five was because my handle bar touched the ground while crossing a very steep cambered hill, and the other was my front wheel just slipping out the boundary tape while turning in the stream.

I finished the day in 11th place overall [from 27 starters] but I know I can do better.

We have now got the bike prepped with a new tyre ready for tomorrows World Championship event. Today was a big learning experience and hopefully will improve tomorrow

This morning was the main practise time for the riders so i headed out to the practise area to find riders everywhere so just to even have a go at a section you had to wait your turn. It was really hard to get warmed up and find a rythum because if you didnt get somthing right and you feel off you had to go right back to the start of the que.

In the end i came right and was riding pretty well. On one section i was waiting in the line with Adam Raga the curent World champion and man it was impresive to see him ride these rocks on the back wheel and some of the steps him and another rider Toni Bou were going up were just massive.

After the practise this morning we went and walked all the sections for tommorow. They look really good with a few really step climbs and some tricky turns so nothing that im not use to but i will have to be on my game if i want to match it with the top boys (witch of course i do). The sections are about our expert level but a bit stepper. It is all under tress in a forest and quite wet and muddy under neath. Most sections are in and out of a rocky stream but no big holes luckily.

Anyway time to go to bed for me. I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.

Jake