The final stop of the world tour was set in Taxco, Mexico. The infamous silver mining city would see us stop there for the second time with the City Downhill World Tour.
After last years upset of a broken hand, I was keen to get a big result and make up for the sorrows of 2014.
On this trip I had the privilege of travelling with my Childhood hero Chris Smith. Chris has been racing for over 20 years and taken numerous race wins and national championships, he really is a legend within the mountain bike industry and is possibly one of sports nicest guys.
We set off on the 11 hour flight on Wednesday heading for Mexico city. The journey was mainly taken up by us talking and running through the plan and tactics for the race. Upon arriving in the capital we met with 4 cross World Champion Tomas Slavik and French slopestyle rider Antoni Villioni. Then we had the ordeal of a 4 hour bus ride south to Taxco.
Chris and I wasted no time and headed straight for the course when we arrived in Taxco. Temperatures hit 30 degrees and humidity was 100%, walking up the unforgiving track was tiring!
Chris and I walking the steps.
The wall ride was popular with the locals!
Checking out the final jump. A big 45 ft booter!
Friday was official practice day and we ran a few laps together. I over came my demons and hit the famous plaza drop straight away, this caught me out in 2014 resulting in a monstrous crash!
Hitting the famous Plaza drop.
Following Chris into the wall ride
The hairpin staircase was technical.
Unfortunately I made a small mistake on the wall ride section and twisted my foot completely back on itself. This was so painful I could not continue and was forced to go to hospital. The x-ray showed no broken bones but a ruptured ligament in my foot was diagnosed by the Mexican Doctor.
The pain was so intense for the rest of the day that I was on the verge of throwing up. This was also incredibly painful in my head knowing I had blown my chances of a big result for tomorrows race. I did not sleep on Friday night, I took the maximum anti inflammatory tablets I could, compressed the swelling and iced it every 30 minutes. This was my only chance of being able to walk on the Saturday and give myself a small chance of putting together a race run.
Moment of impact. Check out the angle of my left foot….
Hospital bound accompanied by Coach Chris!
The badly damaged foot.
Flying off the wall ride with aggression.
Saturday came out of no where and I was utterly determined to race. I bandaged my foot and left the hotel on my own to see how it felt to ride… it was like riding with a broken foot.
We headed to the top of the City for our first of 2 timed runs. I just wanted to get down alive! I set a time of 1:58.7 which saw me sitting in 15th position, rather surprising in my eyes! Chris meanwhile was sitting in an impressive 6th overall and looking at a potential podium position. The second runs would be the decider and my foot was screaming at me by this point. I knew if I could take of a second and a half I would be in a very respectable position providing the other competitors hadn’t been hiding something big up their sleeves.
I sliced of a second on my second race run resulting in a 1:57.4 but some other racers had smashed their first run times which sat me in 23rd position (best run of two counts) I was fairly happy with my result considering the pain I was in. I should really have not raced but lets face it, I wasn’t going to Mexico without giving it my all. #nevergivingup
High speed berm heading through the plaza section
Dave Trumpore capturing me crossing the finish line.
Delighted to see my race run was watched by over 170,000 people on facebook alone withing 48 hours of the race finishing.
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I had the privilege of eating dinner with Cam Zink before the ‘after party’. This is a man who is at the top of the freeriding world and is an iconic superstar within the sport. He was incredibly humble and happy to chat with me, we then had too many beers! The after party was as extreme as the reports said! 50 top riders, unlimited drinks, great music and Mexican atmosphere. This has the be the best party on the race calendar!
Freeride legend Cam Zink.
Chris and I were given hand made Taxco medals.
On Monday we headed back to Mexico City and had 8 hours to kill in the City. Our lunch was interrupted by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake! This was incredibly scary and a new experience for me.
Everyone leaves buildings and restaurants after hearing the earthquake alarm sirens. Scary stuff.
I am currently editing my film footage of the full Mexico trip and this will be online by Friday. All film footage shot on this trip was done using Tom Tom’s Bandit camera, the cameras capabilities were incredible for the race as you will all be able to see on Friday…..
As always, a special thanks goes out to my sponsors for making this race possible. It was great to welcome on board Nick and his team at ‘Noba Events’ and Nicola’s team at ‘Tom Tom UK’.
