ROOF OF AFRICA BRONZE QUALIFIER: Congrats to all who took part in the Roof Qualifier this Past weekend in Lesotho. Well done to Base Fit Athlete Wayne Nelson on qualifying for the Bronze Roof 2014 in 68th place! Nice job Wayne, all the training and prep has payed off. To our youngster Joshua Thorburn, who unfortunately didnt qualify but went home with the Roof Qualifier Spirit award and also Base Fit athlete of the week. This is a guy to watch out for in the near future. Below is Joshs story from his Roof Qualifier: I drew to start in row 46 out of 51. I then started at 7:44. The first loop was really good, we dropped down into Music Box right at the beginning and I was feeling good. Taking over 50 odd riders in loop 1. The second loop was a lot more technical and challenging, but I coped really well, and decided to keep most of my energy for the last 15KM of the day where we were going up Mad Cow. I was feeling so good and strong, and when I hit Mad Cow, I was estimated at about 40th overall according to the marshals. I was 3/4 of the way up Mad Cow, when my throttle cable went. I had not fallen the whole day, or had any problems with the bike until now. The throttle had no tension in it. So I then made my way all the way back down to the bottom of Mad Cow, to the marshals. This is where I came to the conclusion that the cable had slipped out of the slider in the carb. After an hour and a half of working on the bike, I had fixed the problem and sorted it out. I had to take the seat off, the tank off, and open up the top of the carb where the slider was. By this time I had now lost about an hour and a half. I then started making my way back up Mad Cow for the 2nd time. I was now stuck behind the 60 odd riders that I had overtaken. At this stage there was a huge bottleneck at the top of Mad Cow. I now waited for about 45 minutes in this bottleneck before getting to the top and making my way back to the pits. In the end I ended 110th, after loosing about an hour and 50 minutes with bike problems, doing Mad Cow pass twice, I was still happy with where I ended. My effort was not un-noticed for this and I got the Roof Qualifier Spirit award at prize giving. After spending endless hours doing bike prep and getting sorted for this race, there is still yet to be an explanation how the cable slipped out the slider in the carb, but I have just come to the conclusion that everything happens for a reason, and still have plenty of time ahead of me to chase my dreams. An inspiration, well done Josh! Josh is an inspiration, well done Josh! we are very proud of you!
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 09:10:19 +0000