Alexi Cusack feels proud to have participated in his first National MPU Downhill Race of the season.
He pushed hard to achieve a time of 4:26.490 in the first run, and 4:07.486 in the second, culminating in a total of 8:33.976.
His final gap time was 1:51.742, which helped him place 11th out of the 20 other competitors in the junior men’s category.
Alexi started riding in 2021 and quickly found a passion for the sport.
“After that, I did the odd endurance race but was focusing more on free riding. Last year I participated in a few enduro races and discovered how much fun they are. I wanted to start racing properly and get my colours in this sport.
He recently picked up a sponsorship from Bike Make-Up. “This made me realise that people believe in my skills and if I work hard, I can take my riding to the next level.”
“I entered the first race in the National Downhill series in a bid to get my colours, and for the experience. It was an opportunity to learn how people perform at a national level and compare them to my skill set so I can start focusing my training on more specific areas. I now know what needs to be worked on so I can race to the best of my ability and have a better chance of reaching my goals.
Alexi is a Grade 11 learner at Dainfern College and is working ‘on my A-game’.
“I was previously trying to practise whenever I had free time over the weekend but discovered I wasn’t getting enough practice to keep up with everyone else. I will now also be working with a biokineticist to help me train in the best ways possible.”
He says he has now balanced his passion for riding with his commitment to do better at school this year. “I am only doing school sports one day a week rather than three days a week. This allows me to have set training times every Wednesday and Thursday to work on fitness and overall strength. I then practise my technical skills on the bike over the weekend.”
“What I love most about cycling is that you get to ride with a bunch of amazing people who push you to become the best you can be, and you get to do all this while having the most fun you can ever have!”
He said the pressure in his most recent competition was the most challenging.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well even though everyone else racing has a lot more experience than me. This caused me to make a mistake and crash which made me doubt myself and therefore did not perform to my best ability.”
He says another challenge he faced was due to his freeride background where he rode with flat pedals. “This made it difficult to keep my feet on the pedals while riding such rough terrain.”
Considering this was his first downhill race and his first national race, Alexi said he was happy with being placed 11 from a pool of 20 competitors.
“I do feel I could have performed better if I had prepared more. Now that I have a better idea of what is needed for a race like this, I do think I can improve and place better in the future.”
