Schweitzer Mountain, Idaho NORBA – 2005

When I left school I went to campaign in America. I’d been doing quite well and I had expenses paid for me but I wasn’t on a factory team or getting a salary. At that time the North American circuit was second best to a World Cup because Greg Minnaar, Jared Graves, Cedric and Peaty all used to do them so they still had quite a lot of credibility.

The sport was serious but maybe not how it is now. You would hang out more with everyone and in between races you wouldn’t just fly in, fly home and go to the gym, you were road tripping a lot of the time. We drove everywhere, all over Canada and America, getting to these races, bumming rides, finding dirt jumps, eating tins of noodles for two or three years on a real budget.

Being South African you had to almost fulfil your potential to get a ride and not just have potential.

The race before this one I qualified first but I broke a chain and then crashed out – I could have just crawled down the hill and probably got a podium. In this one I qualified fourth, came down, took the hotseat and just stayed there. Greg was on Honda at the time doing super well, I think he had a little problem in the last woods but that’s racing.

It was just such a crazy feeling because I hadn’t had a podium but won the whole thing. That really changed everything for me and I went on after that to get two top tens in a World Cup that year on a shop team effort.

It cemented that I could really do something. Eric Carter pulled me into the Mongoose Factory Team truck a few races later and said Mongoose was looking expand the team roster and he had put my name forward. I was just blown away.

Being South African you had to almost fulfil your potential to get a ride and not just have potential. I think that’s just how the industry goes and there’s nothing against that but that race opened doors for me.

Santa Catarina World Cup – 2005

Such a memorable race is back when we went to Brazil for the World Cups. I just remember how everyone was so excited to go down. The track finished, you’d walk down a little road and then you’d be at the beach. It was beautiful there.

I just remember hanging out with Rennie, Lopes, Bryn Atkinson, the whole gang. Leading up to the race we were just having so much fun doing cliff jumping, on the beach, switching off from racing leading up to to course walk.

We’re all competitive so I remember Lopes and Rennie having a race on the beach. You wouldn’t believe that Rennie could beat Lopes in a running race but he was super agile. Man it was a super cool vibe, I think we even had a cheeky night out before course walk. I won’t name too many names but I think all the guilty parties still raced well because they were on such a good vibe.

When you’re going to Fort William every year, it’s either going to be full of midgies or raining

I think Lopes bet me 100 bucks I couldn’t carry Nathan Rennie back from the sushi place back to the hotel and it was properly far. I think he still owes me some money – he claims it was local currency but I think bucks are American if you’re going to say bucks. I should still send him a message about that!

The course wasn’t all that but it’s a World Cup, you should race all over the world. I missed that when we started going back to the same venues back and forth. We had good celebrations after the race, good weather, on the beach, it was just good to go to a venue like that.

It’s a bit like Mont Sainte Anne, everyone’s pretty happy when you go over there. The weather’s normally good and there’s a waterfall and stuff. When you’re going to Fort William every year, it’s either going to be full of midgies or raining. The crowds are gong to be amazing but it’s not that exciting. So you just get a different atmosphere in the pits and with the people coming together and the camaraderie of the athletes.