I walked up to the rock garden at the Maribor World Cup track this evening in my flip-flops (my mate Dave has two left feet and bought a pair of flip-flips)…anyway it was hard going. The course from the bottom up to the rocks looks the same as last year, maybe a slightly new line here or there, but it sure does look super fast…oh and it’s root central.

Even though it’s rained in the last few days the ground is still dry.

It’s pretty much rooty the whole way up, I was running cut down flip-flops which seemed to work well.

The view coming into the famous rock garden. Note the use of netting and crash mats, this section is fast and sketchy…remember Miami last year?

If you do do a Miami Bryce and bin it hard here and possibly knock yourself out the officials have thoughtfully painted your exact location on the rocks and roots so when you “come round” you’ll know where you are.

http://mpora.com/videos/JbMp0K6Uv
More Mountain Biking >>

Okay, I bought a very dodgy video camera off my mate Dave (him with the flip-flips) and thought I’d test it out on day zero here in Maribor with some editing software he also sold me.

I’ve decided never to use either of them ever again…ever.

Random Maribor photo number one: John “Cabonara” Lawlor is Ben “Just” Reids official shoe sponsor on account of him buying Reidy this snazzy pair of daps which Lawlor then tried to eat. Anybody got a funny caption for this photo?

Chris Thurburn via FaceBook says how about… “John didn’t realise DC didn’t stand for Duck and Chips”

If you don’t want to eat shoes like Lawlor above then the local delicacy is pizza from a place like the nice eatery at the bottom of the track.
Expect to pay about 6 Euros (about 37pence) for an enormous freshly cooked treat like this.

And finally…some pit news/gossip for you from Kenda Morewood:

Apparently Nathan Rennie has decided to fly home to Oz to concentrate on training for the Worlds in September after his lacklustre start to the season. More news on that bombshell later.

Maribor World Cup Day Zero