Scott11: Frist world cup training 2012

Action! We're back on track in South Africa, and even though it's a bit early in the year, we're loving it!

Finally, no more hiding, just riding the new bike!

As the track in South Africa is rather special, lots of riders are trying out different things for the long and flat pedaling section. Suspension is made really stiff, telescope seatposts, lockouts, tubeless tires or even cross county tires were on the bikes.

Floriane Pugin: "We were all very excited to ride our new bike on this track!

The table tops were sooooo long that even Flying Banana couldn´t clear them. Well, I tried once but got caught by the wind, making a big tire mark on my shorts but somehow managed to stay on my bike... The track is very fast and quite tricky. They´ve made some good changes that make it much more interesting to ride! There is still the loooonnng pedalling section but the new bike seems to pedal better too. And for the first time, I´m gonna open the track tomorrow for the quali, first girl on track!"

Emilie Siegenthaler: "First I have to say that it´s so nice to be on the dh bike again in real summer riding conditions! This winter has been tough back home and it just feels right to try to ride full on again. This first day of practice went well for me, just trying out some different set ups on the bike so that its fit this special course as good as possible and have fun on the bike. I enjoyed every run, so hopefully I keep this positive attitude until sunday. Tomorrow is qualifying, will be a good test to see how it goes on this hard flat section, but the bike works good and is light so that should help! But i´m surely going to keep a little bit of energy aside for the big day! Watch out for the flying bananas...!