On The Pegs Vol . 3 Issue 3 - June 2018 P 69
On The Pegs Vol . 3 Issue 3 - June 2018 P 69
DEBRIEFED
ALEX NIEDERER
Alex Niederer grabbed his best-ever showing in the Pro division with a runner-up finish in New Mexico . The former Austrian , now living in Florida , backed up that performance with a second and third in Colorado , leaving him tied at second place in the series standings with his Gas Gas North America teammate Daniel Blanc-Gonnet . Here ’ s what Alex had to say about his weekend in Colorado .
The weekend started off when we got to the first section on Saturday and we kind of all looked at each other and we were like , “ Oh . So this is how the day ’ s going to go ? It ’ s going to be a tough one .” There were lots of massive , massive steps . The first loop I ended up on a total of 25 , so we were just getting really comfortable and confident . Minder Tom Fraser and I were really gelling well . It took us about three and a half hours to do the first loop , so it was a pretty long day . On the second loop we went out and took a hesitant two in section one , and then cleaned section two which I was really pumped about . Again cleaned on three , cleaned on four . Then we just kept the momentum going . I had a big off in section eight . I went over the bars pretty hard and put a couple of scratches on the bike , which I ’ m not too happy about . I like my bike looking good . Made it through section nine on the second loop , just like I did the first loop , which was really crucial . Those were some good points to make up on the other guys . There was a really , really massive , quadruple step that had a really huge consequence for failure . That ’ s kind of how the weekend was . It was really fun . They were all rideable , but they were very dangerous . If you made a mistake , you were really going to get punished for it . Unfortunately , on the last loop I got punished pretty hard for making a couple mistakes . I clipped my foot in three and took a five . I didn ’ t make it up a step in seven and landed back in the cracks of the rocks , so that wasn ’ t good . Then the real kicker came in section nine , where I got all the way to the top and didn ’ t make it over the last ledge and bailed . Tom had the bike , but the rear tire hit the rock and with all this traction , the bike just took off into the atmosphere and landed at the bottom . Ended up shrapnelling my exhaust .