Andrew Neethling

It is a rather funny feeling when the season ends. It is always great getting to go home and take a break, although we make some great friends and memories on the road.
I have just been taking a bit of a break and trying to do some normal things away from the bike. This year I feel a little less burnt out than previous years but it is still important to take a step away from the bike and regain that passion which brought us to this point.

The industry is gearing up for Interbike. I will not be attending this year. It would have been just so much travelling.

Schladming, Austria: Sep 2009

The World Cup Season finished off with an exciting race in Schladming, Austria. Everyone was treated to a great overall title race and a first time World Cup winner.
Coming into the finals I was sitting in 11th Place overall. I had a chance to get into the Top 10 but also had 12th-14th placed riders very close behind me. I knew my work was cut out as these riders are strong here.
The course is one of the best on the circuit. It is rough, fast and has a great mix of what makes a great track. Rain came the day and night before the race making for some slippery wood sections.

I wanted to put a good qualifying run together but feel I played it too safe and made some mistakes. I rested up for the finals and John, took care of the bike. We headed up for final and I wanted to try and make up for my quali run and finish off the season strongly.
I went hard out of the gate and was really pushing it, I made a big mistake about 30 sec in which bummed for out for a bit but I think it made me push it even harder after that. I was not sure what sort of run I was putting together as I was having some moments but kept pushing. I felt strong at the bottom and crossed the line to take the hot seat. It was a bit of a wait to see where I would end up but watching the race unfold was great.

I eventually would finish 10th. I was super happy with that as have not had the best races here in the past. I managed to get ahead of all riders I needed to in the final but did not gain enough points on 10th Place overall and thus ended 11th overall for the season. My goals coming into this season were for top 10 overall so I am happy to just about achieve that.

Greg Minnaar managed to take the overall title and Sam Blenkinsop won his first World Cup.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this a great season.

Andrew Neethling
www.andrewneethling.com
Team Mongoose
Oakley
THE
Dylan Dean Designs
Alpinestars

The World Cup circus is back in town after a weekend off after Australia. It is hard to believe the final race of the season is upon us. It does not feel like it at all.

The weather has been sunny since I arrived in Schladming. Course walking was today and not to much has changed. They took out the technical and steep wood section in the middle but there are still going to be some tricky corners in the woods covered in roots. Course is looking very fast but from what we have heard is that rain is on the way. Well of course rain is on the way, ha ha, it is a World Cup after all.
The points chase will be exciting with Greg leading Sam Hill for the overall. I am up to 11th overall with 12th -14th place breathing down my neck….
Stay tuned for more..

This is not MTB but it is a must see, I am not sure how they even judged this event. The riding was nuts…

Be sure to follow Austria WC on:

Austria World Cup Live Coverage: Freecaster

Austria World Cup Live Coverage: MtbCut

Brian Hunt filmed a segment for RipTV home Invasion at the end of 2006:

Canberra Australia

Mongoose’s Andrew Neethling has traveled to more places over the last few racing seasons than most would ever dream of. He has been all over Europe, North and South America and is from South Africa so it was interesting to find out that he had never been to Australia which was the sixth stop of the UCI World Cup gravity MTB schedule. While planning for the trip to Oz Mongoose team manager Steve Spencer and the teams Euro’ Master Mechanic Mark Maurissen decided to team up with Andrew to get into Australia a few days early to take in the sites which is something the team doesn’t get to do much in their whirlwind travels to international races. Upon their arrival they were quickly reminded that it was winter time in the southern hemisphere. Their shorts and t-shirts were quickly swapped out for long pants and hoodies. The boys spent a few days north of Sydney in Manly Beach and got to do some surfing and shopping. They also had the good fortune of hooking up with Richard Button who is the dad of Australian Mongoose support rider Josh Button. “Skipper” Rich picked up the boys at Manly Wharf and took them on a tour of Sydney Harbor with stops at the famous Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. On the way back to Manly Wharf Rich decided to anchor up the boat in a cove and baited up the boys for some fishing where TM Steve was the only one lucky enough to hook a fish. During the last night in Manly Needles and Steve decided to jump into a poker tournament where Andrew bested a large field of competitors to get 2nd place and $300.00, a sign of good things to come.

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