Thredbo Aussie National- QUALI
THREDBO, AUS
Thredbo is part of the snowy mountains, which has the highest peak in Australia, Mt kosciusko-7,300ft. It's one of the few summer mountain bike venues that has a chairlift at a ski resort, so as you can imagine, it's a pretty popular place. (About 7 hrs drive from our place in the Blue Mountains, couple Hrs from Canberra I think), and open most of the summer. Really nice place, stream flowing though the village, ski lodges, nice trees and greenery, etc, most everyone enjoys this venue.
We are in the midst of Round 3 of the Aussie national series, had some really wet weather the last few days, all through practice, but a small break in the rain just for qualifying today. Visibility was a major issue all through practice, so it was about a thousand times better to actually be able to see. Dirt was decent, except in a couple spots, where the muck was deep and pretty hard to navigate through. The Maxxis cut spikes were the ticket, but I'm not sure that many Aussies would even own a set of wetscreams. Some were loving the conditions, and some were getting all slideways. Track is pretty well destroyed. Lots of holes, ruts, plenty of mud, super long effort 7min+....
This is Bryn and my first Dh race of the year on Transition. Kind of one of my first real national DH races ever. I have done about 5 or 6 DH races in my day, Crankworx, Hood, sea otter, Lisbon, Snowmass, Northstar, etc?? but none quite like this. I am really really enjoying it!! In any condition:) My Tr450 feels like it suits me really well, comfy geometry, everything feels natural, Crankbrother Iodine rims are holding strong as well, just gotta get my fitness and hand strength up to par for these long ass courses:). I have ridden mud more than dry as it seems, and been practicing ruts on my little dirtbike, so all those rainy days are paying off for times like these.
Anyway, we've been training super hard getting ready for the season, and were excited to gain extra race experience. There is solid competition at these rounds, over 12 women on the start list, and the Men's field has about dozen world cup quality racers; Bryn ,Kovarik, Josh Button, Amiel Cavalier, Will Rischbieth, Shaun o'Connor, Rhys Willemse, Ben Cory, soon to be Rhys Atkinson, Swiss rider Lars Peyer is here, former MadCat- justin Havukainen is here riding for some fun, and a few others. Good crew of people with common interest, so yeah,it's good to see everyone again and catch up.
Since the weather has been so crappy, and we are in a national park with erosion issues, and a big storm predicted for tomorrow, They told us to run qualifier like it was the final. So without ever doing a full run due to visibility and tiredness, we all prepared for this quali to be the final. Bryn and I did early practice, but the conditions changes slightly from sloppy mud to a peanut buttery texture by race time. So brutal to pedal through that stuff, and all the holes were no picnic either, this track was rough to begin with, but damn. We sat out the later practice to save energy and stay warm, but it didn't really matter, in these conditions it becomes a lottery, minimize mistakes, pedal in all the spots you can, stay outta the holes and try to flow.
u-19 groups went first then Elite ladies, elite men. I was back in the field, so had quite a few gals in front of me. Passed 5 of them in my run over the course of my 8 min 37sec effort. Enduro Dh here. Yeah, pretty nutty, had to sit down and pedal i more places than I would've liked, but it was really tore up, rough , and loose. Took top time, So that's cool. May or may not have to back it up tomorrow, we will see how they call it. Clair Kovarik was +11 seconds for 2nd, Clair Whiteman 3rd.
In the mens Josh Button edged out Kovarik both on a 7min08sec run. Ameil 3rd, Rhys 6th. Bryn was riding unbelievably all weekend. He was on a ripper of a run, till the last bit of wood, when he popped out carrying and running his bicycle about downhill to the finishline. Had a bit of a mechanical tragedy and broke some stuff, so he still finished 9th!! With that happening running his bike which was unable to roll for about 45- 50 sec downhill to the finishline 7min50sec. Troy Brosnan won u-19.
Back to the lodge.... clean shit, dry shit, Shower, eat, repeat . Getting worked.
Haven't been taking pictures. sorry, it's a little tough when up on the hill all day. Hermits. Picture a green mountain ski slope disappearing into a misty haze, and lots of filthy mud, and that'll suffice. Breachy was here taking a few photos, maybe something on vitalmtb.com??
Adios. See what the weather is gonna do. If it thunders and lightning, i'll get shut down...