For the third state downhill round this year the club went back to the (in)famous Nannup downhill track. Reputed as Western Australia’s steepest and gnarliest downhill track. Had that not been enough, after a fairly damp Saturday practise promising a perfect track on sunday heavy rainfall during the night had everyone scrambling to put on mud tyres and a completely different track to the day before. A multitude of crashes, broken bones, spirits and bikes all came together for a brilliant weekend’s racing.

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For this year’s second race in the WA state downhill series the club rescheduled to race at Golden Grove at the same track as last year. This meant that for the first time since starting racing I would already be familiar with the track, leaving me concentrate on riding the same or similar lines, just faster; instead of learning a track from scratch.

Photo Courtesy of R. Zardins

After going well in practise, race day just wasn’t the same with bike problems and a few little mistakes making for two disappointing runs. Quite a few other racers had bad luck with one of the top guys having a big off, taking some time to be stretchered off the hill! Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of Momentum Photography

I often get surprised/impressed replies when I tell friends that I race downhill, as if there is some special skill requirement to take part. Whilst very kind to one’s ego the truth is that pretty much anyone can and does take part in the WA state downhill series. Regulars include 10 year old kids, rolling down the tracks on hardtail bikes to fast talented elite riders who compete for a top 10 spot at national level (and for Australia the national level is close to world class). Also this time we once again had the fortune of 5 time world champion Sam Hill racing over the weekend!

Everyone has their own goals, though. Last year, being my first season, mine was not to come last in the lower ‘Sport’ class, which I managed by quite some margin. Others may be aiming at winning their respective class or going for the overall win. Whatever their goals, everyone could call themselves a ‘racer’ and be totally correct!

At what point though can someone really consider themselves to really be part of the action? Continue reading →

This year is shaping up to be very busy for mountain bikers who race in Western Australia with no less than 3 separate series covering the newly emerging ‘enduro’ racing format and classic downhill racing.

Stage 3. Photo by A. Marinova

To kick off the season WA Gravity Enduro (WAGE) organised a 4 stage enduro race at the Goat Farm, just half an hour’s drive away from Perth’s CBD. Being WAGE’s second event ever they did a fairly good job of organising the event with the biggest problem coming in the form of of timing system issues, meaning the first stage times were not counted towards the overall time. Continue reading →