2011 National Gravity Cup - Round 1 - Thredbo

Hey all,

The Australian National Gravity Cup 2011 got underway last weekend in Thredbo, NSW. The last time I attended a race at Thredbo (2 years ago) it rained for the entire 5 days we were there and frankly, I was not looking forward to a repeat of that time however; the weather forecast seemed to suggest that rain and thunderstorms including very cold temperatures were to be the order of the weekend. On that basis I packed lots of warm weather clothes and very little in the way of summer attire!

We arrived in Thredbo on Thursday afternoon to be greeted with clear blue skies and temperatures in the range of 26oC - hardly the cold & rainy weather forecast and expected!! Anyway, not to be deterred, we got started with practice on Friday and it was not long before the 6+ minute track was starting to blow out and get very dusty. I managed to put in a big day of practice with around 10-12 runs knowing that Saturday would be limited practice time. Every thing seemed to be going well until towards the end when tiredness started to set in and I took a few 'digga's) but then again, so did most of the riders.

It was a great experience practising along side racers like Sam Hill, Troy Brosnan, Jared Graves, Ben Cory, Rhys Atkinson and heaps of other fast Elite Aussie racers including Ricky Boyer. This was my first race in a National event as an Elite racer and I must admit - I was a bit nervous!! Seeding was held on Saturday afternoon with about 80 Elite riders vying for the top spot. My seeding race run was anything but smooth - I am not sure whether it was nerves or what but I missed most of my lines from start to finish, almost ran off the track a few times and at the bottom. I blew both feet off the pedals and went off the track over the last berm before the finish line in front of the timing tent and officials but managed to hold it wide on the grass and get back on track and finished in 10th place with a time of 5m 53.72sec!!!

Sunday came and so did the rain overnight! The rain actually made the track quite slippery and it continued this way most of the day with small showers coming through from time to time. An announcement came soon after lunch that we all had to head up on the chair lift because thunder and lightning were present a short distance away and the officials were worried that the lifts may get closed. Anyway, race time came and I hit the start line in a good frame of mind, relaxed into my race and hit all my lines down the mountain. I opted to ride within myself particularly in the forest because I knew that the timber structures would be slippery but when I got into the open I pedalled my arse off!! That worked and I managed to bring my FTR/Santa Cruz V10 Carbon home in 7th place with a time of 5m 44.23sec to claim the Hot Seat for a short period of time.

I am stoked with this result in my first National Elite race particularly when beaten by Brosnan, Hill, Graves, Cory, Atkinson & Mudd!! I would like to send out a big thank you to Nigel & Aaron - NSDynamics who travelled to Thredbo and provided support for Tracey Hannah, Mat Dodd and myself over the weekend. I would also like to thank Santa Cruz Bikes, ForTheRiders, Elka Suspension, Diverse Springs, Chunked.com.au, KWT-Maxxis and family friend, Paul Dymalla who builds all my race wheels. Next race planned is Round 2 of the National Gravity Cup at Mount Buller, Victoria.

Presentation of National Junior Downhill Team Jersey

I had great pleasure in presenting my Australian National Junior Downhill Team Jersey to Aaron and Nigel of NSDynamics last week. I feel that NSDynamics are worthy recipients because they have been totally supportive of me and my riding career, having gone beyond the 'call of duty' on many occasions to ensure my bike and equipment was in first class racing order. This was exemplified whilst I was in Europe earlier this year with the National Junior Team for the 2011 UCI World Downhill Championships at Champery, Switzerland and Nigel was undertaking his role as Head Mechanic - Devinci Global Racing but still found the time to ensure my suspension equipment was working flawlessly!! I know the Jersey has found a good home and takes pride of place in their NSDynamics workshop co-located within ForTheRiders store, Brisbane. Once again guy's, thanks a million - NSD is rad!!

2011 Queensland State Downhill Championships

Hey All,

The Queensland State Downhill Championships were held at the recently opened Mt Joyce Escape Recreational Park on weekend 8-9 October 2011. This was the first time the downhill track had been raced and it surprised a lot of riders including me with it's technical difficulty. No-one other than a hardy few who were prepared to do push runs prior to the weekend had ridden the track and this really did put everyone on a level playing field.

We arrived at Mt Joyce (part of the Wyaralong Dam) on Saturday morning to be greeted with rain and a wet track - just what I needed after Champery'! Fortunately the rain cleared mid morning and the track began to tack up nicely because of the sandy/loam soil in that area however; by end of practice on Saturday the track was starting to get dusty and dry. Practice was fun but there were a few sections of the track that were difficult including the flat off camber turns due to their sandy nature and they brought me underdone a few times, reminding me that 'digga's' are part of the game!

A short burst of rain overnight settled the dust and Sunday was off to a flyer! Practising with my ForTheRiders/Santa Cruz team mates, Liam Piaro, Lindsay Klein and Timmy McCulloch along with ForTheRiders/Giant rider, Rhys Willemse, FTR/Yeti-Fox rider, Brandon Yrttiaho and FTR/Pivot rider Mat Dodd certainly saw a rise in the Testosterone levels at Mt Joyce!! It was suggested by Lindsay that we all complete our Seeding Qualifying run as a 'chainless' race to determine the 2011 Qld Chainless Champ to which we all quickly agreed and then we set about convincing a few other 'punters' to remove their chains including Nathan Rennie.

Seeding got underway and as I was given the No. 2 race plate and because No. 1 did not show up, I was first down the mountain to set the pace. I managed to hold on until Rhys came down like a man possessed and knocked me off to take the title of Qld Chainless Champ - 2011. I managed to qualify at No. 4 overall which I was pretty happy with because I believed I had plenty left in the tank for pedalling (wrong move!!!).

Race time came and when I was due to go over the start line, Lindsay was sitting in first place on the Podium with Liam sitting in second place. Unfortunately, I had not calculated my speed with a chain on and over cooked my run in several places almost causing me to crash! I went into fourth place but was quickly deposed by Rhys who eventually finished second and Brandon taking the win with a scorching run. I ended up 5th overall which was a good result for my first event in Queensland as an Elite rider. The awesome result of the Championships in Elite Men was the fact that ForTheRiders team members filled the entire Podium with Brandon 1st, Rhys 2nd, Lindsay 3rd, Liam 4th and me 5th - a great day for our Sponsors!!

Just a quick note of thanks to my Sponsors for your continued support and encouragement - ForTheRiders.com, Santa Cruz Bikes, NSDynamics.com.au, Chunked.com.au, Elka Suspension, Diverse Springs, KWT-Maxxis and FreeLap Timing

Update - 2011

Hi All,

It has been a hectic 2011 and I have been remiss in failing to update my Blog for some months now however; with all that has been going on - I just have not had the time (poor excuse, I know!!).

Well, to start with I have had a change of team and sponsors! I made the decision to accept a ride with the ForTheRiders/Santa Cruz Team on a new Santa Cruz V10 carbon bike in July 2011. Whilst I had been with Banshee Bikes for a few years and they have been extremely good to me in that time, I felt that I needed to move to the next level particularly when my selection for the Australian National Junior Downhill Team to contest UCI World Downhill Championships 2011 was announced. I will always be grateful for the opportunity afforded me by Banshee Bikes and Team Banshee Australia - it set the path for me to follow my dream, thank you!

I departed Australia on 8 August and flew to Zurich, Switzerland with Team and then did a road trip to Pila, Italy where I competed in a round of the IXS European Cup. It was a different experience and took some time getting used to high altitude training and racing although I did not have a lot of time as the race was 4 days after my arrival. I raced up a level in Elite along with some of the quickest riders in Europe and it was a great experience however; nerves got the better of me during Qualifying on Saturday and I crashed resulting in me seeding in 67th position. I managed to settle myself for the next day's racing and practised well during the morning session along with my Team mates. Because I qualified out the back I was an early rider on the track for the race and managed to put together a good run almost free of incidents which resulted in me sitting on the Podium in 2nd place for a long time. I ended up placing 29th in Elite and 6th in Juniors which I considered a good result for my first race outing in Europe.

The Team then headed across to Val di Sole for the World Cup Series Final. The weather was really hot at around 36oC most days and our accommodation was anything but great with the aircon finding it hard to keep up! The nerves returned when our official track walk was on and here I was walking the track with some of the fastest downhill riders in the World - awesome!! We started practice on Wednesday and whilst the track was a monster, I was starting to get up to speed and understanding the technical difficulty of Val di Sole. Thursday saw me take a big digga and I bruised my sternum pretty bad which made riding difficult but I still pushed on - after all, it was a World Cup race and the Finals to boot!! Qualifying took place on Friday and I got out of the start gate pretty good but shortly after I got booted off the pedals and could not get my feet set again for the entire trip down the mountain. Crashing just seemed to be order of the day but I managed to stay upright and finished in 132nd place which was disappointing but I kept reminding myself that it was my first WC race!

We departed Val di Sole and headed for Morzine, France where the Team was to undergo some serious training prior to World Champs. Morzine is an awesome place for riding, training and generally chillin out particularly when most of the population during summer are Aussies, Kiwis and Brits! It was also an opportunity of catching up with one of my Sponsors, Nigel Reeve of NSDynamics who works in Morzine during the summer - thanks for sorting my suspension out prior to World Champs, Nige!

Enter World Champs week and we arrive in Champery, Switzerland. The Aussie Team (including the Cross Country and Trials riders) were accommodated together and whilst there were some issues with facilities like washing machines and dryers it was good to get to know the other team members. Official practice started on Tuesday however; we were limited to around 1.5 hours a day which did not give a lot of time to get many runs under my belt. The Champery downhill track is legendary and it was everything + more that I had heard about in the lead-up to the event. To say that my first ride down was the scariest thing I have ever attempted is an understatement! I had mega issues with rolling tyres off the rims due to the steepness of the track and also with one particular corner where I kept penguin diving and crashing! It remained dry, dusty and loose all week up to Thursday evening when it rained and the track became slippery for Friday's practice and this then raised the question of tyre type selection? The Juniors were required to do a Seeding Race and I rode conservatively to ensure I got to the bottom in one piece and qualified in 32nd place.

Saturday evening and the heavens opened up over Champery!! We arrived at the track early morning and it was still raining heavily which made my first run down the mountain very interesting to say the least. I only did a couple of runs prior to my race because of rain and the temperatures were crashing down to around 12C which was cold compared to the 4 weeks I had been in Europe. I went up for my race run and unfortunately; a rider was seriously injured on track which required the track to be closed for 45 minutes whilst they extracted him by helicopter and this just added to the 30 minutes lead time I had given myself. I sat at the start gate, cold and wet but was accompanied by our Coach - Jared Rando and Team Mechanic - Tim Chadd who kept my spirits up.

Finally, I got over the start line and the rain kept coming down which made the track like a river of mud. It would not have been so bad except that there were no ruts formed at this stage and brakes were useless for most of the ride. I crashed just after the first split which was not a bad crash but trying to get me and the V10 upright again was difficult. I continued on and crashed again prior to the 2nd split, ending up in the catch net which hooked up my bars and controls making it almost impossible to extract! I got going again and decided to give it all as my race had already been run - put my head down and pedalled my arse off to the finish line. I finally placed 23rd in Junior's - World Champs and I am happy with this result considering the conditions we had to race in.

Overall, a fantastic experience which I will never forget! I would like thank my Sponsors, ForTheRiders - Santa Cruz Bikes - NSDynamics.com.au - Chunked.com.au - Elka Suspension - Diverse Springs - KWT-Maxxis and FreeLap Timing for your continued support of my racing and giving me the opportunity of pursuing my dreams. I would also like to thank Cycling Australia / MTBA and their entire World Champs management team but in particular, Jared Rando, Simon French and Tim Chadd, Dad (Harvey Power) & Glen Piazza who ran errands, washed and dried clothes and generally helped where needed during our campaign.

Australian National Downhill Series - National Downhill Championships - Oceania Downhill Championships

Hi all,

This is a wrap-up of the 2011 Australian National Downhill Series, Australian National Downhill Championships and Oceania Championships.

National Series

The 3rd round of the National Downhill Series was held at Mount Buller, Victoria in early Feb on a very wet, cold and windy weekend. We arrived on Thursday amid pouring rain and high winds which continued through the whole weekend with Saturday's practice being cancelled as it was considered too unsafe for the chair lifts! Seeding and Race runs were held on Sunday and apparently the timing system did not record my seeding run and therefore I got to be first over the line for my race. It was a very difficult track made even more so by freezing temperatures and snow (in mid summer!)which I am not used to. My race run was conservative to say the least but I managed to finish 6th which I was pretty happy about considering the conditions!

Australian National Downhill Championships

A couple of weeks later Team Banshee Australia descended on Adelaide, South Australia to contest the National Championships at Eagle MTB Park. Conditions here were in stark contrast to the previous event with the track being loose, dusty and blown out by race day. I had a good few days practice without any major issues going into seeding and placed 4th for the next days race. My race run was measured and whilst I had a few moments of concern I still managed to place 4th behind Connor Fearon, Troy Brosnan and Brandon Yrttiaho - a good result in my mind. I would like to acknowledge Under 17 team rider Lachie McLaren who took his Legend onto the Podium in 3rd place - well done Lachie.

Oceania Championships

Off to Shepparton for the Oceania Championships & round 4 Australian National Downhill Series (combined event) 3 weeks later and on arrival we were greeted with a track at Mount Major (renamed Mount Minor!) which was fun to ride but just not up to standard for a Continental Championship! All that aside it still had its fair share of super technical aspects including loose rocks which moved when riding over them and caused me a fair bit of grief with pinch flats and crashes. I seeded in 8th place and rode conservatively in my race run to finish 7th which I was OK with given the closeness of times between 1st and 7th. Troy Brosnan took the win with Conner Fearon in 2nd place and Brandon Yrttiaho in 3rd. The final round of the National Downhill Series was held in conjunction with this race and as a result I managed to finish 4th overall for the Australian National Downhill Series 2011.

I have been selected into the Australian National Downhill Junior (long) Team to contest the World Downhill Championships at Champery, Switzerland in September 2011 and unless something drastic happens I hope to be selected into the final short team come July 2011. My results for National and Oceania events for 2011 are:

Australian National Downhill Championships - 4th Under 19 Male
Australian National Downhill Series - 4th Under 19 Male
Oceania Downhill Championships - 7th Under 19 Male.

Now for lots of training and National Camps in the lead up to World Champs and our precursor race at Val di Sole World Cup round and an IXS Cup round in Switzerland. I am also happy to acknowledge that Chris Kovarik of Kovarik Racing has agreed to coach and mentor me over the coming months.

Revolution Magazine Underground 2 Race - Australia

Team Banshee Australia riders Ben Power, Ryan Hunt and Cody Eichorn feature in the following video of Revolution Magazine Underground 2 Race held in a secret forest location near Lithgow NSW in 2010.