BIKE BULLER 2019
Yet another Bike Buller in the books - our third since taking up mountain biking. Being the first event we ever entered, Bike Buller has a special place in our hearts.
This year the event was moved to a 2 day event as opposed to a 3 day - personally, I preferred the old format of 3 days.
In 2017 and 2018, the gravity gods ran over 3 events, 1 event per day. An All-mountian assault race - race as many laps of one track over the course of the day, and your 3 quickest laps are tallied and give you a final track time. This event was unfortunately scrapped this year, which I was pretty bummed about. I think it was the most enjoyable event. This year the Gravity Gods event comprised of just the ABOM DH and the Enduro.
They've unfortunately been no notable track changes which was a little disappointing - just a couple jumps rebuilt and a few berms tidied up - however, the trails were running pretty damn awesome, particularly ABOM which was just getting utterly, ridiculously fast and rowdy by the end of racing on Saturday.
Due to a broken hand Rachel was unfortunately relegated to the sidelines, leaving just myself out on course. I seeded fastest in DH, 11th quickest overall for the day but unfortunately made a couple dumb mistakes and went 4 seconds slower in my race run! pretty frustrating knowing I had the pace there, but its all part of the game! Plus, I still ended up second in expert mens.
Looking back over the last few years, my first crack I came in 15th out of 20, then 8th out of around 20 last year, so to lay down the fastest qualie and run sub 3:50 I was pretty stoked. The winning time last year was 3:52, I rode a 3:47 in qualifying and just shy of 3:51 in racing, so it was for sure a fast year. My previous times were all above 4 minutes!
I ended up coming down pretty crook Sunday morning, the day of the enduro, so with less than a week until we were due to fly to New Zealand for Round1 of the EWS I opted to sit out and recover. Instead I got out and took some photos on stage 1, so not a complete waste!
I've put a little gallery below, feel free to use for social media provided you throw me some credit on @andrewhowieson and @twothemountainsco
Big shoutout to the Team at Rapid Ascent and Bike Buller for yet another kick ass event. If you haven't been before, make sure it's on your list! There is no better feeling than ripping fast trails on the roof of Victorias High Country, followed up by a chairlift back up to the top.