Garbanzo Downhill with Rueben Miller

This year I have been lucky enough to come over to Whistler BC to spend a summer here riding racing working and everything else that goes on here.
The Garbanzo downhill is one of the many events part of the annual freeride festiville crankworx. Crankworks is held every august and is the world biggest mountainbike bike festivlle.

One of the longest downhill races to be held in the world the Garbanzo starts at the very top of whistler bike park and finishes at the very bottom. Twisting and turning thru some of the most technical tracks on the mountain.

This year the week leading up to it consisted of rain, rain and some more rain. Come race day it was still raining. As i got to the top for my run it was pretty close to 0 degrees and windy with rain. I was about mid way to start in the elite field.

My run started good as i left the top into original sin, the track conditions were very muddy but as it was raining the roots were still clean so you could se the slippery bits. As i got about a 3rd of the way down and into in deep it started getting hard. I was tired from the previous pedal section and my goggles were starting to fog, the trak was geting harder by the second and my arms were getting tired. About halfway thru i caught the rider in front, who instead of pulling over decided to slow down in front of me. I finally got past him on a high line but lost my flow. As i came out of in dep there was a 200 metre up hill section into duffman, after already riding the length of two normal downhill tracks this was very hard. I pedaled so hard I was almost seeing stars and spewing into my helmit. Into duffman was a bit of a joke as i couldnt do much from being so rooted, i came over a small jump and onto a northshore bridge, as i landed my wheels slipped from underneath me and i was a goner. I fell about a metre onto the grond and had to climb back up and get my bike. From then on it took me awhile to find my flow again but started to get it back towards the bottom. The last section of track was the hardest as it opened up and got flat. With the finish in sight i gave it all i had, thru monkey hands and into the last corner of the giant dual track and over the last jump. I cross

ed the line with a 16.04 putting me in 40th place about 1:40 behing the winner Gee Atherton. Not the result I was after but i had a lot of fun!

By far the hardest downhill race I have ever done, would definatley reccomend it.

Ill be back next year for sure!

Thanks to http://www.bikehq.co.nz/ and ironhorse bikes

Cheers
Reuben Miller

Chris Beverland on Crankworx Whistler

photo by the multi talented Dan Frew

I was lucky enough to make the trip from NZ to Canada for another biking season this year. Leaving the farm back home mid winter to ride my bike mid summer in Whistler, the decision was made pretty quickly!

Well Crankworx rolled into whistler town once again, a huge mountain bike festival that incorporates almost every form of mountain biking possible. What does this equal....well good times I must say! From a 15 minute DH race to a one minute dual slalom race to a slope style course there is something for everyone, unless of course you like lycra then you're shit out of luck really.

The races for me were the amateur giant dual slalom and the Canadian open DH race that must have been on one of the sickest DH tracks I've riden. Only having a DH bike the giant dual would be a challenge. Good through the corners but slow at the start gate and the first straight. To my surprise my seeding was good coming in with the second fastest time. The track was sick although at race pace some of the rollers turned into jumps to flat that you had to be very weary of. Having a fast seeding time allowed some initial easy races, gradually however the pace picked up and I found myself lagging a bit off the start gate but having extra speed through the corners that was enough to keep me in it. The final was going to be super tough and it was until about half way down the track when my opponent flew off a roller to flat slightly crossed up. What did this mean for him? A trip to the hospital is the answer and for me an easy win! Not the best way to win really but I think I may have had the legs on him anyway. For my efforts I received a rather large maybe fake gold medal and some free Sram stuff, good because whistler eats bikes parts and I needed some new ones.

The Canadian open DH race was on the last day of Crankworx. A new track with a mix of open fall line and tech off camber root and rock riding. A real DH track. Yea!! I enjoyed the track in practice and was riding well. I learnt the importance of having the suspension rebound and compression dialed in correctly, the difference of a click or two is night and day on a track like this. I had a reasonably race run, a ruff upper section, slipping a pedal and taking a bad line on a rock section. The lower section was much better and carried good speed through the tree section. The result was 6th and I was happy with. All and all a successful Crankworx.Defiantly recommend anyone serious about riding to check it out in years to come.

Would like to say thanks to Transition Bikes

Chris B.

Helene Fruthwirth on Crankworx Whistler

Photo by Dan Frew

I tell you now the real story about ‘crankworx’ in Whistler and the Kiwi boys...not the usual basic reports which you can find on the ordinary bike pages.
I came to whistler disappointed and just wanted to fly home. My recent performances at both previous world cup races had let me down. One was in Mont Sainte Anne and the other in Bromont Canada.

In Mont Sainte Anne I had a technical defect and in Bromont I crashed so hard that I couldn't ride on. I was so upset about everything and I couldn't believe why I am actually racing when just the podium makes you happy…..and sometimes to reach this is so hard. I said to myself forget it and keep your head up doesn't matter what comes next it could be worse.

I know it sounds kind of weird for people who are looking at my life as a racer. "Girl you are living your dream, how can you be sad?" That's what I hear when I'm disappointed about my results. But believe me racing has a darker side and when you don't race you can’t understand that.

ANYWAY I came to Whistler to enjoy the other spirit of riding your bike and I couldn't believe how great it was! It's the best place on world to ride your bike and have fun all the time. Crankworx, one of the biggest bike event in the world, was running at the same time I was there.

You must image a big hill with chairlifts - hundreds of bike trails. Okay maybe not hundreds but of course 1000 lines. You can choose hundreds of people with whom you can share your passion. Riding your bike. The two weeks in whistler were my official holidays this year and I rode everyday and pretty much non stop. I met so manyawesome people. Everyone special on their way. Chris Beverland a Kiwi boy with whom I rode most of my time inspired me to learn doing whips and have style in the air. Harriet Harper and her boyfriend, who gave me a ride to whistler in their massivecamper truck. Dan Frew, who went up with us to take great pictures. Katrina Strand, a great downhill chick from Whistler, who spreads out good vibes. Sheryl McLeod a Kiwi Lady who rocks her bike for years. All the Manitou/Sun Ringle crew who helped me out. Davis English and Jeff Bryson , two locals I rode with. Tom Hey, an England dirt jumper whom I met on my last evening.

Alta Lake Beach

Thanks to the Kiwi boys I stayed with Nigel, Rueben, Ryder, Kieran and Cam and of course Dan McMullan who helped me out again. I crashed at his place. But this time I could help him too with this blog, which you are reading at the moment. These boys hmm how can I say...gave me the feeling of home. I mean not the house- the house was nearly all the time a big mess and I slept in the Kitchen/living room on a big mattress on the floor. And I also don't mean that most of them came home in the middle of the night, completely waisted and jumping around on my mattress. I mean more that they listened to me when I needed someone to talk to, cooked for me, bought me a big cake for my birthday- Sang the happy birthday song and I was welcomed from the first second i knocked on their door.

Of course I wouldn't be a racer if I wouldn't have taken part in few Crankworx competitions. But I tried to take them not so seriously likea world cup and it worked for me I had a lot of fun. In one event I ended up on the podium. I did my longest downhill race ever. Called Garbonzo. It tookme exactly 19 minutes from the top to the bottom in race speed. I ended up 5th in this event. I wanted to do the Crankworx women event too but I got ill on my birthday and I didn't feel for competing. On Friday I raced the Giant Slalom which was hard work on my big bike, considering that I was the only one with a downhill bike instead of a light 4x bike. I managed 3rd.

holding my chec! 3rd place in Crankworx Giant Slalom

On Sunday I race the Canadian Open race. I liked the track very much...hmm I nearly like every track so but anyway I crashed in my race run and ended up on the 11th place, which was exactly the last. Combined with the fact that I had to leave the bikeparadise I was little bit sad. I will try to come back next year again and stay longer.

Now I am sitting in the airplane number AC033 to Sydney to race there my next world cup. I hope it will work out better for me than at the otherones.

see you your LENE

Round 2 NZ Nationals byJame Pollard

James Pollard

Thoughts/Experiences at dirt park this year for nationals!. . . Well where do i begin haha.

I had been lucky enough to have gone up earlier in the year with Julz and Dan from "four four three" who among others were organising the building of the track and looked around for different lines and commented on what they already had.

James doing some runs at Dirt Park durring practise day

My thoughts on that were Awesome!! i had only ridden the new middle section they had built and the faaaaaaast last section,so on practice day of nationals when i rocked up there was a whole new top section to tackle. It was really tight and quite steep so coming from Alex i was quite used to that and enjoyed the mental challenge. Getting down it however wasnt as easy after taking a smoking hot line through the spiker bushes (whooops) into the middle of nowhere i figured id better slow down and start seeing what other people were doing!! After that i got it heaps better.

In particular i wanted o take a proper look at the bottom fast section after hearing some guys were taking hot lines every where. There was one spot where if u went inside to out you could legally straight line it with out braking which took me most of the afternoon to get right but felt soooo good to get it. I loved the dirt park track how it was soo tight at the top and had some reasonably flowy bits in the middle (so you could rest up slightly) then just a flat out fast bottom section that was just wide open!!

.....Braaapp!

So theres a few thoughts and experiences on the track but i was hearing heaps of mixed thoughts on the track from most of the riders saying how it was getting blown out and how shit it was and it was hard for me to accept partly because i was finding it OK to get down and wasn't having any crashes =) and also because i knew how long Julz, Dan and the boys had to get the track up and running. From starting with nothing at the time of year they did i thought they did farkin well and at the end of the day the track held up and i heard of no major injuries and due to suck a big hill and long track thought that was good news!. So after all i knew it was disappointing that they thought that way.

Anyways after seeding 1st with a small woops in the middle section, I loved the track enough to claim 2ND place in senior mens so i was pretty happy with that and hope we get to race there next year and see what the boys bring up for us cant wait. Jimmy.

Claiming 2nd place

Altitude Adventures Ltd

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Alexandra

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Photography by James Allan