A hectic schedule for the first two World Cups of theA�year had riders trying to get up to speed as soon as possible, with Connor Fearon back in Australia he gives us the Inside Info on his Val di Sole Experience;
We start off David McMillan Diaries with Dave and his travelling companions as they leave Oz and head over to Fort William for round 1, #DMD lets go;
Connor Fearon gives us the Inside Info onA�the first World Cup race of the yearA� at Fort William where he claimed his highest World CupA�finish to date in 21st;
Want to know what the riders have to go through when they take on the Fort William track? Watch this full length head cam from Tracey Hannah and you will soon understand why riders say this is one of the most brutal tracks to race on. Crazy, Tracey finished a highly respectable 8th but you know she will be looking to improve at Val di Sole as she continues her recovery from injury.
David McMillan is a name you have seen bandied across downhill247.com for years now, a Junior rider who has now moved into the Elite category Dave has speed and style! When we heard that Dave was heading overseas, to race the majority of the World Cups this year, we had to have a chat to him and we are pretty stoked to introduce David McMillan Diaries or #DMD. We will be bringing you regular updates as Dave and the rest of his travelling comrades (Luke Ellison, Joey Vejvoda and Jack Moir)A�travel the globeA�racing their bikes. It is going to be a pretty epic journey, with that in mind we had a quick chat with Dave just before he was preparing to get on the plane and start the quest!
Hey Dave, thanks for chatting to us, you must be pretty stoked with the next few months! Tell us a bit more about what you’re up to:
Yeah I am so keen, I am going and doing all the World Cups (except Norway because it is too expensive), after the Mont Sainte Anne World Cup I am going to Whistler for Crankworx and to ride for 6 weeks before I go to the Leogang World Cup. Finally I get home mid September.A�A�Between the World Cups I am hitting up some IXS races, try and win some cash haha! We have 4 weekends of racing in a row, it is going to be pretty full on but we are going to have some fun along the way.
Sounds like you’re living the dream! Who are you travelling with?
Yeah Jared Rando offered to help us sort out some accommodation, etc. Jack Moir and I weren’t sure if we should head over this year but then we thought we should just do it. Now I will be sharing a van withA�Joey Vejvoda, Luke Ellison and Jack Moir, there are going to be lot of two minute noodles! Joey is picking up the van at Fort William, sleeping in it andA�then driving solo down to Val di Sole for the race the next weekend – it is a three day drive!
Let’s not beat around the bush, World Champs last year followed onA�the disappointment of the year before with numerous crashes. Has that played on your mind and is it something you are trying to rectify?
Worlds was so annoying, I trained so hard for that race and then crashed at the start of the track… I was looking for a top 10 result, so hopefully I will be able to redeem myself this year.
No doubt you can! have you been training hard again for this year?
I have been training a little, I do two gym sessions a week with a trainer and I ride a lot, of everything; skate park, dirt jump, cross country and downhill but I don’t really have a structured training program.
Cool thanks for the chat, finally is there anyone you would like to thank?
I would like to thank FJC they just got me some new kit, Fektor and Specialized for helping out.
So there you have, we are pretty excited to be bringing you the tales from the road of the 2013 World Cup season, stay tunedA�- #DMD!
Riding Images: Ronnie Grammatica
One of the most mysterious, secret and probably expensive downhill bikes ever created was the Honda RN01. RacedA�from 2004-2006 by the G Cross Honda Team, the RN01 was a bike in a class of its own. The chromeA�finish and the Honda wings all added to the UFO nature of the bike, RN01 stood for Racing, Natural (apparently referring to natures power) and 01 was because it was their first attempt/modelA�. Very little information was released to the public in regards to this bike when Greg Minnaar, Matti Lehikonen, Brendan Fairclough and various Japanese riders were racing them. Mechanics would remove the gearbox from the frame so if the bikes were stolen the gearboxes weren’t. This did pay dividends and two of the team bikese were stolen, without gearboxes! One ended up on Ebay and was laterA�recovered. The hugely secretive nature of the program came at a time when downhill was no where near as professional as it is today, Steve Peat and Cedric Gracia (of course) ran into the restricted accessA�Honda tent at a race with a camera snapping pictures to have a cheeky dig at the way Honda were running things.
The first series of the gearbox was said to allow a huge number of gears to be accessed by the riders, so much so the UCI introduced a rule limiting the number of gears to nine for downhill bikes. It was a CVT system as found in modern day cars. That does pose an interesting question as to whether this rule has been updated now that ten speed systems are available?! The second series of these gearboxes were a simpler designer basically a derailleur and cassette within the housing. Other parts on the bike, such as the forks and brakes were made specifically for Honda and this bike by various Japanese manufacturers. The linkage was a single pivot design, rumored to try and replicate their motorbike suspension. The total bike weight wasA�around 18.5kg/41 pounds, depending on the build.A�The R and D costs alone ran into the hundreds of thousands!A�Unfortunately these bikes were never made available to the public, despite many reports they would beA�and almost all were apparently crushed at the end of the project with only Greg Minnaar having one at his house/shop sans the gearbox. We are willing to bet some Japanese collector managed to get their hands on one though… Then of course there was the four-cross/dual slalom bike Greg occasionally used!
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