Alpine Gravity Series – Round 2 – Barjarg

The Alpine Gravity race at Barjarg, Victoria was held just recently and by all accounts it was a super sweet event.A�Ben Watkins from Alpine Gravity knows how to hold a race, combine it with some of the best tracks going and everyone wins. Check some of the footage from the race if you don’t believe us. David McMillan took out Elite, that is good because Dave is heading overseas soon to take on the rest of the world at the World Cups, so a definite confidence boost for him. Dean Lucas just missed taking the win on his new bike (check out our Inside Info with him hereA�if you haven’t already) so that is also good, as it shows he is comfortable and when he goes overseas with David he should be feeling confident too.

So, the race was good, everyone was happy! But that’s not what this article is all about, we love downhill and it is not just about riding your bike. There are plenty of cases where some of the best times aren’t even your bike! It is the ‘vibe’ of a whole event, as they say. So lets go behind the scenes a little… We all know the fast racersA�seem to have infinite style and skills, plus they always look good on a camera! But what if they were on the other side of the lens? Wouldn’t it be annoying if they were super good at that too? Maybe modern day cameras do all the work? There is always ‘down’ time between practice/seeding and finals (excuse the pun) so with camera in hand let’s see what Andrew Crimmins, David McMillan, Jake Lucas, Joey Vejvoda, Phil Piazza and Timmy Eaton came up with…

A very serious Timmy Eaton gives us his insight to his pre race rituals "Pre race I listen to music and try clear my head and only think about the track, things like my lines and anywhere I've had issues throughout practice and eliminate them mentally". — A very serious looking Timmy Eaton gives us his insight to his pre-race rituals “Pre-race I listen to music and try clear my head and only think about the track, things like my lines and anywhere I’ve had issues throughout practice and eliminate them mentally”.
Solid first photo, we like the lighting on one side of the face.

Cash for comment? David McMillan giving JL Media a plug here and he is not even on the cover! This photo does suffer from a messy background and Dave's head has been slightly cut out, as his elbow... — Cash for comment? David McMillan giving JL Media a plug here and he is not even on the cover!
This photo does suffer from a messy background and Dave’s head has been slightly cut out, as his elbow… Number two is the quality slipping?

A confident Ben Crundwell, unfortunately it wasn't the best weekend for Ben and his Swift Rocky Mountain team, high off the recent signing of Ben Hill (who wasn't at this race) it was a lack luster weekend which saw a puncture and an over the bars experience close out the weekend for the rest of the team. Nice photo as it has captured emotion well and doesn't look fake. — A confident Ben Crundwell, unfortunately it wasn’t the best weekend for Ben and his Swift Rocky Mountain team. High off the recent signing of Ben Hill (who wasn’t at this race), it was a lack luster weekend which saw a puncture and an over the bars experience close out the weekend for the rest of the team.
Nice photo as it has captured emotion well and doesn’t look fake, this saves photo number 2!

What is Luke Ellison’s pre race routine? “Between practice and racing I just try not to be too serious. Just do whatever really, usually stuff that’s funny”
Selfie? Surely the guys haven’t got FB profile pic on us have they? We don’t think so, good depth of field really makes Luke pop here, good stuff guys!

Time for a little bit of a review, David McMillan looks in why Joey Vejvoda reviews the action. Good to see the guys taking their photo challenge seriously and reviewing! — Time for a little bit of a review, David McMillan looks in why Joey Vejvoda reviews the action.
Good to see the guys taking their photo challenge seriously and reviewing! Focus is a little soft but we will let that slide as they are doing the right thing!

Whoa unlucky 13 or maybe it's lucky for some? Luke Ellison suggesting he would prefer the number one plate... Solid photo, nice colour! — Whoa unlucky 13 or maybe it’s lucky for some? Luke Ellison suggesting he would prefer the number one plate…
Solid photo, nice colour!

A not so serious Timmy Eaton, we asked him what should event organisers to do make races more fun or kill time during the day "I like pump track events at the end of the day of practice for a bit of fun! Maybe cutty comps or bar scraping comps would be cool haha". Sounds good to us! Someone has photo bombed the top right of this shot... — A not so serious Timmy Eaton, we asked him what should event organisers to do make races more fun or kill time during the day “I like pump track events at the end of the day of practice for a bit of fun! Maybe cutty comps or bar scraping comps would be cool haha”. Sounds good to us!
Someone has photo bombed the top right of this shot…

So much of downhill is just hanging with your mates, travelling, random laughs and good times, that's why we love it! This shot captures all that, the portaloo adds to it if anything, we have all seen them at the races! — So much of downhill is just hanging with your mates, travelling, random laughs and good times, that’s why we love it!
This shot captures all that, the portaloo adds to it if anything, we have all seen them at the races but not sure what the car door brings to the equation!

Someone has been twisting the dial for this shot, look at that depth of field. Andrew Crimmins practicing his ‘Blue Steel’.
Another well executed profile pic, we mean image!

Oh no what happened here?! A prime example of what happens if you don't get it right, the subject is way out of focus here. The price you pay for sharp shots, this drops the score for the guys... — Oh no what happened here?! A prime example of what happens if you don’t get it right, the subject is way out of focus here. The price you pay for sharp shots, this drops the score for the guys…

that's a better shot of Phil Piazza, really like the lighting, lifts the score back up and on we go! — That’s a better shot of Phil Piazza, really like the lighting, lifts the score back up and on we go!

When you get it right, everyone wants to see!

Very cool David! Nicely framed, good subject matter and golden light this shots a winner! — Very cool David!
Nicely framed, good subject matter and golden light this shots a winner!

Dean Lucas had a busy weekend, was the unveiling of his new bike (which you saw here on downhill247.com) playing on his mind? So much of photography is timing... — Dean Lucas had a busy weekend, was the unveiling of his new bike (which you saw here on downhill247.com) playing on his mind?
So much of photography is timing…

Watch out Europe! This face is coming at you soon... What more needs to be said about this shot haha! — Watch out Europe! This face is coming at you soon…
What more needs to be said about this shot haha!

David McMillan lets everyone know he finished in first place, nice work! The other person (who we guess was asking if David finished first?) has blocked this shot slightly though, in turn lowering its score. — David McMillan lets everyone know he finished in first place, nice work!
The other person (who we guess was asking if David finished first?) has blocked this shot slightly though, in turn lowering its score.

So there we have it, Pick of the Pics, Pro Edition! How did the guys fair? Pretty well, we can’t see the 200 other shots taken to produce these but that is the joy of digital. The next Alpine Gravity race is at Bright, maybe we will get the guys to take shots of moving targets!

Images: Andrew Crimmins, David McMillan, Jake Lucas, Joey Vejvoda, Phil Piazza and Timmy Eaton (just don’t ask who took what! Also thanks to Jason Stevens Photography for the editing!)

May 28, 2013

Pick Of The Pics: SA State Series – Willunga

The views from the top of the course were sublime...! — The views from the top of the course were sublime…!

Let’s wrap up our coverage of the SA State Series race at Willunga with a few more photos from the event. The new top section of the track really changed the feel of the rest of the track, even though it was basically identical to how it has been for many years.

The Trak Cycles downhill247.com team had a mixed weekend results wise!

Off camber grass, a classic test of skill!

Elite winner Troy Brosnan charging towards the finish!

Getting this jump right was critical as there was a right hander literally in the landing.

The next round is at Eagle Mountain Bike Park on the 15th and 16th of June, see you there!

May 26, 2013

Pick Of The Pics – Oceania’s 2013

Danielle Beecroft coming through the rocks, despite being the sole competitor in her class she was still charging hard.

We had so many images from the weekend we just had to share them so here is part 2 of our Oceania’s coverage from Glenorchy, Tasmania.

Starting off witha video… Here we have Ben Power getting sent wild over the jumps near the bottom of the course, this is not for the faint hearted! (Ben’s okay though!)

Now you might think this is David McMillan because we all know David does whips but this is actually his team mate, Jackson Davis, getting his style on!

Josh McDonald out in the open near the botom of the course.

Tom Matthews rounded out the top 10 in Elite Men.

The colours in this shot are crazy but that's because of the white powdery dirt that lines much of the track. Of course Troy Brosnan's style doesnt hurt either! — The colours in this shot are crazy but that’s because of the white powdery dirt that lines much of the track. Of course Troy Brosnan’s style doesnt hurt either!

David McMillan again! This time his wheels are on the ground though.

Joel Willis heading through the final lower section before coming out in to the open. — Joel Willis heading through the final lower section before coming out into the open.

Jackson Davis rounded out the top 10 in 10th!

Images: Andrew Palmer & Jason Stevens

April 4, 2013

Fun Facts & Pick of the Pics: Mount Buller

downhill247com pp1 — The first chairlift at Mount Buller opened in 1949.

After a two successive races in a row at Mount Buller we thought we would put up a few photos along with some fun facts!

downhill247com MB12 — The elevation change of International is around 400m over approximately 2000m, to give you a comparison the 2012 World Champs track in Austria was a 484m elevation change over 2615m.

downhill247com pp2 — International is made up of approximately 50 corners (depending on what lines you take and how it is bunted). If you could save just 0.15 seconds on each corner your race time would improve by 7.5 seconds, how much further up the results would that have got you?!

downhill247com pp4 — We estimate (conservatively) that 2300 runs of the track were done over the weekends’ of the two races!

downhill247com pp3 — That meant riders covered 4600kms! That is enough to go from Melbourne to Buller and back again nine times!

downhill247com pp5 — Over the two weekends if you had to wait for the rider in front of you to finish their race run before you could start yours it would have taken just under 24 hours to get everyone downhill the course!

downhill247com pp6 — Some of the stats are probably not good to think about, how many gear changes did you do? How many impacts did your bike record going down the hill? At least downhill bikes are made for it!

downhill247com pp8 — Enough numbers, we hope you have enjoyed our Buller coverage, National number 2 kicks off at Thredbo in a few days, as usual expect coverage from one of Australia’s most famous race tracks.

Until next time Mount Buller!

February 4, 2013

Pick of the Pics – 2012 in Review

Hard to believe but 2012 has come and gone, here are some of our favourite images that explain the year as it happened, soA�without much further a do, let’s have a look back pictorially;

January

downhill247com-Team2 — The year kicked off with the second round of the National Series at Mount Buller. After taking out round 1 of the National Series, Troy Brosnan continued on his winning way at Mount Buller taking out the race by over five seconds from team mate Sam Hill.

February

downhill247com JB1 — We did an Inside Info with Josh Button (here) as he recovered from an injury he sustained at the 2011 World Championships.

downhill247com Connor chilling — The third round of the National Series saw Troy Brosnan take win number three in Elite Men, Connor Fearon won Under 19a�?s, his second National Series race victory in a row.

downhill247com champs os — The National Champs were held in Adelaide at Eagle Mountain Bike Park in hot conditions, Adelaide welcomed some big names including Jill Kintner who was in Australia over summer.

March

downhill247com TB tree — The final National Series race was held in a wet Awaba, Connor Fearon won Under 19’s, Troy Brosnan crashed and finished second, so close to a perfect domestic season, he won three of the four National rounds and the National Champs (as did Connor Fearon in Under 19’s).

downhill247com HannahT — The first World Cup kicked off the season in South Africa and it marked a successful return to international racing for Tracey Hannah as she took the win. Photo: Phunkt

downhill247com Minnaar1 — It was Greg Minnaar who took the win in the men’s category at his home World Cup.

April

downhill247com Graves Dean Henthorn — The traditional season opener, Sea Otter, kicked off and saw Jared Graves claim victory in his return to full time downhill racing. Photo: Dean Henthorn.

May

downhill247com Chris Kovarik2NN — Chris Kovarik took out Newtons Nation in Bathurst.

downhill247com Specialized — We dropped the news (in a world exclusive?!) that Specialized would be releasing their carbon demo to the world at the Val di Sole World Cup.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — We did an inside info with Troy Brosnan at around the same time he injured himself in Leogang.

June

June was a month full of World Cups starting with Val di Sole in Italy.

downhill247com wc2 12 Lucas — Dean Lucas raced his first World Cup at Val di Sole.

downhill247com CF — Connor Fearon was looking for a good result on a track that suits him, he finished a solid 41st.

downhill247com Hill Kit — The next World Cup race was across the Channel at Fort William, as usual Sam Hill donned his pink kit for charity and auctioned off his bike after the race.

Heading to North America for round 4 saw the Australian junior team join the World Cup circuit in preparation for the upcoming World Champs.

downhill247com McMillan — David McMillan was one of the juniors who raced gaining experience for the World Champs, on tracks totally different to those in Australia.

downhill247com Moir — Junior rider Jack Moir finished 44th at his first World Cup, an amazing effort!

July

downhill247com Delfs — The Windham Word Cup saw Mitch Delfs bring it home in eleventh place, his best result for the season.

downhill247com cloud — Downhill247.com turned one year old!

downhill247com Promix — We did an Inside Info on the Trail Mix – Procon team.

downhill247com Hill — The Val d’Isere World Cup provided the first flat pedalled winner of the season, unfortunately it wasn’t an Aussie but rather Kiwi Brook MacDonald, Sam Hill crashed during his race run but showed real promise leading up to the World Champs.

August

downhill247com version2 — Downhill247.com version two went live.

downhill247com Crankworx — Mic Hannah finished second in the Canadian Open during Crankworx, one of the biggest events of the year. Photo Owen Perry.

Mean while the various state series here in Australia were in full swing;

downhill247com TB — The South Australian State Series saw the return of Troy Brosnan from injury.

downhill247com Cody — The New South Wales Series saw a wet weekend of racing in Lithgow.

downhill247com David McMillan — David McMillan won the CORC race at Isaacs.

September

September was a big month for downhill247.com we hit the ground running in Leogang, Austria for the World Championships’ the biggest race of the year!