Mt Buller - All Mountain Cup #2

After such a long break since the 1^st national round at Perth’s Goat Farm, I wasn’t sure what to expect from my form at Mt Buller for round #2 of the All Mountain Cup. I was unsure whether my win in WA was a fluke….perhaps with a bigger field including Macca and Pauly I would get my legs torn off this time?

Friday morning practice and the XCO track was just like I remembered it, albeit minus the axel deep mud and ruts from last years mudfest. So after one lap of that, Lewi and I joined up with Alex Meyland and Michael Crosbie for a run of the Super D course. Unfortunately disaster struck for Mick when 1/3 of the way down a stick went into his spokes and sent him onto the ground. I heard the horrible noise and by the time I had braked and turned around, he was still sliding on his face!  What then followed was a slight change in priorities as we set about the task of getting him out of there, a job made even harder by the fact that we had to put up with the constant assault of concussed repetitive ramblings that came out of his mouth.  After about the 30^th time he asked “what happened?” we started making up different stories…you have to keep yourself entertained somehow! Btw: Mick is ok now despite requiring a bit of (elective) plastic surgery that night.  Mick’s little incident set the tone for the rest of the practice and made me question the value in taking any risks in my race run on a track where a mistake at 60kph could potentially end more than just the weekend.  It was no surprise that Josh Carlson took the win in the Super D, Sid was 2^nd and I managed 3^rd; 45sec behind on a twenty minute run….ouch.

The XCO on Saturday soon came around pretty quickly and before I knew it I had my head in the handlebars again.  Despite being familiar I had forgotten exactly how physical the Mt Buller course is and I probably started a tiny bit too fast. I spent most of the race dangling of the back of the lead group, and on the last 2 laps when Macca and Pauly stepped it up I had no response.  I did manage very consistent lap times for the whole race, but Dan pulled out a negative split on each lap to take a superb win, followed by Paul in 2^nd and me 2 minutes back in 3^rd. I was happy to beat Sid by enough to move up to 2nd overall in the general classification with one stage to go, but the gap to Dan would be tough to close down on the final stage.

Stage 3 was a point to point from Corn Hill out to Mt Stirling and back, taking in the amazing trails of Stonefly and Misty Twist.  22km didn’t seem like much on paper, but with virtually all single track and some solid climbs I was quite cautious going into the race.  Predictably, Sid (sitting in 3^rd on GC) attacked early in a gutsy attempt to put Macca and myself under pressure and try to make up places, he was soon joined by Pauly VDP.  I was feeling tired from the day before, but being first on Sid’s hit list (one place ahead of him) it was my job to chase, thankfully Carlso let me through so I could set the pace.  I was only quick enough to gain a few seconds on Neil VDP and Macca by the top of Mt Stirling but Josh was no longer there, and then came Stonefly! I had been looking forward to this.  It was so much fun, its was hard to remember that we were racing; it felt like I was just out riding with Neil and Dan. By the time we hit the bottom we had caught Sid…and Carlso had caught us!  Having caught Sid, I was confident that I was going well enough to hold onto my 2^nd position overall and my focus turned to trying to put Macca under pressure.  I led the group down into Misty Twist and back up again but only managed to create some small gaps, Macca was looking solid.  Still wanting a stage result, I pushed on into the final downhill section and managed to hold a small gap.  Pauly was a run away winner, with me leading the chase group over Sid, Neil and Macca. 

Overall it had been a fun weekend of racing; the stage race format of the AMC definately lends itself to a venue like Buller where there are so many awesome trails to showcase, and I left there with a since of fulfillment that is difficult to get from a stand alone XCO.  I'm also happy with my form going in Wildside this weekend!