Last Saturday we popped out to Stromlo for the afternoon to watch the Australian Mountain Bike Championships.

The weather was not superb, we got rained on a bit, but not badly and we went prepared. What we weren’t prepared for was the sun, which despite being behind the clouds all day still gave me a bit of a roasting. Oops.

We caught the start of the Elite/U23 Men’s XC, and then walked up the hill once the race was going. We caught the field coming down Old Duffy Descent at the end of their first lap, and then saw them going up Cockatoo Switchbacks not long after that.

After a bit of walking we got up to Hammerhead, which was pretty packed, but managed to get a good spot right next to the main drop. Needless to say riding down that is insane.

I put a couple of videos up on youtube, some of the top ten riders, and one of the guys coming close to having an off.

On the second last lap we walked over to Luge to watch them riding down there which was educational.

Later on we watched a bit of trials, and some downhill practice, and then caught the Vets/U19 race.

Once again we went up to Hammerhead, the place to be. It was interesting watching them, only a handful were riding the A-line, and some were so ragged and on the edge you were always wondering if they’d make it. In contrast the Elites pretty much all looked solid all the time. And the live commentary from Andy Blair, consisting almost entirely of sledging, was good too.

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