Thanks to Freecaster for pushing hard to get the technical issues sorted out before the finals. The Atherton's race was incredible. Gee definitely gave it to Dan but Gee doesn't need points.
From Adam Craig's race report....
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Houffalize 2009
Its all been said about Houffalize, Belgium. Basically its everything a Mountain Bike XC race should be. Not a small Ardenne Region to rest on its laurels though, Houffa is trying to break into the gravity scene as well. For 2009 they quietly upgraded the Belgian Series FourCross of last year to a full-blown World Cup and added a Belgian Cup Downhill race. I was unaware of the existence of a DH track until I noticed an eight (or so) year-old BOOST it off a step down jump on a rad BMX race bike. I rode up the street to investigate and found what was obviously the finish of a racecourse. Hmmm.
It wasnt until later that evening, following a delicious Pizza dinner with the other Giant Euro team riders, that I got a bit of beta on the event. Bryn Atkinson and Jill Kitner were out for pies as well and we caught up for a few. Turns out the boy had raced the DH that day and won 3000 Euros. He kept specifying EUROS as the units of local currency, suggesting that one could buy a Tank in his native Oz with that kind of coin. Cash aside though, I asked, seriously, how was the track? Evidently Bryn had been doing practice runs with Filip Polc who was caught with his DH pants down and only had his Hardtail 4X bike. He was keeping up, even riding sections faster that Bryn on a proper DH sled. Always one to be positive, even he said that it was a bit weak, and at just over two minutes, a bit short. But hey, it is a Bicycle Race after all. There were rumors flying around on the weekend of a Houffalize World Champs bid for 2011, I guess the DH will need a bit of work, or relocation Jill handily won the slightly undersized four-up race in a solid field while Jared Graves cleaned up the 200 or so men in attendance. Maybe he and Bryn can go in on a tank with all those Euros
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I am pretty opened minded... Except to the idea of DH racing at the world level in Belgium...
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