[biker3]

Ive been wondering this for a long time? Where do they grow up riding at? To my knowledge Australia doesnt have much mtn resort type riding? Do they go over to New Zealand or something? Is the sport just promoted or funded better there compared to the US? This Aussie dominance is getting worse then the French racers a few years ago? Oh and BTW when do worlds start?

 

[heikkihall]

vegemite!

 

[bighitrider2002]

Actually the French do, Cedric, Anne-Caroline, Nico...
-Ryan

 

[eastcoastzigzag]

keep in mind what aussi's are decendant of. australia was a island of criminals! for england??? not sure. BUT basically they r dencendants of agressive people not to mention being brought up w/ BIG ASS waves to surf. my guess

 

[Acadian]

keep in mind where aussi's are decendant of. australia was a island of criminals! for england??? not sure. BUT basically they r dencendants of agressive people not to mention being brought up w/ BIG ASS waves to surf. my guess

are you saying hit somethi' in zee water?

 

[Mustang85]

I'm half aussi w00t! but i live in so cal

 

[eastcoastzigzag]

are you saying hit somethi' in zee water?

-------what ever it is they aint sharin!!!! greedy bastads!

 

[J5ive]

XXXX is the key.

Other than that, I think it has allot to do with our cushy way of life. We take things as they come and don't get hung up on the little things.

 

[MikeD]

XXXX is the key.

Other than that, I think it has allot to do with our cushy way of life. We take things as they come and don't get hung up on the little things.

'the little things' being supersonic speeds and big-ass jumps and drops?

MD

 

[J5ive]

I was thinking more like, making sure you look good, or are your bars straight or do you have the right tyre combo on. Just ride.

 

[Acadian]

-------what ever it is they aint sharin!!!! greedy bastads!

it's all about SE>< - that is why I'm slow!!

 

[Cave Dweller]

Ive been wondering this for a long time? Where do they grow up riding at? To my knowledge Australia doesnt have much mtn resort type riding? Do they go over to New Zealand or something? Is the sport just promoted or funded better there compared to the US? This Aussie dominance is getting worse then the French racers a few years ago? Oh and BTW when do worlds start?

Quite the opposite, the sport here is not funded at all. Most races are run by volenters with little or no sponsorship from industry and not many prizes. A small number of future young guns get sponsored by bike companies /clubs and go through to become WC racers (like sam hill, rennie).

But basically, we don't have chairlifts so it's either walking back up tracks or vans if you can find a track with shuttles. So i guess we maybe are fitter but that a bit of a generalisation because im not that fit

Bikes here are uber expensive due to exchange rates so if you drop the dosh on a DH rig then you are already committed to the sport in a way.

The majority of tracks in Australia are rocky and technical, not fast open fire road type tracks. Technical tracks are better for the skills, if you can ride single track fast then fire road/wide open tracks are not a problem. Again, a generalisation, but from what i have seen in general WC races are fast and open

And finally, we just like to go out and ride and have fun which is what it is about.

-Matt

BTW, rennie is an animal. They put him on a bike that measures peak output and he outputs more power than our top track sprinters in the Olympics. The man is a machine, he would dominate at what ever sport he choose so don't feel to bad about it.

 

[stinky|Dan]

jeez, i was a bit nervous about the misconceptions some people would have about Australians. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad.

I've read a lot of interviews with the aussie riders where they answered the same question and most of them would respond by saying that they were more hungry for a win than the others! They have to travel to the other side of the world after saving up all their money and fundraising and organising sponsors and then they have to sleep on peoples couches, in cars and stay away from their family and girlfriends for an extended time. You'd have to be pretty silly to do all that and not make your best effort to produce good results each time you went out. So their it is. And VB helps to.

If you knew the town where Sam Hill and Johnny Waddell came from then you would be baffled at how well they've adapted to big mountian riding. Perth has hills. We either push up or shuttle to the top of our trails. Why is Sam such a good cornerer? We ride on a surface that looks like ball bearings. IF you're into WOrld Rally then check out the Perth Rally when they come out here soon. All those red dirt tracks are covered in tiny ball bearing type stones.

Hope i've shed some light.

Dan

 

[Turley]

I think a factor that also helps aussies go fast is, sooo many guys over here don't get hooked up with sponsorship so, we have an excess of fast guys that could hold there own in norbas etc that never get the chance to prove themselves on the OS circuit. This creates a scene where all the new guys comming through are pacing themselves against some of worlds fastest guys even though they don't have the titles. This same scene also means that those guys who do get hooked up are all extremely fast! Combine this with a dry weather and tracks as explained above and ya got some fast guys comming though the ranks!

 

[Wigga]

its cause they set up their brakes the backwards so theyre afraid to hit them cause theyll use the wrong one

 

[TheInedibleHulk]

cause theyre a bunch of maniacs

 

[Rik]

[Warning! gross generalisations below]
I think the sport of DH has an entirely different attitude here compared to what I've seen/read of overseas DH.
Could be to do with what people ride, as mentioned, bikes are relatively expensive, so alot of the time it's a ride-what-you-can-afford scenario... but people don't get too elitists about bikes thankfully.
Also, I think alot our tracks are pretty nasty due to the terrain and climate. Alot of dust, ALOT of sand, alot of rocks and roots and twisty techy stuff. We don't have enough altitude drop at most of our courses to build a big open trail, so the emphasis seems to be on getting it tight and tough, and making the most of the altitude.
Plus, sports is part of Australia (look at our Olympic results), people are usually brought up to be active and enjoy the outdoors. Most kids are brought up riding bikes for fun when they're young, I guess that gets carried on to riding for fun when older sometimes.

But that said, the DH community is pretty small, there isn't much sponsor support, there's generally alot of travelling to get to races... this is probably what causes that drive to win that has been mentioned by riders, to get anywhere over here you really have to be pushing the limits, so I guess when Aussies are thrown in an OS event, they carry that motivation.

 

[valve bouncer]

It's not that we're so good, it's that the rest of you are as useless as pockets on a singlet

 

[Rik]

It's not that we're so good, it's that the rest of you are as useless as pockets on a singlet

Let's see, you're wearing stubbies, they're too tight to fit your pack of smokes in. And it's too hot for your favourite faded Angels shirt, let alone your favourite flanno... so since you don't have any usable pockets or sleeves, where are you going to stick your pack of winnie blues?
Hence, the idea of pocketed singlets is a great idea.

 

[valve bouncer]

Let's see, you're wearing stubbies, they're too tight to fit your pack of smokes in. And it's too hot for your favourite faded Angels shirt, let alone your favourite flanno... so since you don't have any usable pockets or sleeves, where are you going to stick your pack of winnie blues?
Hence, the idea of pocketed singlets is a great idea.

You're good Rik, real good.....and you almost had me there for a 'sec. The answer is "Nowhere" 'cos real men don't smoke Winnie blues, only Winnie reds. What do I win?

 

[Rik]

What do I win?

Throat cancer and a voice like Jimmy Barnes.

 

[DH Dad]

[Warning! gross generalisations below]
Could be to do with what people ride, as mentioned, bikes are relatively expensive, so alot of the time it's a ride-what-you-can-afford scenario... but people don't get too elitists about bikes thankfully.

This makes sense, if Rennie and Kovarik started downhilling on mid-90's GF Joshuas and Trek Y-Bikes and learned to be fast on those they must have felt invincible when a sponsor gave them a real DH bike to ride. I know I did the first time I rode a bike with real-suspension as I made the move in 2000 from a POS Joshua to a Turner RFX. I wish I could get that feeling again, these days I'm too accustomed to the high end stuff so new stuff seems like such a minor incremental plus that it hardly seems worth it sometimes.

 

[Yeti-Freak]

Aussies like..... want..... need to win more than anyone else...i reckon it's that simple, it's got to do alot with pride. Like some have said ... I think it comes from our heritage, and the need to prove ourselfs, and as for our imigrants pride is a very contagious thing, and anyone that has sepnt any amount of decent time in this country loves it..... As for the skill level, good riders breed good riders.... The little dudes with no fear just get pushed by the older guys. Then the little dudes push a little back.

Tim

 

[Cave Dweller]

This makes sense, if Rennie and Kovarik started downhilling on mid-90's GF Joshuas and Trek Y-Bikes and learned to be fast on those they must have felt invincible when a sponsor gave them a real DH bike to ride. I know I did the first time I rode a bike with real-suspension as I made the move in 2000 from a POS Joshua to a Turner RFX. I wish I could get that feeling again, these days I'm too accustomed to the high end stuff so new stuff seems like such a minor incremental plus that it hardly seems worth it sometimes.

Here is a list of his bikes.

http://www.nathanrennie.net/bikes.htm

 

[dhtahoe]

This is easy... when the WC is over they go home and race when our resorts are covered with snow. That and I think they have some good "doctors" in the offseason. And when is the last time you heard a U.S. pro proclaim "I'm winning this weekend. Most are happy with a top 30 (unless your Kurtis Keene.) It's like we gave up when we started to get beat. The aussies have a mental edge too.

 

[thaflyinfatman]

Because we can ride all year round?

I think the commitment (as Cavey said) and the determination are the main things though. There's also the fact that everything over here costs $retarded, so people end up riding what a lot of non-Aussie riders would call ****ters, into the ground. There's virtually no posing (except for me), you rock up anywhere to ride and everyone is friendly/helpful and just wants to ride too. Nobody bags other people's bikes (so everyone stays focused on riding, not wanking), and everyone pushes each other. It doesn't hurt that virtually everyone here gets to ride with pro-level riders on a regular basis... everyone gets dragged up with them

Edit: virtually nobody here gets sponsored internally (ie not from the US). There's a few guys who get hooked up with a bit of stuff, but at best it's a jersey and a bike at wholesale price. All the non-WC-racing pros still have full-time jobs. The AIS also doesn't support mtbing at all (other than XC, because of its similarities to road, and it's an Olympic sport now); they give no funding or anything whatsoever. There's guys over here who do have the skill to go over and top 20 at Norba rounds (I know a guy who did this a year or two ago, riding a seriously oldschool 6" M1 - got 19th in one of the Norbas), but never get the opportunity to. You get huge numbers of seriously fast riders at club races (so the standard is set high from the beginning), and *everyone* races the nationals.

 

[BMXman]

It comes in waves...it was the Americans for a while then the French...who knows what group will be next....D

 

[dhtahoe]

It comes in waves...it was the Americans for a while then the French...who knows what group will be next....D

Mexicans???

 

[bighitfsr]

We dont have more casual or relaxed lives.
Maybe 20 years ago.
The average working week is 40hrs at least but we get more holiday leave than in the US (we get 4 weeks).

We are also not fit.
We are heading into an election and getting kids active is a major issue in our current elections. The proportion of overweight people in Australia isnt quite as high as the US but the proportion is increasing at a higher rate.

Also I'll backup the rest of cave dwellers statements about the lack of funding in the sport.
He's 100% correct about this.
Also most of the trails we DH and freeride on are illeagal.
Within an hour of sydney by car (by far Australia's largest city) their are only 2 spots with decent DH tracks that I know, all illeagal (lower blue mountains and redhill/oxford falls).
We also dont have many sake parks and BMX tracks around which I believe help encourage the sport.
All this in a nation that 4th? in the medal tally at the Athens games despite being a tiny country enconomically and population wise.

In short our goverment doesnt care to support "extreeme" sports that we do exceptionally well at (DHracing) they would rather concentrate on olympic sports like syncronised swimming LOL.

There are only 2 ski resorts that offer DH shuttles Threadbo and Bulla in the whole country (Bulla opened last year). the longest DH race track I've ridden in Australia is threadbo which goes for about 10min (I think pro race times are just under 8 mins).

I've been riding to work with an english guy lately who reckons the road rage in Sydney is the worst of any city he's cycled in before (so worse than UK cities at least).

 

[thaflyinfatman]

There are only 2 ski resorts that offer DH shuttles Threadbo and Bulla in the whole country (Bulla opened last year). the longest DH race track I've ridden in Australia is threadbo which goes for about 10min (I think pro race times are just under 8 mins).

Thredbo is a tad shorter than that; pro times are in the sixes. However Big Hill (Mt Beauty) is about 8:30 for the pros (and it's also over 6km long, says something about how freakin fast it is!). Apparently Mt Stanley is also incredibly long as well.

I think one factor is that there's no "pro licence" or anything to officially separate the classes - I could enter Sport or Expert or Elite (no beginner or semi-pro here) no matter what level I ride at - interestingly, sandbagging isn't really a problem. Once you've been racing for a while, you move up into Elite - simple as that.

 

[RaID]

its definaetly the lack of groomed DH tracks

its all mostly, tight, dusty and rocky
you grow up riding on those, you seem to take the more open
groomed course much better

 

[Jeremy R]

You guys can rationalize why they are faster all you want, but it still does not make sense. These guys are coming from a limited number of riders in a country which has very little national support. Its totally badazz.
Granted, you have physical freakshows like Rennie and Kovarik, but even taking them out of the picture, there is a ton of superfast "lean" racers like Hill, Atkinson, etc...
The only thing that I have noticed by being around them that makes them different, is their attitude. To me they seem more concerned about having fun on the bike than anything. I don't hear them complaining alot about courses etc... They just ride them.

 

[toodles]

I'd actually say it's pretty hard to get into DH in Oz. At least compared to some other countries. There's a shortage of legal DH tracks and and a top notch DH bike (ie. M1, w/ Dorados) would retail for about 1/4 to a 1/3 of the average person's pre-tax wage. Stuff over here can be pretty damn expensive due to shipping.

As has been said before, I reckon the loose dirt and lack of groomed trails can only help and a lot has got to be said for the attitude difference.

 

[fr-rider]

its cause they set up their brakes the backwards so theyre afraid to hit them cause theyll use the wrong one

Maybe they know the dizzle.