Update from Oz: The gods have chosen Graeme’s trip to end a long drought in Oz, and it has been pouring continuously. If anyone thought it was pouring badly for practice, seeding was worse. Race day is predicted to have double the rain of seeding.

So, on a course where race times are usually in the 6 minute range, Pitts pulled close to 8, with one crash, feet blowing off the pedals, and his wheels actually stopped from caked mud. He did manage to get in some pedaling, though. He is thinking he may run platforms tomorrow because he’s so sick of feet slipping. So with all that trouble, he managed 30th out of 64 riders. Good work!!!

There are no bike lifts at this venue – you hook the pedal onto the seat, and hope for the best. Also – only one run on the mountain – the race run, and lift tickets run about $70/day! Crazy!

Where’s Waldo?  Here’s a Pitts sighting at Los Angeles Airport, checking in pre-flight.  Notice his awesome Crateworks bike box -  here’s what he has to say about this excellent product:

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Feb. 8 Monday

Well, it is Feb. 9 and Tuesday Down Under! Graeme is at Thredbo, getting ready for the big race this coming weekend. He is pretty much without internet for the week.

He is staying with 18 year old Oz rider Danny Lavis – a pinner, from what Graeme says. Josh Button, Oz top-ranked rider is due to arrive sometime today; they will all be sharing a condo.

Read this and don’t weep (because things are so much cheaper for us here than in Oz) – in order to practice during the week, lift tickets are $70/day!!!! And from what I understand, there is only one run – the race run!
This event will be have way better attendance than Shepparton – that was Shepparton’s first go round, it didn’t seem to have a good reputation, and so a lot of riders didn’t show for that one.

The course: 6+ minutes of gnarly, steep downhill. No uphills, no flats! Sounds ripe for arm pump! Graeme said the Banshee Legend Mk II handles it all with ease!

Leslie Pitts, Team Manager