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BUSA Championships 2007
Dunkeld
James - 28th March 2007
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If you're making a recipe for the BUSA's it usually consists of lots of fire, explosions and a bit of bike racing. This much was true, the trek up to Dunkeld in Scotland was a long way for some but it does even out the balance of driving between the Scottish and English uni's!
The course at Dunkeld is legendary, huge rocks, incredably steep slopes and a lot of broken people. Pedal off the start and you've already got a drop to conquer, pedal fast through tight singletrack until you explode out onto the first of many rock chutes, next up after a short slog you have the mother of all rock chutes, only one clear line first look and that was a pure drop-off. After looking at the lines many chose to make a cut-through line, you had to get it precise but it meant keeping your tyres stuck to the ground as long as possible.
Just round the corner and you come upon another chute, not as steep but still many different lines to cut through it, right at the bottom there was a huge chunk of scottish stone to go around, with a big red protective mat just shouting 'hit me, hit me!' and many did. After this there was a series of extremely tight turns with lots of off camber stuff, get it wrong here and you were straight down the hillside, no stopping you!
Now we dive into the woods for the last rock chute (or if you preferred, a complete stop and around the chicken line), fortunately there were many different lines here, but the main line people were practising Friday was taped off Saturday.. strange I hear you say?
After a series of corners and avoidance of the many rocks on course (never seen so many in one place before!) you were over the fireroad and into the comparitively simple last third of the course. The easy lines on corners were taped off, this is the BUSA's, not a professional race.. its many riders first attempt at downhill.. it really shouldn't be this way - a little thought next time?
Riders were crossing the line anywhere from 2.12 up to over 10 minutes! Overall it was a great weekend, and with many very drunk students over the three nights we were there it was awesome. Waking up at half past 6 on Friday morning to find everything frozen solid, a fire being pretty hard to start when the firewood itself is also frozen!
Many thanks to ExtremeMedics for patching people back together, and thanks to the organisers & marshals.
After speaking to many riders about the downhill, apart from the hardcore who were looking forward to getting a good result on the track, most this was either their first race, or their first go at downhill altogether. This (for the past few years) has been what the BUSA's is about, having a good laugh on a moderately hard track.. I think its fair to say many would have found Fort William easier to ride! It shouldnt be that riders are only having a couple of practise runs so as not to injure themselves for the race runs! 44 dropped out of riding the downhill, that should say something!
Dunkeld couldnt be avoided this year, but other options should be seeked for next year.
All in all, a great roadtrip, awesome parties, riding bikes - what more could you want.
Results are available here!
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