Breakfast discussions for Day 1 were all about the weather. Was the forecasted rain going to hit? The sky was looking very ominous as racers started the climb to Stage 1. Racers were dropped straight into the thick of it with the infamous Edge Track. A tight narrow trail left very little room for any passing and blind corners had racers on their toes the whole way. Dracophyllum Flat would be used as Stage 2 for both the first and second day. Connecting the two riding zones Craigieburn offers, the trail can only be ridden at one speed – mach chicken! It’s wide and it’s fast!

If the legs were still feeling good, the 400m, hour-long gruelling climb up the Cheeseman ski field access road would certainly see they weren’t fresh for much longer. At the top is one of the most classic, well known Craigieburn trails, Cheeseman DH. This old school trail features a tasty collection of alpine high speed and classic New Zealand Beech forest. The wind arrived just in time for racers to drop, and with the alpine exposure to the element’s it’s far from friendly when the elements come in up there. Heading down through the tussocks into the tight woods riders had to be on their game. One misplaced front wheel and the unforgiving tussocks would stop you in a hurry.

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