iXS Dirtmasters - by Hotlines Staffer Pete Scullion

The iXS Dirtmasters festival has, for the last 5 years, been the largest free mountain bike festival in Europe, with numbers of riders and spectators growing year on year.

The 2010 festival set in the Bike Park Winterberg continued that trend. Rider numbers ran well into 4 figures and exceeded 1000 easily this number was swelled by an estimated 75,000 spectators, many of which were staying the organised camping areas that surround the bike park.

A short flight out from Edinburgh to Dusseldorf-Weeze airport and a 2 hour drive landed us in the heart of Winterberg. Flights are readily available from London Stanstead, Birmingham and Manchester amongst others from Ryanair, who charge £40 each way for a bike. Easy enough. Air Berlin also fly from Manchester to Paderborn/Lippstadt which is closer to Winterberg by the best part of an hour. Winterberg is only a 6 hour drive from Calais and only a 4 hour drive from Zeebrugge.

On arrival at the bike park, memories of last year came back, the high German sun was out, the major German manufacturers, distributors and dealers had their wares on display for the general public. No sign of the downhill bike mad of Meccano this time. The one bike that got me excited was the prototype GHOST downhill bike that Marucs Klassmann and co. were testing out. The rear end certainly looked tweaked from the original. Peter Hostettler’s home-made motorbike with a 1900cc Yamaha engine was an amazing sight. 1 and a half years of elbow grease had made a bike that looked like it had been crafted by a resident of Gothenburg City.

The downhill track was what took our attention on Friday, with a good course walk proving to be very beneficial. Based on the same track as last year, but with a few fresh, natural sections missing out the somewhat tired and hard pack turns of last year’s track. The best bit being a loose, rooty, off-camber, left-hander that ended in a quick compression and a sharp right-hander around an upturned root fan. Getting a bit wild on the off-camber, preloading the bike into the compression and then whipping the bike around the right turn was a wicked feeling. A drop onto a fire road that was greasy as ken was a top stop for getting massive two-wheel drifters and watching spectators and riders alike scatter if you came in a bit too hot.
Full runs were a must as there was so many people on track (700 in the downhill alone), that if you came to a halt it was hard to find a gap to get going again. With a short hill and a quick chairlift, you could see the same rider twice or more while waiting for the track to clear.

Seeding runs came about quicker than I had expected, and I needed to up my game and hit the first feature in the track, a 20 foot booter 30m out from the start ramp to get a decent time. Jumping gears and a slipped pedal almost put me off, but I stayed calm and smashed it. The fade drop with blind landing at the base of the hill was dispatched in equal fashion. It’s all in your head this downhill malarkey. A smooth and tidy run netted me a 2:26, a full 12 seconds faster than my fastest timed run last year, so I was pretty happy. I seeded about mid table out of about 150 riders. I felt that a sub 2:20 would be on the cards with some added bravery that would include a huck into the woods at the half way point.

Come the finals, I’d had 3 more practice runs and was hooking round the turn before the huck into the woods, but still couldn’t summon the spirit of Chuck Norris and go for it. I promised myself I’d go for it in the final run. Getting a little ragged out of the rock garden meant I was a little flustered and hit the rut before the huck too late and came out of it too early meaning I almost went through the tape meaning I lost a load of momentum and had to back down from the huck. Not happy. That said, a slightly off-line run made me 2 seconds quicker on a 2:24 and got me 104th out of 144. I also managed to avoid making a German pro crash into my bike while on what was a podium-worthy run......happy days.

Anyone with only a long weekend to spare should definitely consider a trip to Winterberg, and maybe, if time allows, trips to the other bike parks in the area. In an ideal world, a downhill bike to tackle the blown out bottom section and a hardtail to razz the 4X, jump and slopestyle areas would be just the ticket, but any of the current crop of all-mountain bikes would probably be just at home. Or just take some downhill tips from Steve ‘Hardtail Mentalist’Larking and the one bike will do the job.

Saturday afternoon and the sun was making it hard work for many. Finals time and rising star, riding for Yeti, Aaron Gwin took the top spot in Elite Men with a time of 1:48.651 a mere 1.5 seconds ahead of flying Dutchman Nico Vink. Czech National Champion, Filip Polc didn’t make the prize giving but sat a mere 0.2 of a second behind Vink. The ladies was a little less hotly contested. Antje Kramer and Harriet Ruecknagel sat 1.7 seconds apart in second and third respectively, with current World Cup Champion a full 4 seconds clear on this super short course.