Andrew Neethling

This is not MTB but it is a must see, I am not sure how they even judged this event. The riding was nuts…

Be sure to follow Austria WC on:

Austria World Cup Live Coverage: Freecaster

Austria World Cup Live Coverage: MtbCut

Brian Hunt filmed a segment for RipTV home Invasion at the end of 2006:

Canberra Australia

Mongoose’s Andrew Neethling has traveled to more places over the last few racing seasons than most would ever dream of. He has been all over Europe, North and South America and is from South Africa so it was interesting to find out that he had never been to Australia which was the sixth stop of the UCI World Cup gravity MTB schedule. While planning for the trip to Oz Mongoose team manager Steve Spencer and the teams Euro’ Master Mechanic Mark Maurissen decided to team up with Andrew to get into Australia a few days early to take in the sites which is something the team doesn’t get to do much in their whirlwind travels to international races. Upon their arrival they were quickly reminded that it was winter time in the southern hemisphere. Their shorts and t-shirts were quickly swapped out for long pants and hoodies. The boys spent a few days north of Sydney in Manly Beach and got to do some surfing and shopping. They also had the good fortune of hooking up with Richard Button who is the dad of Australian Mongoose support rider Josh Button. “Skipper” Rich picked up the boys at Manly Wharf and took them on a tour of Sydney Harbor with stops at the famous Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. On the way back to Manly Wharf Rich decided to anchor up the boat in a cove and baited up the boys for some fishing where TM Steve was the only one lucky enough to hook a fish. During the last night in Manly Needles and Steve decided to jump into a poker tournament where Andrew bested a large field of competitors to get 2nd place and $300.00, a sign of good things to come.

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Whistler B.C. Canada

The Crankworx Festival is in the history books and WOW! what an event.  Great weather, great crowds and amazing mountain to ride all day.

Whistler Crankworx decided to put on a Giant Slalom which was a longer slalom than normal which has riders riding head to head down a amazingly groomed slalom track. Qualifying didn’t go to well with a big mistake in my second run putting me in 11th spot. I knew I would have my work cut out in the finals. I advanced to the round of 16 but met up against a very strong Bmxer/4x rider Joost Wichman.. It was close in the first heat but I ran out of legs in the 2nd run, thus getting knocked out. I was a bummed but knew I had one more event that would suit me a little bit better… the Canadian Open of Downhill.

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Bromont, Canada
The mid-summer swing of the UCI MTB World Cup series drops off the Mongoose squad outside of Montreal, Canada in lush green town of Bromont, Canada. The landscape coming into Bromont appears to be rather flat but along the way there are molehill-like mountains speckled along the south eastern border of Canada. Don’t let the “mile-hill” reference fool you though as the mountain in Bromont has all of the steepness and technicality of any downhill course found in the world.

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Pic: Martin

Mont Sainte Anne, Canada
The World Cup circus took a four week break from racing after the World Champs which were held in Italy.  Many riders headed home for a much needed break. It was great to make the trip back home and prepare for the fourth round of the UCI World Cup Series in Mont Sainte Anne, Canada.  The race is a favorite for many riders as its a true test of downhill with a + 4min 30 sec track.  It has a great mixture of fast open sections on the ski slopes and tight rocky rooty sections in the woods. It had been raining a fair bit and the course was very wet and muddy. Practice was very tricky with deep ruts forming in the open muddy bits.
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One of my Favourite vids edited by Alex Rankin of the 2006 race season

Willingen, Wheels of Speed World Downhill Challenge

Many riders took a week off after Fort William WC but I decided to join a couple of the top riders at the Wheels of Speed World Downhill Challenge. The event is an invite event with the organizers really looking after the riders. The world cup track of 2005 and 2006 is used for this event. It is quite a different course being only 2mins and being made up of man made DH sized jumps, fast rock gardens and fun turns…
Practice was really fun and it was nice break from the World Cup circuit. All the riders got together for some intense indoor go karts as well.

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