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Down hatch: Organiser Graeme Cooper in training at Revolver for tonight’s mad downhill mountain bike event finishing with a pint scull
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It’s Queenstown’s downhill mountain bike race with a difference – competitors aren’t done till they’ve chopped a pint of beer.
Entrants in tonight’s Das Uber D – translation ‘uber downhill’ – flog themselves speeding around tracks up Bob’s Peak before racing to Revolver bar on Shotover Street for the final stretch.
On arrival, they must carry their bike up the bar steps and scull a pint to officially finish the race.
The event is the first of eight races dubbed the League of Gentlemen series.
Organiser Graeme Cooper, a courier driver by day who turns mad-keen mountain biker at knock-off time, says the event – first held last year – was the brainchild of Seb Kemp, now overseas.
It starts at the Bob’s Peak helipad and involves hurtling down the Skyline bike trail, plus further stretches involving uphills and downhills. Competitors will repeat the loop four to five times.
“Then you race down to the bottom as fast as you can and go into Revolver and finish with a pint.
“It’s actually pretty hard. [The beer] doesn’t taste good when you’re gasping for air,” Cooper says.
The eight-race series will finish with a repeat of the Das Uber D in March – that will involve fancy dress as well.
“We don’t take it too seriously, it’s a bit of fun. You can get as competitive as you want to but it’s more of a social thing,” Cooper says.
Entry is $2 with proceeds to the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club for trail maintenance.
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