Himalayan Mountain Bike Festival 2015 - Part 3

Himachal Downhill Trophy 2015

The Himachal Downhill trophy is an annual race that takes place on the Solang Valley near Manali, the only current trail in India with chairlift access. Riders from all over India flock to Manali along with riders from Nepal and some other parts of the world. This year, the weather played a major role in how the events turned out. The relentless rain played havoc on some riders and came as a blessing to others. The 23 riders battling it out against all odds.

Here's how the action went down.

Shuttling up to Solang from Manali in Mandil's Pick up with the Nepalese DH team.

Nishma Srestha, the only female downhill rider from Nepal. She is fast on her trek slash 8.

Mandil Pradhan (Himalayan Rides Banshee) showing how to chill before the seeding runs begin.

Rajesh Magar, this man, crashed right out of the start gate during seeding, yet finished fastest on his 180mm banshee Rune.

The riders looking tense as they go up the chairlifts.

Giant India rider Gautam Taode (GT) preparing to be the first man on the course which was bombarded by rainfall the night before.

Rajesh, getting back onto the bike as he slipped right out the start gate on his seeding run.

Clouds.

Suman Tamang, ready to roll.

[PI=12476336 size=h]Matthew Cosgrave from Ireland, pinning it down the course on a rented out Kona Stab with the brakes the other way round and one lever duct taped to the bars.
because downhill!. [/PI]

Scott India rider and defending champion, Piyush Chavan trying to shave as much time as he can in order to defend his title.

Indian veteran freerider and downhill rider Vinay Menon just going at it. Charging down full speed.

Slush galore. Traction Zero.

One of the many crashes that this course saw. Including one of my own.

James Frampton, killing it on a small hardtail commencal ramones.

Rajesh gliding through the rock gardens like nobody's business.

Elite Riders prepared for their final runs.

The rains began coming in as the top qualifiers began dropping in.

Shyam Limbu, from Nepal, flying and bottoming out!

Piyush Chavan, flying to the finish line.

Rajesh magar speeding into victory. With a whopping 30 second lead in pouring rain!

Mud. Mud and more mud. The amateur category had to be cancelled due to the heavy rain, and the winners were decided upon seeding run results.

Fun times! Post Race Cheer!! This is what the festival is all about!

Rajesh, elated on his win!! This kid is going to go places!

The Podium.

1 Rajesh Magar - Nepal (Himalayan Rides Banshee) 00:06:01
2 Suman Tamang - Nepal (Gnarly Nepal) 00:06:35
3 Ajay Padval - India (Freerider MTB magazine) 00:06:45
4 James Frampton - United Kingdom (Gravity Assault Tours) 00:06:48
5 Piyush Chavan - India (Scott Sports India) 00:07:12
6 Jeewan Jeet Singh Dhillon - India (Firefox/Trek Bicycles India) 00:07:14
7 Vinay Menon - India (Freerider MTB magazine) 00:07:26
8 Mandil Pradhan - Nepal (Himalayan Rides Banshee) 00:07:28
9 Matthew Cosgrave - Ireland 00:07:40
10 Tashi Dorze Gyamba - India 00:08:25
11 Gautam Taode - India (Giant Starkenn) 00:08:42
12 Shyam Limbu - Nepal (Gnarly Nepal) 00:08:57
13 Dhruv Sharma- India 00:17:31
14 Benjamin Barrett - Australia N/A

Himalayan Mountain Bike Festival 2015 - Part 3

[PI=12476517 size=h]The Himalayan Mountain Bike Festival concluded with a banger of a race and an even banger of a party, the photos of which are not available due to the photographer
passing out. [/PI]

Nah, he broke both his flashes while shooting. He slipped two different times, two different trails.