Australian rider Sam Hill dropped the mic at the UCI DH World Championship in Cairns when he pulled off finishing as one of 4 aussies in the top 6 on his Nukeproof Mega 275 Carbon Enduro bike. The internet has been going crazy with Sam’s revelation to ride his enduro bike further adding to the controversy surrounding the various wheel size arguments. After racing only one World Cup DH this year in Fort William, he was selected to race the world champs in his home country. The debut of a single crown fork and dropper post-ed 160mm travel enduro bike at a DH World Championship event was something remarkable. We have seen him do extraordinary things in the past but ‘Seven Second Sam’ is not done breaking records yet.
Yeah I'm really pleased. Having not competed in much DH in over a year I didn't know what to expect. I know what I am capable of doing on a bike so I went there wanting to do well and it was an awesome feeling to be right up there with all the guys who have been racing the whole DH circuit.
Not really. Australia has a selection criteria for making it onto the worlds team, that's the reason I raced the world cup in Fort William in june this year. They were allowed 8 elite men so I knew I had to get a good result in Fort William to be selected. I had an OK race there and finished 18th which was good enough to get me on the team.
I chose to race my enduro bike because I felt it was the best choice for me. I knew the track in Cairns was not going to be super rough. I also haven't spent any time on my DH bike to be able to ride it to its full potential. Im super comfortable on my enduro bike as that's what I've been racing all year so that's why it seemed the best choice for me.
To be honest, I was feeling relaxed and didn't feel any pressure that I would normally feel at this event. I think because I haven't been racing the DH circuit this year a lot of people didn't think of me as a threat so I didn't really have all the hype and attention on me which was good. I just got to focus on myself and I had a lot of fun in practice so leading up to the race I was in a happy place.
No this didn't affect me at all really. I knew that racing my enduro bike would have its advantages and also disadvantages on different sections of the course. I honestly don't think that wheel size would of made a difference on that track either.
Not really. The bike was basically exactly the same as I race it in the EWS series. The only changes we made was the gearing, we changed the 12 speed drive train out for a more DH specific 7 speed setup.
I'm not sure. Its different training and racing an EWS compared to a DH. I think my fitness was good for the Cairns course with the long pedal at the finish. So definitely in some areas it helped but I think the raw speed that you get from riding the DH circuit all season would of helped also.
Yeah I was getting pretty nervous even during practice in the week. Heading into the race I tried to keep my mind occupied on other things and I was surprised how calm I actually stayed at the top before my race.
I think for me it's always important to ride loose, sometimes when there’s too much pressure you tighten up on the bike and it always feels like a struggle then. So I'm happy I could keep the nerves away and ride the best I could.
My focus is still on the EWS. I'm not going to say I'm retired from DH because I think I will still race some events in the future, but I'm having more fun racing EWS at the moment so that's what I'm going to keep doing.
Thanks very much!
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