Page 44 - AMB Freelist

The trail then held up really well, which is cool to see.”
But major developments in bike technology over the ensuing years saw the Buller network in desperate need of “modernising and future-proofing,” as Evan surmises. Once a premier event destination, Buller had fallen behind its alpine siblings in terms of trail quality and character. While the original tracks were ideal for narrower handlebars and shorter wheelbases, they didn’t complement the capabilities of modern bikes.
After an open tender process, Contour Works was selected to facelift the XC network over the summer of 2020-2021. “We were pretty excited when we saw there was going to be some
money spent up there,” says Ryan, “and the opportunity to come back and build felt like coming full circle, going back to where you started.”
Those who have ridden Evan and Ryan’s refurbed trails at Buller will know these are hardly pure “XC” trails anymore. For example, Gang Gangs is unrecognisable; the width, speed, and features which have been added are comparable to some of the best all-mountain trails in the alpine bike parks of Australia. The new work at Buller is not only a reflection of the resort’s fresh direction, but of Evan and Ryan’s own journeys and learnings in trail building. “I don’t think I’ve ever built a track and not gone back and said
‘I wish I put that corner over there’, or ‘I wish I did this feature here.’ You’ve got to be self- critical all the time,” Evan stresses. “There’s certain stuff that we would have built up here 10 years ago and thought it was the best thing ever, and now we look at it and think we’d do it so differently now.”
Making Trail Building Your Career
If you’re inspired by Evan and Ryan’s passion, you’ll have many things to look forward to as a budding trail builder. For one, “sitting in an excavator and trying to get warm but you can’t get warm,” Evan jokes. But in the same breath, “the best thing is where we get to work. The locations are pretty amazing.” Having travelled to New Zealand, Japan, and even Lizard Island, their shovels have taken them to some enviable destinations. “Every job you work at, you’re never disappointed where your office is.”
But it’s here on mainland Australia that lies Ryan’s proudest achievement: Buller’s Epic Trail. “There were times when we were building it and I was hating it,” he recalls. “I was just exhausted from trying to get an excavator through there. But then we rode it, and I thought ‘this is so sick.’”
Thanks for dragging the excavator in there Ryan, because we think it’s pretty sick too. “This is probably one of the proudest trails, for me anyway. Just seeing it 7 years later and it’s still riding really well... I feel like it’s stood up to the test of time.”
Built to the high standards of Contour Works, the new Mt Buller trails will undoubtedly withstand the test of time as well. The ongoing work is set for completion in March 2022, and we expect a stampede of rubber to ensue.
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