MOUNT FRANKLIN: Nathan Franklin will make his mountain bike riding comeback at the Newton’s Nation Festival at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, this weekend. Photo: STEVE GOSCH
HAVING built the track some of the best mountain bike riders in Australia will this weekend compete on at the Newton’s Nation festival, Nathan Franklin is confident of “shredding it” with the best.
The 23-year-old is on the comeback trail from a series of injuries that have kept him sidelined from the sport competitively for the last two years.
Set to take on the dual slalom and the down hill events at Mount Panorama this weekend, Newton’s Nation, Australia’s largest action sports and music festival, is the perfect place to re-introduce himself to the mountain biking world.
“My plan is to make a big first impression and burst back on to the scene,” Franklin said.
“I’ve been watching a couple of young guns and they’re going pretty well at it so it’s going to be pretty interesting to see how the older fellas like me are going to hold up.”
Franklin was confident there’d be a big crown on hand to watch this year’s event in Bathurst.
He said people come to Newton’s Nation to see one thing.
“The attraction mostly behind it is the stacks,” he said.
“Everybody likes a good stack.”
Expected to be up against some tough opposition, Franklin said he was hoping to use the down hill event as a warm up before attacking the slalom race head on.
“It’s the shorter version of down hill mountain bike, instead of going against the clock you’re going head-to-head with different riders on separate tracks,” he said.
“The fact you’re head-to-head. You’ve got the other rider that can psych you out which makes it tough and it’s a bigger spectator sport than the downhill because it such a short track the spectators can get around it.”