First and foremost.... WE HAVE THE NEW TEAM STRIPS!!! *Dances a jig* Soooooooooooo impressed with them, a big "Thank You" to David K for taking the vision I had of the tops from my head into an actual design and Brian at The Cycle Jersey for sorting them out at the very last minute, we are completely over the moon with them! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
(Nick looks all set for the breakdancing competition by the looks of that 'pose'...!)
Everyone was greeted by a dry course on Saturday morning, hallelujah! However it was very much short lived, should've known, it's Scotland and soon rained heavily, joy! Having typed that things were going pretty damn well, Nick was looking as smooth as butter although took a wee tumble in practise, Angie was pretty much pinning it.
(Photo courtesy of Ian Porter)
New sections had been cut into the course to prevent it from becoming 'routine', as time went on the exposed roots became more polished, the mud was nice and sloppy, and in some gloop covered technical sections it was sheer pandemonium as riders did their rather superb impressions of 'Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo'! There were however some more welcome sections, the rock garden being especially so, having the balls to stay well off the brakes and hammer through it lead to it being a total blast! The team's Sun-Ringle wheels were more than up to the job all weekend. Regardless to the weather both riders were loving it.
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(Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose)
Blue skies greeted everyone come race day, oh hang on...de ja vu? Best not tempt fate. It was a hell of a lot drier and in some respects worse as the mud was really thickening up...not good! I think both riders got two practise runs in, a few dabs hither and thither but both looking pretty much on it.
Nick was flat out in the top section, full bore rock strewn, the FTW 'FB10' bike was perfectly at home here. Although a bit of a dodgy moment he didn't lose much time, keeping consistent and coming across the line in 3rd place on his first run. Angie had a few dabs and sat back in second from Bex in front with a 7 second gap. She knew she could make up ten sections on her final run mind you.
Nick was flat out in the top section, full bore rock strewn, the FTW 'FB10' bike was perfectly at home here. Although a bit of a dodgy moment he didn't lose much time, keeping consistent and coming across the line in 3rd place on his first run. Angie had a few dabs and sat back in second from Bex in front with a 7 second gap. She knew she could make up ten sections on her final run mind you.
Nick wasn't so lucky on the last run after his brake hose was ripped out on the uplift, ....Nick being merely pissed off with this is putting it politely here....! Anyway he bit the bullet, spoke to his minute man, Ryan Chambers, to say he was still doing his run and to give him a shout if he was being caught up. Let's face it, racing's more fun than just pootling back down a fire road looking sorry for yourself!
Straight off from the start Nick was actually feeling rather confident, this quickly diminished by the time he hit the second corner and realised it was a crazy idea with only a front brake! That said he was pretty much on form, hitting the steep rocky corners with riding tactics that Mr Kovarik would be proud of. He crossed the line with a sub 3-minute time beating plenty of people who had no drama's. The wee lad done well although no podium for him this time around!
Straight off from the start Nick was actually feeling rather confident, this quickly diminished by the time he hit the second corner and realised it was a crazy idea with only a front brake! That said he was pretty much on form, hitting the steep rocky corners with riding tactics that Mr Kovarik would be proud of. He crossed the line with a sub 3-minute time beating plenty of people who had no drama's. The wee lad done well although no podium for him this time around!
(Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose)
Angie was looking pretty confident all weekend, she loves this course and it really suits her riding style. I will get some GoPro footage up shortly. She had a totally mint top section, absolutely flat out however got tangled in the tapes half way down, gutted. She kept it pinned for the rest of her run and held onto her second place but she so wanted to take the win!
(Photo courtesy of Paul Cram)
Next up is the British Downhill Series at Langollen in Wales, bring it on!
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