Bala, Bala, Bala, Oi, Oi, Oi! Taking in the National Championships at Bala in deep Wales...21st July 2013

Hot weather, can you believe it, I had totally forgotten what riding in these conditions was like.

Oi you lot, it's Nick here, stepping back in time a bit..... got to the venue on the Friday evening to do a track walk and so that I could get riding straight away on Saturday morning.   The course was amazing, totally impressed with it, easily up there with the best of them and so excited to ride it.  As you'll see from my practise video in a few moments the track has a bit of everything, the top was fast with a load of jumps.  Through the trees it was nice and technical with tight corners, roots and stumps to manoeuvre.  Back out into the open and floating over some small drops across the fast sections, slamming straight into some mega dusty corners, back briefly into the woods before jumping down into the finish field, awesome!

(Photo copyright of Chris West)

Saturday was sooooooooooo indescribably hot, after each run I had to chug back a 500ml bottle of water and then some!  Although it was great not to get soaked in the usual mud on the way down everyone's bikes were coming off the uplifts caked in thick dust, I hate to think what my bearings were gonna be like after a jet wash.  Oh yeah, I have to add that the uplifts were amazing, they were using Landrovers and trailers, some of those guys must have been paid by the run as they were absolutely flying!   This was not to be a blessing in disguise however, with the course being so physically demanding especially so in the intense heat I over cooked things, literally and did one too many runs, come the end of Saturday I was totally knackered, but the course was just so cool to ride!

Nick Turner in practise at the UK Bala National Champs 2013 from The Development Racing Team on Vimeo.

By Sunday I knew the track pretty well so I put in one practice run to scope any changes out.  My FTW bike was running damned sweet, but let's face it, Frank's frames totally rock on these types of all-out courses.  I also had my Boxxers souped up by the lovely folks at TF Tuned beforehand as well as well, everything was dialled in and running as sweet as a nut.  Speaking of TF, they were doing a brisk run all weekend, quite a lot of people going to visit the wizard that is Tim Flooks to repair their forks, by my reckoning the main faults were the kicked up dust knackering the seals and people coming up short on the jumps.  There was some sketchy riding to be witnessed up there.

My seeding run was going great and I was in a really good flow, misjudged the dust in a fast left hander at the bottom of the course which blew out on me.  It looked like a nice rut to plant my rear wheel into and I stayed on the gas, looks can be misleading and unfortunately exploded in a cloud of dust once I hit it sending me down the hill.  As a result my seeding was absolutely cack!  Balls!

I chilled out and got hydrated for my race run knowing where I needed to hold back a bit.  Out of the gate I was going good, hit the first tree section and made some little mistakes, hit the dust bowls further down the course with way too much speed and just lot it again, complete carbon copy of the seeding accident, bollocks!  So unfortunately I wasn't going to be National Champ this year, sorry guys! :( 

Into The Woods..... Scottish Downhill Series Round 1, Innerleithen, 21st April 2013

Sorry to keep y'all waiting out there, I'm so outta practise with the team blog shizzle, it's Nick here.....

First race of the year, so I was pretty excited, neither Chris nor me attended the first round of the British Downhill Series the week before as it was held at Combe Sydenham which is a very long way to travel for what is in effect a flat as a pancake pootle through their woods!  A controversial comment there, I know!  So this weekend was the first opportunity to gauge myself against the other riders.

This was the first round of the SDA's at Innerleithen which is a superb venue with some great tracks.  Got to the pits really late in the evening and didn't have time to walk the track.  In hindsight, after the first practise run on Saturday morning, I wish I had taken a torch and gone up the mountainside as there were so many lines to choose from. 

Photo copyright of Paul Mears

I am waiting for my new Team-Issue FTW Industries 'FB10' downhill frame to arrive from the 'States before fitting all of the new kit so sent my Boxxer forks off to the guys at TF Tuned for some TLC.  As usual they came back working as sweet as a nut, thank you so much guys, you rule!   The bike was running damned good and the course's conditions were only a tad moist which made for a nice change as of late.  Track wise, well it had a bit of everything to put me and the bike through its paces.  Some real nice tight technical sections, some big jumps and some flat out sprints.

Photo copyright of the awesome Ian Linton

Unfortunately due to the good old Post Office being so incredibly efficient (quite!) I was unable to collect my new DFender mud guard which would have been a great advantage however my 100% goggles and laminated tear offs did a great job of keeping the cack out of my eyes!

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

My last practice run was going well, I was riding fast and hitting most of my lines bang-on.  Coming into the last jump section near the bottom of the track there were a load of spectators indicating for me to slow down, which I did, one of the trackside marshalls told me to carry on so I started to pick my speed back up.  Due to being out of sync with the track I hit the first jump awry, usually I was hitting it perfectly lined up and flat out.  It went all to hell on landing and my head took the hard brunt of it, very grateful to my Urge lid for protecting my youthful looks!  I was feeling pretty dazed so left it at that for the day.

Photo copyright of Steve Wyper

Race day hit and there had been a bit of rain over night so the track was a little slicker.  In the morning's practice session I was a little more cautious, pulled back a fair bit, but I guess that's understandable though.  Having said that I was feeling darned good for race runs.  On the first run I washed out across one of the fire roads which costing me a little time, that really hacked me off as I was on it.   Took that annoyance into my second run and really tried to nail it, shaved off 6 seconds, that's not too shabby but I was off the pace.  The crash in practise gave my confidence a hit.

Next up is the first round of the Northern Downhill Series at Kidland, I will be on it!

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Northern Downhill Series, Kielder Forest, 20th-21st October 2012

Thought I would get you all the low down on the Northern Downhill's Kielder weekender, here we go....

As some of you may be aware I came into this season after losing my mojo and in between my injuries and crashing out I was pretty cut up with my results this year.  Therefore I was determined to pull out all of the stops with the Northern Champs at Kielder Forest, it would have to be the place to redeem myself.

As has been the story throughout most of the race weekends this year it absolutely chucked it down on the Friday and Saturday!  This was also a new track and not fully bedded in, I knew straight off that we were all in for a sloppy one!  Unfortunately due to wrangling with the good old Forestry Commission the very top of the track was not going to be used for the race, it still left a three and a half minute course though and it certainly wasn't shabby!  The NDH boys pulled out the stops with the amazing RedBull Rampage-style start ramp which rolled you off a high drop straight into the first shoot, excellent! 

The top section was the biggest, gnarliest rock garden I've seen so far in the UK, this would be a real test my TF Tuned tweaked suspension and X-Fusion shock.  The rock garden was incredibly physically demanding and caused a lot of riders a lot of issues, so much so a load of riders pulled out of racing altogether!  I must add here that I have nothing but respect for Carl Davison and the Northern Downhill boys who put these courses together, it's not the first time they've had riders pull out due to so-called 'extreme' sections, however how are riders to progress in this sport if they are not being challenged by this terrain? 

We did say it was muddy! Photo by Richard Easton

The track crossed into the woods which were quite dark with a lot of tricky roots to negotiate. The main trick at the bottom was keep your speed up and keep pedalling otherwise you got bogged down in the mud which became worse as the weekend progressed.

My first race run went half-decently with a few errors and one big stop in the slop which took a lot of effort to get going afterwards.  I finished in third place with my first run, because of this I knew other people were struggling with the course's worsening conditions and I was keen on trying to go faster then the other two riders on my final run.  From the start of the second run I was being thrown all over the place, it was really hard going, I did however stay steady, no stops, no stalls, just took it all as it came, the course was a complete mess of mud, roots and rocks.  No-one bettered the times of their previous runs and I remained in third place, more importantly however I was the Northern Champion for 2012!

Photo by Stewart Dickson

The course conditions were damned tough, the combination of an unbedded in new track and the weather playing havoc! The bike however worked like a dream, I am over the moon with the X-Fusion shock, it came into its own, combined with the TF Tuned forks the whole suspension set up was incredibly supple across the weekend, couldn't fault it.

I would like to say a massive 'Thank You' to everyone who has supported me through the year:

Firstly and foremost Frank Wadelton for supporting me with his brilliant FB10 frames, the guy is a legend, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame inductee and an all round lovely bloke, thank you so much Frank.

Then up in no particular order:

Hayes Brakes, Thomson posts and stems, Dave and the Burgtec boys, Urge Helmets, SDG Saddles, X-Fusion Shocks, e-13components chain guides, Pete and Darren at Silverfish, GoPro cameras, Sun-Ringle wheels, the guys at TF Tuned, The Cycle Jersey, Matt at Royal Racing, and last but by no means least Oury Grips.

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Help for Heroes Race, Hamsterley Forest, 29th September 2012

The Development support the majority of races being held at Hamsterley Forest in County Durham, in the North-East of the UK.  The team has a long standing connection with the forest, from building courses, assisting with hosting regional races such as the NEMBA and NAMBS races of old, up to the National Points Series races and everything else in between.  The forest is the team's local training and riding area and as a result we were proud to be part of the Help for Heroes race weekend to raise not only cash for the charity but the public's awareness.  

If you would like to know more about the work they do please see their website: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Now, on with the racing, here's Nick....

The Hamsterley Forest track has a good mixture in it, it's largely tree covered starting with a series of tight sections through the pine trees and then out over a drop into a swooping berms before hitting a rock garden to catch out the unwary.  This is followed by a neat table top and a flat out sprint to the kicker jump that catapults you across the fire road crossing.  Another rock garden keeps you on your toes and you're into the tight lines through the dark woods of the middle section, it's a tight squeeze in there! 

Another road gap looms, hit it flat out and it's straight into the best section through a series of big rock gardens, the FTW frame was made for this type of course, it was just soaking it all up.  Down over some off camber rocks you're spat back out into a flat out shoot which became progressively faster as practice progressed.  After this it was the infamous S-bend into the drop towards the finish line.

Practice was great, the track was dry as a bone and the uplifts which were being run by the northern downhill guys ran like clock work, perfect! 

The next day though was a different story, yeah you must have guessed it, it decided to rain all day! Having said that, the track still stayed pretty much the same, some roots and rocks got slippier but nothing to worry about, I kept the bike set up as per the previous day. 

Photo by Richard Easton

My first race run was pretty much a steady one with a few slips and swears towards the end which meant I was a few seconds off the pace!  It did however open up more lines to me so I made mental notes and was confident of what I needed to pull out of the bag with the race run.

I gave it absolute hell for leather on the race run and caught someone up at the road crossing, unfortunately it's damned tight in there and he couldn't hear me shouting at him, in the end I took my chance stook my elbows out and barged past.   It was a top run and I was gutted, I knocked 4 seconds off my previous time and it will remain as a 'What if?'  I finished in fourth place and it was a great weekend for a great cause.

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British Downhill Series Round 5, Bringewood, 25th-26th August

Nick: 

I was really looking forward to this race event as I had been here a few times as a youngster and really enjoyed the course, it seems to have been off the main map for a while.  It was quite a sodden track due to the previous week's heavy rainfall, it was pretty messed up at the top.  The lower sections weren't too bad though due to the tree cover keeping the rain off, a schizo course!

Due to the state of the track I decided to put full mud spike tyres on.  From the start you hit a few table tops, where I kept it nice n' low, these were followed by some relatively smooth corners the last of which spat you out into two tricky root-strewn off cambers.  These improved over the weekend as a rut developed in them which made it easy to rail through.  The track continued across a fire road and into an open section with a few bus stops, drops and jumps, this bit was the worst part in terms of mud and throughout the weekend it got thicker and thicker.  The track then went back into the woods through pine needle covered tight, twisty and root-strewn sections between the trees. 

Photo copyright of Ian Britton

The track's conditions were steadily improving until the mother of storms hit full on.  The torrential downpours saw quite a few riders going back down in the uplift vehicles but the rest of us who were man-enough went down the track!  It was as slippy as hell in the tree-lined sections, those glistening roots were there to catch everyone out and I must admit to laughing and whooping a fair few times as well!  The rain was actually assisting the course conditions further down, helping to thin out the aforementioned thick mud sections, you could now hit this with aplomb, and splatter the spectators in the process, bonus!

Saturday practice went pretty damn well without any drama.  The bike was working sweet and in particular the Hayes brakes were performing greatly considering the amount of gloop being thrown up which was leaving other riders with problems.  I was also blessed with the awesome damping adjustment on the X-Fusion shock, got the bike really dialled in for the continually changing course conditions.

The track remained sodden all through Sunday so I kept the set-up the same, I took my early run nice and steady and lost a load of time in the open section where the mud had returned to its superglue-like consistency and I didn't want to waste all my energy.  I knew that for seeding this was gonna be a killer sprint.

The only regret I had was not walking the track closer to my race run as the bottom section had dried up a lot and I would have benefited from a cut spike or even a dry tyre.  My race run was flawless, I had nailed the sprinting sections, the bike was hammering it, it was all a perfect run.  Came into the third final corner way too fast, clipped the big root on the entry and ended up getting too friendly with a large tree after my front wheel washed out!  Totally frustrated as the rest of the run was absolutely bang on. The GoPro footage will be on its way soon.

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British Downhill Series 4, Caersws, 5th August 2012

Caersws is a short-course downhill track and that's certainly not a discredit as it's darned fast and keeps you on your toes. Due to the course's short nature the uplifts run really well so you can get plenty of runs in across the weekend. 

Photo courtesy of Andy Whitehouse

Thunderstorms were being forecast for the Saturday which would make riding the course 'interesting' particularly the open grass covered drop into the finish line.  The track was the same route as the previous year taking in the big jumps and the fast-as-hell bus stops, however as the weekend progressed huge braking bumps developed, having said that my X-Fusion shock equipped FB10 was taking it all in its stride, lapping it all up like a kitten with a bowl of cream!

Practise was good, kept my speed up all the way down on most of the runs until later in the day where I hit the tabletop jump a bit too hard resulting in being shot through the following series of s-bends into the lower woods at warp factor 90 where my front wheel washed out.  I kissed the ground really hard, taking a good few fresh mouthfuls of loose dirt, lovely!  Once the stars went out I had pain in my hand and wrist however a few good old painkillers soon sorted that out!

I decided to do one more practise run paying particular care to ensure there was no real damage to my wrist. On the way up I could see the approaching, and predicted, thunderstorm coming in, huge threatening voluminous grey clouds, it was quite a spectacular sight.  I was just hoping upon hoping to get down the course before it hit full on, luckily I did!

Photo by Lucy Drees

After getting back to the pits and cleaning the FB10 the rains came and they were HEAVY! Most of the pits just stood there bemused watching it all fall from the skies.  My thoughts turned to the course and the frustration that after some great practise runs it was now gonna be a wet race, but hey, that's mountain biking for ya, it keeps you fresh!

Sunday morning was pretty damp to say the least so the first run was a steady one.  Where the ground had been really hard the previous day it had developed a layer of slime which would render a spiked mud tyre as useless, the grass section towards the finish line was also challenging.  You had a really fast step-down into a 90 degree berm which shot you out across the off-camber grass section where you could feel your tyres twitching beneath you.  From here it was foot-out-flat-out for a square right corner as the hill steepened and then the opposite foot-out through a left hander before hitting the finish line.  

As the day progressed the track was drying out pretty well, by the time it came to my run it was more or less as dry as the previous day so I was pretty bloody happy about that!  Just before my race run the heaven's opened and the torrential rain hammered down again.  Racing was gonna be exciting no two ways about it, it was now a case of whoever could manage to stay on their bikes, yep, that's how bad it was!  

My god, I took some sketchy lines on my run, scaring myself in places but I knew my bike could handle it.  I shot into the section with the two flat out bus stops, death gripped the bars and tanked down, it was crazy, there was a river of water running down the track!  Slammed myself around the roots in the lower sections, it was a 'do or die', I just cranked it up, hit it and hoped for the best, ended up being thrown all over but stayed upright!  Made it to the field and tried to sprint which was a totally bad idea as the ground was just so sodden, the rear wheel was just churning gloop, spinning out and trying to high-side me.  Once at the fast S-bend, I cranked it hard and it took, got my speed back up and hammered it to the finish line.

I'm still laughing about my race run, it can only be classed as a wild ride, I mean how many races do you do in the middle of a thunderstorm, pure rock'n'roll!  It wasn't a bad run to be honest, I know where I was being cautious and where I was getting on the gas.  In hindsight I was off the pace, being overly cautious in sections where I should have just laid off the brakes and put my full trust into the FB10, those frames can take on anything.  There were several people higher up the results that I normally beat and that little furry highly competitive animal inside me has hit back hard!  

Photo courtesy of Daniel Armishaw

Once the season is over, I have Hamsterley Forest on my doorstep, there's training to be done and I'm going to get very MUDDY!!

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Scottish Downhill Championships, Fort William 14th & 15th July

Whilst Angie was getting set to blast down some French mountainsides in preparation for the Alpes d'Huez Megavalanche event, Nick took the trip up to Fort Billy for the Scottish Downhill Champs.....

Fort William, let me hear ya, I'm BACK!  This time for the Scottish Champs.  I am absolutely in love with this track, like most people, because it's as tough and as mean as hell, no let up at any point. Unfortunately I was full of man-flu (Lee: ahhh, he's going for the sympathy vote....it won't work!!) but wasn't going to let that put a downer on things.

Saturday morning came with the scent of frying bacon in the air and the sun was kind of shining whilst the rest of the country was still being flooded out!  I was eager to get up the hill and put the FTW through its paces again, that bike is simply MADE for this course, mark my words!  I took my usual plan-of-action for Fort Bill cruising the first run down to get warmed up and spy some lines as not a lot changes on the track, apart from different routes through the woods.  I was expecting the course to be a little beat up from the previous World Cup there as well. 

Nick in practise, photo copyright of Ian Linton

My run through the open top section was good, it's nice and flowing although I paid particular care on some of the dust strewn corners, I didn't want to wash out again!. Hit the beginning of the rocky section dead on, the bike was soaking it all up, thought 'Sod It' and got some more cranks into it to pick the speed up even more, the bike could take it easily.  Unfortunately I couldn't though, took a spill and gashed my knee, that was clever of me wasn't it!?  Jumped back on and a bit further down there were a load of riders stood about checking out the second of two drops.  I scrubbed a little speed off here and took off as I normally would, my front wheel landed in the only soft patch on the track behind a rock which catapulted me over the bars landing on my head hard!  You know those old Tom & Jerry/Roadrunner cartoons when one of them gets whacked.....well this time it was me seeing stars!  I thank god for my Urge lid, seriously, that was a big stack!  

Knee-sy does it!

I chilled out by the trackside for a little while to get myself back together, as well as my helmet my own mojo had taken a dent, it also allowed me to scope out that part of the track on foot and I noted a good few other riders having problems there.  Got back on the bike and carried on down the hill, when I got to the bottom I chilled out with some mates for a while till I felt back up to 100%. 

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

The new 'motorway' section at the bottom of the course that was built up for the World Cup was absolutely AMAZING!  Where, in the past, the sprint along the motorway was an utter killer, now we have the new massive table-top jumps to help you to carry speed, it's so much better.  I did six runs on Saturday and really felt it the next day as the track was rough as hell, this was also apparent from the number of punctures and broken wheels I was witnessing, although thankfully not my own Sun-Ringles.....Thank you! *Touch wood*

Come race day the combination of my man flu (Lee: that excuse is still not gonna work!) and the number of runs on Saturday had me feeling pretty shattered. So I just put a single practice run in to refresh my memory and to keep check on where the track was getting cut up.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

First run was plain sailing taking into consideration the slight downpour of rain, which actually had a more positive effect on the track, the tyres' grip increased as the rain packed the dust down nicely.  Went a bit squirrelly and nearly over shot a corner in the bottom section, made mental notes not to do that again on the following run, pulled it back in and got on with it.  Not too bad going.  Second run came and I pushed myself through the rest of the top corners, nice, smooth and fast, did I tell you that I love this course?!  Further down I nearly over shot the same bloody corner as before, got my head screwed straight back on and hauled it. Took ten seconds off my first run time and was told that I finished in the top ten of the Experts category, not bad for a man-flu ridden bugger eh?!

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Scottish Downhill Series, Pitfichie 23rd & 24th June 2012

Angie takes over the crib: Headed up to Scotland on the 22nd to race the Pitfichie SDA, the forecast was to be wet and it held its promise.  I've never seen rain like it.  From Friday to Sunday it didn't stop once, heavy with thunder showers!

I got there on Friday night with Ellen Tipple, it was her first race and we walked the course, it was a new track that hadn't been raced on before so I was pretty excited.  The top bit was pretty much the same as the other courses up there through the open heather singletrack and then it dropped down into the new woods section, there seemed to be loads of line choice and plenty rocks and roots!  I was debuting my new FTW Industries FB10 on this race and was eager to see how it handled.

Gloopy course!

The race was an old school push-up-to-the-top so Saturday morning I got pushing! Managed to get 4 runs in and sessioned a few sections.  The track was running sweet in the morning but after 130 riders had been down a few times it was started to get pretty beat up with more roots showing through meaning every run was different and I had to adjust and change some lines. There were some huge ruts forming that were quickly filling with water as a stream flowed down the track!  Pretty hard going but sooooooo much fun riding in the wet, you can take the girl out of the North-East....!!

(Unknown Photographer - make yourself known to Lee!)

The new FTW took me a while to adjust to, however after a few runs I seemed to get right into it, it just felt so good on the rocks :-) *thumbs up!!*  The new Hayes brakes still needed bedding in a little but after two runs they were awesome, I never thought anything would live up to my Hopes that I had had for four years but they were amazing and I love the fact you adjust the lever reach without an allen key - I only have wee fingers! :-)

On Sunday morning I got one practice run in which went pretty well so I thought I'd leave it on a good note for my first race run.  That first race run could possibly have been my worst ever, I went over the bars three times and had some other moments as well.  The woods was just so physically demanding, with nine girls racing I was sitting in 3rd place with a 4.53, about 15 seconds off the win, feeling pretty annoyed with myself!

I went up for second race run, absolutely cold and soaking wet by this point. I was in more of a chilled mood though (see what I did then!) and seemed to hold a much better run together. Admittedly I did have a little crash but stayed with the bike and got down the rest of the track totally sweet finishing almost half a minute faster with a 4.24 which put me into 1st place. I was mega happy!

 (Another unknown photographer!)

Just a six-hour drive home after that but worth a trip up!

Thanks for sorting everything out Lee, you've been a star!! :-)

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iXS Series, Innerleithen 16th & 17th June 2012

Nick: I was really pumped for this race as when the IXS came to Innerleithen two years ago the event was run so well and the course was one of the best I have ever been on.  However unlike two years ago when the weather was bone dry this weekend was completly wet and muddy.  I knew that the nature of the track combined with the wet conditions were going to make for some difficult going.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Friday's practice went really well, as tough as the track was it beginning to bed in nicely.  It was pretty much the same as before with a couple of the big drops in the middle of the track and the addition of some jumps in the finishing field.  I had stupidly forgotten my spiked mud tyres, a lot of sections were impossible to get any grip on and I had a massive stack at the bottom of the course.  I just couldn't get any grip and didn't have any opportunity to hit the jumps with the speed needed.  They were a good size however on the track-walk we realised how soft both the take offs and landings were, spiked tyres were a must in these conditions!

Photo copyright Richard Easton

Up nice and early on Saturday and finally got hold of some spiked tyres.  Really happy with the set up of the FTW bike. It was so wet and muddy I went through an entire roll of my 'rip n rolls' on my goggles and had to change my gloves three times, this was pure GLOOP!  Considering the conditions, the track was running really well and I was having so much fun pinning the corners speedway style!

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

Qualifying was on the Saturday afternoon, I sprinted out the start and after about 100 metres in something didnt quite feel right.  Got to the end of the straight flat-out section and went to hang a left around a nicely developed rut and did a massive 180.  It was then clear I had a rear puncture, gutted!  Instead of destroying a perfectly good rear wheel I made the decision to get a lift down on the uplift vehicle's return.  This meant I couldn't do my timed run and therefore nothing I could use to compare myself to the others with.

Photo copyright of Euan Law

Come Sunday morning I was kinda happy with my lines though, I only put one practice run in and chilled out until racing.  As I was a DNF in qualifying I was off fairly early.  Put a really good run in although in hindsight (always a wonderful thing!) I could have been quicker but subconsciously I didn't want another DNF.  Coming into the bottom of the track I realised I hadn't hit the jump into the field yet or the one immediately after.  It was now or never, I came out of the last berm put some cranks into it and launched the gully jump into the field, cleared it easily but landed in the muddy slop and nearly chinned my bars, jeez!  Crossed the line and sat in the hot-seat (wet-seat in this case!) for a while which was great!

Now I'm off on holiday for a week then when I come back I'm heading up to pin it at Glencoe for the BDS!

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Scottish Downhill Series, Glencoe 20/05/2012

Nicklaus takes over again.....

Here's the scoop.

This was round 2 of the SDA up at Glencoe, close to Fort William where the weather had messed up the racing only a week earlier.  I am thankful to report that the weather outlook was much better for this weekend!

Photo courtesy and copyright of Ian Linton

I really like this track as it's steep, technical and scary, quite often people dont make it to race day! The track starts off fairly tame with a small amount of pedalling, then, like a rollercoaster, starts to get steeper with some fast switchback corners.  The steepness of the track continues to increase and it becomes rougher and rockier, it's important to keep your momentum whilst also controlling your speed.  Too fast and you'll crash, too slow and you'll crash, it's a fine line, lock your wheels up and you'll be having problems, you don't want to slam your body into these rocks that's for sure!  The new Hayes 'Prime' brakes were handling flawlessly, where some other systems would start to fade under the constant pressure the Prime's maintained their performance brilliantly.  

Photo courtesy and copyright of Ian Linton

The track continues down a couple of steep shoots then a very short straight that gives you about two seconds to sort yourself out until you drop into a really steep hairpin corner with a nasty compression at the bottom.  From here the speed really picks up, it's a case of holding on and staying off the brakes as you're merely the passenger.  There's no room for any mistakes, no matter how small, you'll be spat straight over the bars!  If you made it that far unscathed there was a tight hairpin into a massive booter-jump down the hill.  The jump was a bit daunting as it's completly blind and it wasnt until you took off that you could see where you needed to land....onto more rocks!  After this it was the last rocky straight towards the finish line.

Photo courtesy and copyright of Ian Linton

Although the new fork upgrades got a brief the weekend before this course would be the real test, along with running the new X-Fusion shock.  I was really happy with the performance of both particularly so as the track was rough as hell.

Nick's GoPro Footage from practise can be seen here: 

The weather improved across the weekend, when it came to the first race run I was really up for it.  Although having a clean run I knew I had to up the speed through some of the sections, this was confirmed when I saw the times.  My second run was much better and I finished in 9th place.  I was however a bit disappointed as there were a few people above me that I know I can beat.  Being back to full fitness I feel really good, the higher results should start coming in again and I'm moving forwards.

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British Downhill Series, Fort William 13/05/2012

I'll pass you all back across to Nick here.....

Here's a bit of a low down from the weekend.

We rolled into Fort William for round two of the British Downhill Series.  Landed up there on Friday night after a long drive and the weather was, for a change, looking pretty damned good...well apart from the snow at the top of the mountain but hey, that means snowball fights, always a good thing!

I absolutely love Fort William, it is such a fun, fast, bone-shaking, scary-as-hell, balls-out awesome track!  Was a little disappointed that I didn't have time to fit my new X-Fusion shock due to being away with the day job and was kinda hoping my new FB10 frame would have landed.  The X-Fusion shock will be on for the next race.  The other addition was the upgraded forks courtesy of TF Tuned, they are amazing guys!  Got the new black stanchions fitted and had the fork converted to coils, it has made such an improvement to them.  Huge thanks going out to the TF tuned lads for their help, much appreciated. 

On the Saturday morning we were told the bad news that there was severe weather moving in so the schedule had been altered to accommodate for this. Therefore seeding was moved to the Saturday in case the event had to be called off on the Sunday. We were informed to make our seeding count. 

In a nutshell it meant a very limited practice time on a huge course which wasn't ideal for me as I was wishing to take practice steady taking into account my recent injury.  That said, I knew I would have to bang a few good runs out in the morning. 

Photo courtesy of Ian Linton

Saturday morning came and the weather was pretty good with just the odd passing shower.  The top of the track was pretty sloppy though, especially if you got caught off line as they had just put a load of gravel down in places.  Further down the course instead of going through the woods it stayed out in the open with a few corners which had a couple of line choices, pretty damned speedy.  Generally much of the course was the same from previous years, apart from the 'motorway' which they had been resurfacing as well as removing a few of the jumps.  Bigger ones have been planned for the bottom 'motorway' section with the coming UCi World Cup event there, however with the old jumps now removed and everything a work-in-progress for the World Cup it was a flat out sprint which was difficult in the now soft ground.  Hitting the 'Tissot jump' at the end with enough speed was really tough going.  In addition to this there was a nasty hole developing due to people braking too hard, in my second run I managed to hit it which put a nice crack in my rim!  Damn it!


Here's some GoPro footage:

A decision was made that the seeding runs were now race runs as the severe adverse weather was starting to come in.  On my way up on the gondola the wind was picking up buffeting the cable car with rain.  Unfortunately I wasn't seeded as had missed the first BDS round, I set off on my run and was beginning to regret not putting tear-offs on my goggles as fairly quickly I couldn't see anything due to heavy rain.  In these conditions it really doesn't help that the top of the course is extremely open, I could feel the wind blowing me all over, there were a few times I got blown off line and on to the loose gravel which was pretty scary in some of the big rock-strewn corners.

Photo courtesy of Ian Linton

Although some of the lines had become quite cut up generally the track was as it was in practice, to which I'm thankful.  Getting down onto the motorway section was a relief as you are in absolute agony from hanging on but you know you are near the end.  The hardest thing is that you know you have to pedal like hell from here on down, there's no way you can let up.  All in I had a good clean run, a little disappointed with losing some time being blown around all over up top, but I can't really complain.  

For the next round, the new X-Fusion shock will be fitted and the new wheels will be built, bring it on!

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Scottish Downhill Series: Innerleithen 22/04/2012

Nick reports:

This was to be the first race of the year for me, and also the first time on the bike after snapping my collar bone, which was rather clever admittedly, quite!  Thankfully this weekend's racing was at Innerleithen so I knew what to expect course-wise.

It was raining steadily when we got there on the Friday, took a walk up the track and it wasn't too bad actually.  Sure there was a little bit of gloop and some fantastically slippy exposed roots but most of the terrain was hardpack, excellent.  I was also pleased to see that there were no big hucks or jumps that would put too much pressure on my just-healed shoulder, instead the vast majority of the track was pretty tight and twisty through the trees........ old school rules!

Photo courtesy of Ian Linton

On Saturday I set off on my first practice run, had the bike pretty much set up as it would be in the dry although the course was quite sodden in parts.  More or less cruised down the top section to check various lines with the first few practise runs and quickly built up speed, felt pretty good.  The new Hayes brakes were handling everything with ease, a really good 'feel' at the lever with plenty of bite.  

Photo courtesy of Ian Linton

I managed to complete my first runs without any pain from my collar bone at all which was a relief, the worry was there.  From here on I progressively increased my speed, however since trying to tackle a tree a few weeks earlier my confidence had taken a knock and my mojo wasn't where it needed to be.  Being out of it for five weeks with no training was also having a knock on effect.

Saturday practice went well, no crashes, got into the flow of things and I was happy, course was great, the bike was handling everything with aplomb, just overcoming the confidence issues was taking a bit of time.  Come race day I pushed too hard, in hindsight I should have taken it easy, shot through some of my lines, stalled on others, my head was all over the shop with frustration on the run.

Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose

Overall my practice runs were far better then the race run.  Although disappointed with my result I was happy with how I rode in practice and now feel I will be back to full strength ready for Fort William.  

Hopefully I will have the new FB10 frame too.  

Onwards and upwards.

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