Innerliethen iXS - Nick's Perspective

I'll let Nick take this one:

It had pissed down big time overnight which was a bit of a concern. However roll on 8 am on the first uplift I decided to keep everything the same on the bike including tyres as although the track was wetter in places it was still dusty in others. In fact some places were actually grippier which suited me well. On timing my final practice run, even though I was cruising, I was still a few seconds faster then my qualifying run the day before. Happy bunny.

I was quite excited and feeling confident for my run. From the start gate everything was going well and I was getting a really good flow. Came to the drop near the bottom of the course where you jump over the path then into the right hander, I think I hit the drop with little more speed then intended. Disaster struck in corner as a huge hole had developed from previous riders braking, the forks bottomed out and I was sent over the bars. Got straight back on the bike, further down, just after crossing the road and hitting the shale section I realised that my front brake had gone too. Determined to keep going which was pretty scary on track like this and only being able to use ya back brake!

Taking both crash and front brake into account I was still quite happy with the time I achieved as was only 10 seconds slower then qualifiers's!

I am really looking forward to the new frame landing, sticking all the new bits and pieces on and getting out there to show the other guy's what it's for!