British Downhill Series, Rnd 3 - Glencoe 29/05/2011 .....oh boy!!

As we dive head first into June with the glorious hot sunshine, the clear skies, the ice creams, shorts and t'shirts, picnics in the park, walks with the dogs along the beaches, the pub gardens, the water pistol fights, everything that summer brings, everything we all look forward to. .....And here we are in Glencoe, let's all start again shall we?!

..."...It's a twister Aunty Em!..."...

Mud, rain, snow, mud, rain, winds, hail, mud, mud, rain, snow, rain, mud, holding-on-for-dear-life-on-the-chairlifts, mud, more strong winds, airborne-easy-ups, more rain, more snow... rain, rain, winds, gale force winds, flying-tables, more rain...... I think you get the drift now.....

Glencoe is a hard enough track, adding everything Mother Nature was throwing at it made it downright impossible! Needless to say the event was cancelled, which no one likes to happen however when you're swinging around on a chairlift in gale force winds whilst being belted by lashing rain and holding on for dear life, matters need to be taken into hand. Angie was totally rocking (literally!) the top and bottom parts of the course, however struggled a tad with the middle bits, it was a tough nut to crack. Really hard hitting with ruts appearing continuously through the day, each run being totally different, although as you can see with the photo below she takes it all in her stride! :)

(Angie deals with the mud and the spray with aplomb! Photo courtesy of Scott MacPherson)

Nick was up there Friday evening and it was as windy as hell, even just walking up the track he was blown over a few times. Come Saturday morning it was just downright miserable weather. Getting the chairlifts in the howling wind with the rain cutting into your face is not a great idea. Further up the hill it changed to snow and hail, this is supposed to be the end of May! Simply put; Mother Nature was seriously pissed off this weekend!

(Did we mention the gloop? Here's Nick taking it all on! Photo courtesy of Jamie Rodda)

Although the top of the track is nice and flowing it gets steeper and steeper like a roller coaster, it's a brutal course in normal conditions. Nick managed 4 practise runs thankfully unscathed, but had to pop up to Fort William for more waterproofs. There was a lot of talk in the pits as to whether the racing would go ahead due to the weather conditions worsening.

(Nick in a very brief sunshine interlude! Photo courtesy of Scott MacPherson)

Sunday morning arrived and we all hoped it would die down, sadly it wasn't the case, it was progressively worse. Nick had never been as frightened as on that chairlift, hail hammering his face and the chair swinging like a banshee in the gale force winds, nearly hitting the pylon supports, absolutely terrifying. Once at the top he stayed in the hut for the winds to calm down and taking his chance headed off. An amazingly fully clean run, he was really happy with it. Once at the bottom though it was pandemonium. Easy-Ups were being blown away, a table flew past only stopping after going through a car's windscreen. With the winds hitting over 80mph it was decided to close the hill and cancel the event. As Angie put it "Complete 'Game Over', now for Fort William, can't wait!"

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Alpine Bikes Winter Series - Innerleithen, 3rd April 2011

(Photo courtesy of Keith Valentine/Phunkt http://www.phunkt.com/)

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IXS MacAvalanche - Glencoe, 30th April 2011

Angela Coates: The IXS Glencoe MacAvalanche was truly epic, we had one hell of a great time up there! Had to take our bikes to the top of the mountain via two chairlifts and then push a futher 250 metres through the snowline leaving them all lined up. After that it was a walk back down the rugged mountainside!

Phew!

The race brief was at 1pm after that we all got a helicopter to the top, it wasn't a Chinook unfortunately but a smaller one fitting 5 passengers in, I managed to bag the front seat and it was ace! The racing kicked off at 3.30 that afternoon and we had to run 100 metres up a steep bit of the hillside to the bikes. Once away the first part of the course was all snow covered, it was old and slushy, real hard to ride through and everyone was crashing all over the place.

Further down I rode over one guy (so sorry!) and crashed just after so decided to run with the bike, this was a bit faster until I got onto the dry ground. All the way down the track was kind of marked out with poles although it was really hard to see. I seemed to be in a massive panic the whole way down as it was pure pandemonium, which probably didn't help as I was trying to get past people and then someone else would crash right in front of you... total carnage all over!!

Towards the middle of the run it was a pure pedal fest, the downhill bike wasn't great for this but I tried my hardest to get through the soft flat ground. A bit of gradient came and then there were huge big bogs to deal with, each of them trying to swallow you up. I was trying to watch where other people were going and to not follow them if they were crashing, hahaha! It was just absolutely crazy, and so much fun!

I crossed the finish line in 2nd place, just behind Orange Bike’s Hannah Barnes, hoorah! Took me just over 17 minutes and it was probably the hardest race I have ever done. It wasn't the technical terrain, just the length of the track and trying to pedal a downhill bike across bog land which was such incredibly hard work.

I think I'd do it again but more than likely on a shorter travel bike. I had a look at the DH track whilst I was at Glencoe as well, some of the new bits look mega. Should be a good race!! Just hope the weather holds out!

I’m absolutely stoked! :)

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SDA 2 - Fort William, 15th May 2011

The SDA returned to Fort William for round 2. The SDAs are always well run and have a really good laid back atmosphere, so we were all really looking forward to this weekend. It’s a great track, up there with the best in the world, flat out all the way down and obviously the gondola lifts to the top! In traditional fashion it rained on and off once we crossed the border into Scotland, but hey that’s what makes it what it is! Thankfully the rain doesn’t tend to make the track too bad, Maxxis Minion tyres were the ruler of the day!

Once Saturday practice kicked off Nick gave his FTW a once-over to ensure everything was tight and headed up the hill. Angie followed soon after. Things started off nice and steady to get used to the track, getting a feel for it. Both of the team’s riders were feeling comfortable and stopped at the section where it goes into the woods checking out the drop into it. There were some changes to the course here, where last year it went straight on had now been altered with a turn to the left. Nick over-cooked it and washed out on his front wheel ending with a pretty nasty crash, must have been a six foot drop onto his head! That sure ain’t good! He doubled over badly winding himself and was taken down in the ambulance thinking he’d done some serious damage. Thankfully it was confirmed to be just bad bruising. This is a MASSIVE thumbs up to Urge Helmets as his lid effectively saved him, from past experience other helmets would have been smashed to bits with that!

(Photo courtesy of Karen Brumwell)

Nick took an hour’s lie down with some pain killers and then, although feeling rough as hell, went back up the hill armed with the team’s GoPro camera. He kept a good pace and managed a full run although as you can tell from the video once he got to the top it started to rain heavily. Visibility was down due to all the debris and mud being flown up from the tyres, that said it was still a good run.

Angie was on form all the way through Saturday’s practice and was nailing the course. She was on fire. I would really like to sort Angie out with an FB10 frame as soon as possible, can only imagine what she will be like on a lighter downhill steed. This is the biggest course in the country and she was taking it in her stride.

(Photo courtesy of Ian Linton, http://ianlinton.com/)

Nick woke up on Sunday morning feeling like he’d been hit by a truck! He dosed up on pain killers and went up the hill to get some more runs in. The weather forecast of high winds meant it was only going to be a one run race, which to be fair Nick was relieved about because of his pain. Going up in the gondola the wind was playing havoc and his bike was being blown sideways on the back of the gondola until Dickie, his dad, squeezed his arm through the top window to hold onto it! Fort William is a fully open-to-the-elements course, there is no respite.

Once at the top the racing had been stopped due to two serious accidents on the course, this took over an hour and as a result it was confirmed racing would be one run only.

(Photo courtesy of Ian Linton, http://ianlinton.com/)

Although he was focused he was in a lot of pain with his ribs. Nick’s run at the top was very fluid, he was nailing it and feeling confident, disaster struck just before the deer gate on the moor. He clipped a pedal on a rock and went arse over tit. He stayed clean for the rest of the run however the crash took too much time and he finished in 12th place, still a good result considering.

                               
SDA 2 - Nick Turner, Fort William 15/05/2011 from The Development Racing Team on Vimeo.

Angie was a complete other story, she was amazing, pretty much a flawless weekend. Angie thrives on courses like this, she’s had some fantastic training from her brother James.

(Photo courtesy of Barry Primrose)

Staying right on the ball and nailing all of her lines bang on, crossing the line in second place just behind Rachel Atherton. Absolutely stoked, celebrations all round. WELL DONE ANGIE!!!!

(Photo courtesy of Ian Linton, http://ianlinton.com/)

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Northern Downhill Series - Round 1, Alwinton, 24th April 2011

Nick Turner: The first round of the Northern Downhill Series kicked off at the now infamous Alwinton course, you want steep? You got it! This has to be one of my favourite courses of all time, it’s absolutely RAD. Last year people didn’t do race runs or even practice as the track was seen to be too steep and gnarly!

There had been some changes at the top which made it more rider friendly! However it was still steep and technical and so….. much….. fun……, it suits the FTW FB10 bike perfectly. The forecast was sunny skies all weekend and the organizers planned an uplift day for the Friday as well, unfortunately due to work constraints I couldn’t go. When it came to Saturday practice the course was more or less dry, the wet and slippy bits only hither and thither.

Practice was blisteringly good, a few sketchy moments granted, mind you most people were in the same boat. I only had one crash which was on my last run and it was because I was getting far too carried away, hit a lower corner with way too much speed and just washed out resulting in a big high-side down the hill to some rapturous cheering from the spectators! Excellent!

(Photographer currently unknown)

Rain?! Nooooooo…..!!! Six o’clock that evening and the heaven’s opened, did it rain? Oh yes! Was it heavy? Oh yes….. !! It went on for a good four hours and we all knew the track would be even tougher the next day. The morning thankfully dawned with clear blues skies, phew. Walked up the track, just to scope it out and leaning towards running cut down spiked mud tyres as there were quite a lot of exposed roots coming through. It was gonna be a fun day!

Managed three runs before the racing started, the first was quite wet and muddy but still riding well. Between the second and third runs the course was drying out again and becoming a damn sight quicker. I was really positive for my race run as the bike was amazing on this course. Overall it went pretty well just a few little mistakes that, collectively, probably cost me a few seconds.

I came down in 3rd place, was one second off second and 9 seconds from first. That fired up my determined further to go quicker and ensure a podium place. From the start I hit a root which stalled me into the first corner, I made up this time further down, I was railing it and crossed the line keeping my third place position, excellent!

Overall the weekend was awesome, really happy with the result and this is the kind of course where the FTW bike comes into its own.

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SDA 1: Ae Forest 17th April 2011

The team mechanic, also known as Nick’s dad Dickie, very kindly packed the van and went up on the Friday morning so I could jump in the car and meet him there when I was finished with work later that day. It’s all about the organisation here you see!

Nick takes over: Ae Forest’s track was fairly similar to the previous ones with the exception that a new section had been cut in towards the bottom which was fairly loose and greasy, great fun to ride. As seems to be par the course with racing at Ae Forest, the track was generally dry where the soggy bits in the tree sections dried out over the weekend.

(Photo courtesy of Ian Linton, http://ianlinton.com/)

Saturday was kept fairly steady, no real issues just getting held up quite often by riders in front on the track. The bike was feeling really good, the only change I made was swapping the tyres to Maxxis Minions. These proved to work really well especially on the new loose sections. Can I add that we had the sun shining all weekend, shorts, t’shirts and shades, excellent! Now, back to the racing…..!

Only managed one practice run on Sunday morning which admittedly wasn’t the best. That said I was relaxed and feeling good for my race run.

(Photo courtesy of Ian Linton, http://ianlinton.com/)

From the start everything went well, hitting most of my lines bang on. After the rock garden I was beginning to blow out in the corners, I put it down to the root infested track getting slippy with all the riding. It soon dawned on me that the front tyre was deflating, a blasted ‘snakebite’ puncture and as a result my time wasn’t brilliant coming in at 16^th in Expert.

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BDS 2 – Moelfre Hall, Wales, 10th April 2011

Just some photos of Angie from Laurence Crossman-Emms at the moment pending the write up :)

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