Scottish Downhill Series
Rnd 3 AE Forest

The team traveled to Ae Forest for Round 3 of the Scottish Series and were treated to a dry and warm weekend of racing on a really fun track.

Ewan heading for the distant blue horizon


The track was a mixture of a couple of new soft and rutty sections with the occasional rock and sniper root thrown in for good measure mixed with some old classic bits like the rock garden, the big drop down and of course the elevator that launches you down to the finish line. Everyone put in maximum number of runs as uplift was running smooth and we were all just loving the track and having fun.

   

Results wise we all put in good performances and at this stage in the season all know our strengths and things that need to be worked on. 

Keir testing his limits.

In Youth Category Alastair came home 8th with Ewan 13th

Junior: Keir 19th

Veteran: Alastair 2nd  Neil 4th

 Full results from Roots & Rain Here

All images Marked Mediahouse

The Scottish Downhill Assiciation sure know how to put on a fun and well organised event. The new timing system is working a treat and is now giving us split times as well as a speed trap which adds a new dimension to race runs. 

It was great to have SDA stalwart Peter Pollock back for this event and thanks to him and all  

the other committee members and helpers for a class event.

Peace Out..

British Downhill Series 

Rnd2 Fort William

The British Downhill Series came to Fort William on the weekend of 10th/11th May which was great as it meant no long hours of travelling for our Fort William based team (apart from Ewan) and racing on an awesome track.

With the World Cup Round 3 coming to town in a few weeks time, it was great to see so many top pros entered including Sam Hill and the Chain Reaction Cycles/Nukeproof Team. This gave the whole event a mini world cup feel.

The track had a little bit of work done since the winter with the top open section. Lots of holes had been filled in and awkward rocks moved out of the main line. It was a massive improvement making it faster and as smooth as the track has been in a long time.

 The track started the same way to the first rock garden where the was a inside line off the back of one of the berms and again after the dear gate with a similar inside line. The woods went around the old tack dipping in and out twice then onto the fire road with a rut that went down about 2 foot deep but my  nukeproof scalp was running amazing and super stable.

The motorway section remained unchanged as did the massive effort needed to sprint its entire length on to the finish line.

 

Al's Big Birthday Bluegrass Enduro

I woke up this morning to celebrate 50 years on planet earth and fully expecting mid life crisis to have taken hold of me overnight. It hadn't, nothing had changed, and it appeared to be just another day, so with bikes in the van already we headed down the road to Glencoe for  
the Bluegrass Enduro organised by No Fuss Events.
As usual Bluegrass and No Fuss Events did not disappoint with their flair for putting on casual and fun events. I carried the number 50 plate for the event in celebration, hell, they even gave me a cake at the end.

Booom! 50 years on planet earth.

The event was split into 2 timed stages followed by a mass start race for the final fling, all ridden blind with no practice allowed.

Stage 1 started downhill on open hill side followed by a boggy ish rock strewn flat section which led into a climb to the top of a summit before the rapid descent on a mixture of rocky loose stuff and hard packed earth and then joined the red route down to finish. It was a lung busting stage and brilliant fun.

Stage 2 was a sprint down the hill skipping over rocks and boggy drops before diving head first into a large snow field, I took a massive stack here and slammed my old ribs into the hard packed white stuff. Breath back and some angry pedaling and I was back up to speed with minimum time lost and battered on to the finish far below.

Stage 3 was the mass start up in the snow line with a nice steep start on the snow onto a flat plateau and then another dreaded climb before more awesome descending and bar to bar racing down yet again more rock, bog and open hill sections.

So in the end I managed to take a convincing win in Vets and came 7th overall which I was pretty chuffed with.

Team MTB Ride Guide also took over the podium in the Junior category with Keir taking the win, Al 2nd and Ewan 3rd (modeling last years race top!)

I woke up this morning Sore, battered and bruised with great memories of the weekend. Awesome riding and fun coupled with superb organisation and the most enthusiastic marshals you will ever come across at any event.

Big thanks to Nukeproof for keeping me rolling through my Golden years!