SDA Rnd 4 Fort William

Here's Neils report from the weekend.


The 3rd round of the Scottosh Downhill Association Series was at Nevis Range, Fort William this weekend and for Team MTB Ride Guide you could almost class it as a ‘home gig’. The team had all been up training in the weeks before hand with Ewan looking great on track and Alastair as always going really quickly on the course he knows so well. I’d been struggling a bit with bike set up , but had made a couple of mid-week changes so was looking forward to it too.

On Saturday the track was running really nicely with lots of grip up in the top sections and the woods were dry and fast. The wind picked up a little in the afternoon which meant the motorway jumps needed a bit for pedal power to clear them but for Fort William that’s pretty good. On the Saturday night we had a ‘Team Carbo Loading Session’ which involved a huge takeaway from the Indian restaurant which soon disappeared while sat discussing lines and experiences from practice while overlooking the loch with the mountains behind - a reminder of the more pleasant side of Fort William. On Sunday it was back to reality however with heavy rain overnight and showers forecast together with gusting winds meaning that it wasn’t going to be an easy day.

I was raring to go on my race run and was really enjoying my run – catching my 30 second man at the deer fence but after a big ‘moment’ in the woods I had a mechanical and couldn’t select a gear to pedal down the motor way – losing both feet from the pedals while approaching the Hazzard Hoofer isn’t fun either ! I managed to get down and sat in the hot seat for a while until I handed it over to Alastair which was great but that was quickly forgotten when we heard that Ewan had crashed heavily in his race run and was in the medical tent. He was very sore and gutted not to have been able to show what he can do but luckily nothing was broken - his day was over but he’ll back on top form very soon . On the second run , a crash above the woods ended my run but Alastair improved on his first run and held onto his second place. 

Thanks as always to Nukeproof, the SDA for organising a great event and to the marshals who were out on the hill in some wild weather.

For full results check out Here

BDS Round 2 Windy City

Fort William BDS is always one of my favourite races on the calendar for 2 reasons, firstly its my home track and second, it's usually a stacked entry of top world cup riders which makes for a brilliant atmosphere and a chance to compare run times with them.

 My weekend started on Thursday when I rode multiple laps of the track in blazing sunshine and had it pretty much dialled by the end of the day which put me in a settled mood of confidence for the racing which lay ahead.

Saturday practice was at first delayed because the weather had changed overnight bringing with it snow and extreme winds on the mountain. 

The mood in the pits had also changed with lots of riders hanging about and holed up in their pits.

It was soon announced that there would be no uplift to the top of the track and a shortened track would be run from the wall ride down which basically was a 3 corner track and a sprint down the big jumps on the motorway getting buffeted by the wind.

With the forecast looking better for race day and a good chance of racing taking place on the full track from the top of the mountain I did not practice the short track as I felt I could hit it race pace any time and instead went riding with the guys from Team Chain Reaction blasting down my local trails which was brilliant fun.

Race day came and it was apparent that the weather had not changed. The snow had not lifted of the mountain overnight and the icy wind was gusting up to 60mph on the upper part of the track, so it came as no surprise to hear that there would yet again be no uplift and the short push up track would be used.

It was disappointing, but nothing could be done about the weather and we just had to accept it and have fun racing a short track.

I pushed up for 4 practice runs which were all good until the motorway section with the big new jumps which were not easy with the wind slowing me down and buffeting from different directions and I was clearing the first few but could not find the speed for the final one.

Seeding runs had been cancelled and so we went straight to race runs. The drop in start was fairly tricky with a steep muddy rut finishing with a drop and required just to point and shoot without braking. I got a good start here and hit the pedals to get up to speed for the first tabletop jump and hit the first few corners well. A quick hop over the hazzard hoofer jump and down the rooty channel was hit at a good race pace and then it was flat out down the motorway towards the jumps which again were fine for the first 2 and then with the head wind I had to keep low on the last ones and pedal to the death.

it was all over so fast, 1min 39s but was good fun all the same. I took the win in Grand Vets and my time compared well to other categories which I was happy with.

There was a lot of support most of the way down the track with all the crowd making plenty noise which certainly livened an otherwise dull event up.

My next event is the Scottish series race at Glencoe mountain, I am already praying to the weather gods.

2015 Scottish Downhill Championships

It seemed a bit early in the year when the team headed to Ae Forest for the Scottish Downhill Championships.
Usually held in June and scheduled to be run at Fort William, there was a date and venue change due to clashing with an event down South.
The weather gods reminded us that maybe winter was not quite over and threw in a few hail and snow showers, but in general it stayed dry over the weekend and the track got faster and drier with every run.

Our 2015 Team race kit was looking bright in the sun and we could not be missed as we practised together all weekend.

Thanks to Nicola Johnson for this pic of Neil

 It was great to have Neil back after his leave of absence due to injury and a happy Neil said

" I just took it steady all weekend which was a little frustrating but was also good fun to be just cruising down the hill. "

Neil was looking as smooth and focussed as usual and will be up to speed in no time,

Ewan, the teams young ripper continues to improve with every race and is just about ready to be let off the lead ! He had a cracking weekend and was ripping hard down the fast fun track.

Another pic from Nicola Johnson:  Ewan with Al trying to keep up.

Alastair had a fun weekend riding with team mates and was feeling good come race day putting in what he reckons was a "proper fast race run, but not fast enough to win"

And another Nicola Johnson pic

So, a fairly vague report with no results. Unfortunately there was timing issues and as I write the full checked and verified results are not available as the mighty SDA crew have been burning the midnight oil squeezing the results one by one out of the system. A hard and frustrating job for the dedicated guys and girls at SDA HQ , hopefully they will be rewarded for their dedication soon.

And finally, a random pic of Billy who we adopted for the weekend.......

British Downhill Series Rnd 1

Ae Forest was the venue for the Round 1 of the British Downhill Series last weekend .
With Neil still out from injury it was up to Alastair and Ewan to represent.
Ae has been a well used venue over the years and although fairly short, the tracks are normally fast and fun.
The BDS track this weekend did not disappoint, and with a combination of fast natural sections, jumps and berms it really was a track worthy of the the premier British Series Event.

Ewan, fresh from a great result the previous weekend was determined to put in a great performance, and along with Alastair had a good day in practice dialling in lines and looking for speed, and by the end of Saturday both were confident of puting in good runs on race day.

The Nukeproof Pulses have been running great this year, and with a few adjustments to the Rockshox shock during practice the bikes were running sweet for the qualifying run.
Ewan was off first, literally, and ploughed off the track early on costing him valuable time and putting him well down the seeding list for his race run in Youth Category.
Alastair put in a good steady run concentrating on getting lines right and qualified 1st in Grand Vets well ahead of the others in the category.

Final race run saw Ewan setting off first and laying down the power out of the start line and onwards down the track only to have another crash and finish off his race run chances in this super fast category.
Ewan has found new speed this season and has been exploring the outer reaches of his skills which is great to watch and he will come out of this learning curve not only with ultimate speed but with miles of style to match.

After heading up to look at a section of track that had caused slight problems in qualifying, Alastair sorted lines out in his head and was happy with the track.
Setting off last in Grand Vets he managed to hit all the lines with good speed and sliced quite a few seconds off his qualifying time to take a convincing win and take home maximum points from the event.

As with all events we attend, the team worked well together and took lots of positives from the practice and racing. It was great to see Neil once again who had come over to support the team even although he still is not very mobile, great work guys.

Full results can be found on Roots and Rain

We are now working towards our next event which is the Scottish Championships run by the SDA back at Ae Forest in 3 weeks time, can't wait!

Neil, Down & Out in Tweed Valley Hill

After our last blog where we reported Neil's training accident a lot of folks have been kindly asking after him.
Being a true team member, Neil managed to sneak away from the nurses and get himself along to Inners SDA to support his team mates.
Heres a wee report from the man himself.........

After a lot of time spent training on the bike and in the gym and with my new Nukeproof Pulse set up and ready to go , the first round of the 2015 race season – an SDA Race at Innerleithen couldn't come soon enough. Unfortunately , while putting in some last minute training last week, I had a trip over the handlebars, landing on my back and requiring a trip to the hospital. Nothing was broken but it will take a few weeks to recover enough to ride .

I was very lucky that it wasn't anything serious and I am very aware that it could have been much worse - a trip to A&E and a stay in hospital where some folk are in a much worst state is a great reminder of how lucky we are to be fit and healthy enough to ride our bikes.

Anyway, I didn't want to miss out on all the fun at the race so I managed to hobble along and watch on both days. Although it was frustrating not to be able to join in , it was great to see lots of friends from racing that I hadn't seen over the winter. I can't say much about the track as I only saw the finish line but from the states of the bikes and everyone's faces it looked muddy but fun! I know Ewan has been riding well as I've struggled to keep up with him in all the training rides we've done and as always Alastair was going well. I was glad to be able to make it to the race to watch but I am looking forward to when I can ride again much more…

SDA Round 1

The team have just returned from Innerleithen after a successful weekend of racing. 

Unfortunately Neil Wilson had to miss out due to a training accident where he punctured a lung and took a pretty bad hit. Neil will be back soon fitter, faster and stronger as that is what he does best.

Here's Ewans report:

The 2015 Nukeproof Pulse bikes looking great.

The first race of the season is always a great one, meeting up with people again , looking at who’s fast and at lots of fresh bikes and kit! Team Mtb Ride Guide were feeling fit after an intense winter training regime on their NUKEPROOF PULSES. Unfortunately Neil was pushing just a little too hard and was unable to take part in the first round due to a crash.

Things got a bit mucky

After a dry week in the Tweed Valley the race weekend brought a typically Scottish weekend of weather. The track was a technical mix of ruts, jumps, off camber corners and lots of sniper roots. After leaving the hut the track swung right until the first corner then into a new tight fresh rooty section to then go over the wall and road gap then left onto a flowy, fast off camber section with lots of bus stops them drops on to the middle fire road. After that it went into lower gold and some steep rocky schaly corners . The nukeproof pulses were eating up the track and were super fast and sturdy in the corners. Ewan and Alastair were easily spotted and looked good in their brand new race kit.

Colour co ordination was the key to Ewans success!

Alastair had a solid weekend and a solid time of 3:20.48 to take 4th . Ewan had some help from Alastair on Saturday and had a time of 3:16.69 to take 3rd. Overall it was a great weekend on some sweet NUKEPROOF bikes.

As always the committee of the SDA put on a cracking event and the medics and marshals did a superb job standing out on the hill in the wet and cold, thanks to all.