World Cup Round 4 – Fort William

Ok so I am on my way back in the car listening to the most gangster song possible... just thought I would set the mood. It has been a great weekend again and the weather has surprisingly held up for most of the time.

It all started off with Tuesday night; Helen from British Cycling rung literally as I was about to leave saying that I had been chosen for the European Championships. I was pretty made up with the news but considering the race is the next weekend and I am in Fort William this weekend it doesn’t leave me any time to plan anything. Dad and I got to Fort William early to walk the course a few times. I think we must have walked up and down about 5 times which in total is a fair few miles of mountain walked!

First practise day on Friday came around fast and I somehow got very carried away and just kept going straight back up as soon as I got down. I got like 8 runs in the morning alone so I chilled out towards the afternoon. I had all the track lines, hops and jumps sorted that I wanted to do; the only thing was that my fingers were aching loads and I was finding it hard to hold on in the rough sections... which it pretty much wherever you are giving it some beans at Fort William.

After practise I walked it again and managed to watch some of the elite rider’s lines. I changed 3 of mine for ones that I didn’t see and that the tape had opened up.

I made sure that I didn’t over do it in Saturday mornings practise especially as my qualifying run was at half 3. I did a run down and tried the new lines and reminded myself of what it was like. It went well but didn’t do a full run. After cruising around the pits and hanging out with the Mojo lot I went up with Dan Stanbridge and his Dad to follow him down. I followed Dan down and it wasn’t long before he started to lose me. He stopped before the middle section to have a breather and let me catch up. The rest of my run went pretty well and following Stanny down really helped me go faster and see where I needed to go faster. He gave me some very valuable advice at the bottom and gave me something to think about before my run.

I was really nervous at the start and it showed at the start of my run. I was riding really sketchy from the beginning and about 40 seconds into my run I hit a corner too fast and almost went outside the tape and was slipping off the course. I had a very close call and already wasted valuable time. It was a wakeup call for me and made me ride the rest of the course a lot better. I got to the woods and had a sketchy moment on a new rooty deviation from the old track. I was jumping the worst of the roots but the last one caught me out and I went through the woods like a pin ball. The last of the wooded section was a totally new part. I saw the rider in front of me in the distance and when I got to the new section I was following him. I shouted my head off as you do but at the road he kept on going. A little further down the course he stopped to let me past. I had some time to make up now that’s for sure as I knew from Andorra the UCI don’t let you have re-run and there isn’t any room for mistakes or time wasting. I tried my best on the bottom section but I couldn’t make the time up. I came 95th and was 4 seconds off of qualifying. My best result yet but still not good... No more riding this weekend.

The chearing and noise the spectators make when you come down in the GB top is unreal! You are treated like a star with everyone wanting to shake your hand and get your autograph... felt pretty strange but really cool to see just how into biking everyone was.

Here are some pics;

It was amazing to watch Greg come down and take the win but it was even better to see Josh in the hot seat for quite a while and end up 7th. Awesome riding right there!

I have managed to get travelling to the European champs sorted out with Berny so I am off to the borders of Italy on Tuesday. Really looking forward to it! and with that it’s the world cup the weekend after then back to Fort William for the NPS!Thanks to Dan Stanbridge, Greg Minnaar, Mick Hannah and Will from Rezurgence. You all helped me and gave me the advice I needed. Thanks also to Last, DMR, Rezurgence, Lifestyle Ford, 2026 distribution, Funn, Bell, Thor, KMC, Nike 6.0, Mojo suspension, and Shimano.