Tragedy, Charity and Community

Last weekend an accident befell 6 people out in the mountains above Glencoe, experienced and careful a slab of snow gave way beneath them and while two survived and were rescued by Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team (MRT)  with the help of Lochaber MRT and a Royal Navy helicopter, the other four sadly didn’t survive the avalanche.

I heard this news on Saturday afternoon after returning from riding my local trails in the snow and I briefly chatted to a mate who was concerned about his friend who may have been climbing in the area. My thoughts were not only with those involved in the accident but with my friends and ex colleagues at the Clachaig, which sits at the bottom of the Glen close to Bidean nam Bian where the accident occurred. My time at the pub has left me with some of my greatest memories and dear friends, it has also left me with some more difficult memories, last Saturday was not the first nor I’m afraid will it be the last time a minutes silence will be held in the Boots bar and prayers be held in a local church.

The mountains can be a dangerous place and the things we do in the mountains don’t make them any safer, be that climbing, skiing, kayaking or mountain biking or any other sport that takes place in these beautiful high places or in the glens between them. We still go out there and do these sports because we enjoy them and it’s that or sit at home in fear of the outdoors. We know the risks and assess them as we go along making calls as to whether we can achieve something or not whether to turn back or carry on and most importantly whether something is safe for us. On top of this we carry protection in many different forms from helmets to throw lines and any other item of safety equipment relevant to our chosen pursuit. However sometimes all this is not enough and if it all goes wrong the last thing you hope for is the local MRT, just the day before this accident there had been a successful rescue from Stob Chor nan Lochan in the same group of mountains. 

As charitable self funded organisations these volunteers do their best to have best equipment and training and drop what they’re doing and put their own lives on the line to pull us out of trouble, they deserve our utmost respect and gratitude.

On Sunday I had another conversation with my mate who said his friend was among the fatalities, at the same time my friends at the Clachaig were dealing with the press hovering for information, yes I know it’s their job but it can feel horribly invasive at a very sad time.  By Sunday evening some of the names of the deceased had been released including Christopher Bell and Tom Chesters both keen and well known and liked members of the mountain bike community.

What has been amazing has been the response of the Mountain Bike community to this tragedy; Chris’ team mate Luke Bradley and 3 other friends have decided to raise money for the local Mountain Rescue Teams involved by racing as two teams in the Strathpuffer Challenge, this has been passed around the online bike community and magazines like Dirt, Wideopen and Singletrack have picked it up and at this time as it ticks from Tuesday to Wednesday the amount raised is a staggering £10,022.50. What a response!

My thoughts and sympathies are with all the friends and families of those lost on that day as well as with the local community who have to come to terms with such a saddening event on their doorstep and once more I offer my respect to the MRT teams that deal with these situations the money raised by this will no doubt be of great help to them. On top of this it’s heart warming to see people come together in reaction to the loss of members of their sport whether they knew them or like me had never met them. 

The Cycle Show

The Cycle Show took place at the NEC last weekend and it seemed a great opportunity to go look at some shiny stuff and test out a bike or 2. At only £13 (+ booking fee) to get in it was a bargain but then various companies were offering discount codes for tickets, I used a Trek one and got the ticket for £11. This meant I just had to get there, it was a great excuse to visit a couple of friends in Stratford and my car died a year ago so time to get behind the wheel again and hire a car.

Setting off from Stratford on Saturday morning was handy as it meant I didn't have far to travel and was likely to avoid traffic, it turned out to be so handy that I arrived half an hour before the show opened. This gave me time to grab a coffee get my ticket checked and sit down while everyone else queued up at the door, all the while more people were turning up, no quiet start to the day for the exhibitors, just after 9.30am the shutters drew back and the hordes flooded in. I sedately followed on.

I’d decided to see where most of the crowds were heading then head in the other direction, this lead me straight on into the weird and wonderful section of electric bikes. I’d picked up a free show guide and made a vague plan with the knowledge I had to leave at around 3pm to get back to Bristol for work.  My main plans were to see some of the Pump Track Challenge and watch ‘Where The Trail Ends’, I also was keeping an eye out for a hydration pack and a mud guard. Other than that it was a case of wandering around trying to find shiny stuff to take pictures of and wish I could afford.

Fairly quickly I found the Specialized stand where there were a couple of things I’d seen on websites from the media day. The S works frame and the glittery Stumpjumper, as well as the Triathlon bike with a built in Hydration pack, which I was surprised to see come in at just £2500, I thought all these kinds of bikes were silly expensive never mind one with fancy stuff on it.

Speaking of silly expensive I moved on to the Trek stand to drool over the Session 9.9 coming in at £7000 and you know that’s not even with the spec that Gwin rides, seeing it written down makes me wonder how much money is on the hill at the Fort William World Cup.

 

I then went to get in early on the test track, wanting to give a 29er a go I went for the Specialized Camber as that was the one I was most interested in from what was on offer there. The test track was good for an all abilities track that wasn’t going to ruin any demo bikes or people. I did 3 runs on the Camber and one of the guys signing people in had mentioned there was a Strava segment so  the phone went on, my 3^rd run was to be my flying lap about quarter of the way round I caught a guy who was going incredibly slow and when I shouted ‘Excuse me.’ He rode a little faster when I skidded on a corner because I nearly ran into the back of him again he upped the pace slightly so I just stopped and let him go. Still my 2^nd run bagged me 4^th out of 10 but I can’t help feeling I could have got top spot.

Over to the Pump track to see some practice and qualifying, different to see it on the wooden track that had been created by Shoretrax, rather than the usual outdoor dirt pump tracks. Unfortunately time was starting to push on so it was stopping to take a few photos and keeping moving I had to be on the way home by race time.

With a bit more wandering I found the Rose bike stand a bit tucked away and some Identiti bikes as well as fun things like the mahousive tyres on one bike and these funky looking bikes, though where does motorbike start and Mountain Bike end…

A quick wander by the Continental stand to see the massive queue to get the GT teams autographs and grab a quick pic of the Athertons and Beaumont. I wasn't stopping long as it’s much easier to see them at Fort William World Cup just wandering around or on the track. 

It was time for ‘Where The Trail Ends’. A great film I found it awe inspiring but it didn't make me want to get out and ride like 3 Minute Gaps and Strength In Numbers, I more found myself thinking how I’d never be able to do any of these things but it was cool to watch these guys do it. My only problems were that I didn't get there early enough for a seat and every time the volume dropped a little I could just hear Rob Warner chattering on, stood a few people back from me.

Cool kids helmets.

Then it was time to get to the car and get to work for some more standing around. For the money the Cycle Show was definitely worth it especially with the test track, although they could have done with a faster sign up system or allowed people to do it online beforehand. The Cycle Show was very much that, there were road bikes and stalls, electric bikes, commuter bikes and weird bikes and random associated bits, but few Mountain Bike companies and only one proper shop (Si Paton’s Descent Gear) so I didn’t end up buying anything, not like the Bike shows used to be back in the 90’s early 00’s which were a lot more mtb orientated.

More Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151039122121423.439956.500231422&type=1

Hafjel World Cup – Final Round

A couple of hours North of Oslo lies Hafjel Bike Park, where the last round of the 2012 Downhill World Cup took place at the weekend. This was the first time the World Cup circus has come to Norway, and right from the track walk the riders were impressed.

There were comparisons to Scotland from the British riders during the track walk and during practice a lot of the riders were proclaiming it as the best track of the year or even the best track in years. Norway was off to a good start, the only downside being the price of the beer, which (at least from my visits to Oslo) is around £6-£10 a pint.

The weekend kicked off with a Staff/Media race using a mostly different course from the World Cup but going into the main finishing area where competitors had to down a beer before their time was counted. This was a bit of fun for a wind down at the end of the season but there were a few people concerned there would be no one left to take photos of the main event. Sven Martin, a photographer as well known as some of the riders, took the win ahead of Nigel Page CRC manager and Chris Ball UCI Technical Delegate. There were some accusations of cheating with the downing of the beer though. I hope they do this again at Fort William and let volunteers race, I can’t ride that well but I can down a beer pretty quick.

The qualifying took place on the Friday with Rachel Atherton and Stevie Smith going fastest, this gave Rachel a helping hand in the overall and left her needing to finish in the top 5 even if Emmeline Ragot won the actual race. Aaron Gwin had already taken the overall however he injured himself in practice and didn’t race, 2^nd and 3^rd could still change around between Minaar and Gee Atherton.

Race day was Saturday for a change and the weather, despite expectations, was staying clear. The women’s race was going to be a hard fought one even with some of the top riders being out injured. Canadian Casey Brown put in a run stomping the earlier times but was swiftly deposed by the new World Champion Morgane Charre. Ragot was after revenge from the Worlds and took 6.5 seconds out of Charres’ time, however next up was Manon Carpenter who had qualified 2^nd unfortunately a massive crash in her run put her out of contention, although she made it down the hill with a broken bike and probably feeling a bit dizzy after landing on her head and came 14^th overall.

Rachel Atherton was last on the hill with everything to play for, the overall title and the win on the day were what she wanted but after a back injury in the Worlds could she pull it off? She was down and looking a little tentative at split one but she pulled back time and went into the lead by split two, looking smooth she crossed the line fastest by 2.283 ahead of Ragot and Charre. Tahnee Seagrave came in 9^th despite a crash and Jess Stone came in 10^th looking good for the British girls.

Full Womens results: http://dirt.mpora.com/news/hafjell-womens-world-cup-final-results.html

The men’s race was hotting up with Markus Pekoll having set a solid time which seemed unassailable, Brendan Fairclough dropped into 2^nd just behind Pekoll with Jo Smith and Matt Simmonds following going into 14^th and 8^th. Marc Beaumont apparently said “inconsistency is key to an average season” which just about sums it up for him as he came down in 11^th place.

The winner of the last World Cup, Brook ‘Bulldog’ MacDonald still couldn’t beat Pekolls’ time, neither could Junior World Champion Loic Bruni however the wind was blowing pretty hard seemingly effecting them on the jumps and through the woods as a headwind. Britain Greg Williamson repeats his Fort William form ending up in 15^th but it’s Cam Cole who finally topples Pekol from the hotseat, but that just starts the ball rolling with Gee coming down and going 2 seconds faster, Sam Hill came down flying but ends up 7^th in the end. Then Greg Minaar sticks it on the hot seat securing his 2^nd in the overall ahead of Gee. 

Ratboy at Fort Bill

Josh Bryceland came down smooth as ever but not fast enough ending up 8^th, it was Kiwi George Brannigan next up on the hotseat securing his first podium ever and looking good for the win even. However it was his team mate Stevie Smith up in the start gate for the final run of the day and led all the way down the hill to take a massively well deserved first ever win and a great day for the De Vinci team getting 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th a full podium set.

Mens Results:http://dirt.mpora.com/news/hafjell-world-cup-mens-results.html

A great exciting end to a fantastic, if somewhat injury riddled season on a superb track in a new venue, I'll be trying to make it out there next year for sure.. The Women’s overall was decided on the day and the final overall podium was 1^st Rachel Atherton, 2^nd Emmeline Ragot, 3^rd Myriam Nicole (injured), 4th Tracey Hannah (injured), 5^th Emilie Siegenthaler (injured). The Junior Women’s title was taken by Tahnee Seagrave from Great Britain.

Tracey Hannah at Fort William

The Men’s overall was taken in the Val D’Isere by the now injured Aaron Gwin ahead of 2^nd Greg Minaar, 3^rd Gee Atherton (who was never off the podium all year), 4^th Steve Smith and 5^th Sam Hill. The Junior title was taken by Loic Bruni. The overall team win went to GT Racing, the Athertons and Marc Beaumont securing the title in their first year together.

Once again the Brits placed well with 2^nd Gee, 6^th Bryceland, 8^th Hart (injured), 13^th Beaumont, 16^th Simmonds and 19^th Smith from the top 20 men and 1^st Rachel, 9^th Manon in the top 10 of the women’s despite Manon being out for a couple of races due to a broken collar bone and Rachel missing the first round due to injury.

The biggest of many injuries of the year were to Cedric Gracia who is suprisingly looking to be back racing next year despite what could have been a career (if not life) ending crash, Tracey Hannah who still came 4^th overall and Troy Brosnan who came back for World Champs then promptly had a huge stack in the race and busted his shoulder. Heal up fast to you guys and all the other riders suffering.

Full overall results: http://dirt.mpora.com/news/2012-world-cup-overall-results-after-hafjell.html 

World Champs 2012.

So the Worlds have been and gone again, with the Downhill and the UCI return of 4X for one event only providing great action and excitement right the way through in the Leogang bike park, Austria.

The 4X had a very welcome return to the World scene after it was dropped from the World Cup Circuit although the 4X Protour had filled the gap nicely being organised and run by riders and teams, it currently lacks the prestige of a UCI title so riders were fired up to pick up the one title going this year. The track itself had taken a beating in the rain but was looking good for the race, the two points where there was a line choice would be critical, with many people early on taking the first early option but later on it became must make to be in with a chance, meanwhile most people took the easy line for the second option missing the big double.

Despite it’s only appearance as an official UCI event there were surprisingly few women with only  entering creating a situation where only the semi’s and the Small and Big finals were fought out. British hope Katy Curd suffered a snapped chain in qualifying so didn’t make it to the final 8.

In the men’s David Graf qualified fastest and got first gate choice which proved to be all important on the day. Again Britain’s hopes were dashed as Scott Beaumont started strongly with his first couple of races being in the first or second start lane, however he came into a round against some of the top qualifiers and was pushed down to the 3^rd lane and despite his efforts on the first corner couldn’t make up the time and didn’t make it to the Semi finals.

With Mellisa Buhl relegated to the small final after a lane infraction at the start of the last race, the girls finals had Anneke Beerten the favourite starting from gate 1 along with Romana Lobounkova, Celine Gros and Anita Molcik. This lane and some hard fighting took Anneke to her 2^nd Gold in a row after not being able to clinch it for so long.

The men’s big final had a couple of surprises and was a Swiss vs Czech battle with 2 from each country taking part, with David Graf in lane 1 looking the surprise favourite against Roger Rinderknecht, Michael Mechura and Tomos Slavik. However after a incident straight off the start where Slavik in lane two ploughed straight into Graf and took them both out leaving  Roger Rinderknecht to take his first Gold medal at the World Champs after 3 Silvers in the past and just back from the Olympic BMX competition and also announcing his retirement in his post race interview. All the best to him in the future.

Downhill.

The Downhill always seemed to be Gwins to lose after his dominant performance in the World Cup series having clinched the title with one round to go, although his main rival, and until Val D’Isere, the only other World Cup winner since 2010 Greg Minaar pushing for his second World champs Gold medal. In the women’s race it was all about Rachel Atherton and Reigning Champion Emmeline Ragot bring their World Cup battle to the World Champs.

Both Junior competitions were missing the massively dominant Troy Brosnan and Manon Carpenter who both moved up to Elite this year, so it was for Loic Bruni and Richie Rude Junior to fight out the men’s while the girls race had no particularly dominant characters but all British eyes were focused on Tahnee Seagrave. Richie Rude jr had cased a jump in practice pretty hard so maybe wasn’t quite as up to speed as he’s have liked and Loic Bruni took the win ahead of him. In the Women’s race it was down to Tahnee and Canadian Danielle Beecroft with Danielle taking the win over Tahnee by 8 seconds.

Unlike the previous year the weather was glorious and with a good but pedally track it was going to make for some exciting racing. Up early the Canadian riders put in a great performance at one point holding the top 5 positions obviously liking the Bike Park nature of the course, however in came the British and the French to spoil their party. First Tracy Mosely, former World Champion came down having semi retired from downhill last year, she put in a solid performance to break up the Canadian top 5 but coming 10^th in the end. Then came the young Morgane Charre putting 10 seconds into Micayla Gatto’s top time with 6 girls left to come. First to challenge Charre’s time was Pugin after an injury riddled season, 0.765 back at the first split but then 2 seconds back at split 2 left her off the pace finishing 4^th overall. Next up was the UKs Manon Carpenter also having had a big injury in the year managing to be 0.369 up at the top but losing time in the second section ending up with the Bronze medal. The final 2 to come down were the most likely to beat Charres time Emmeline Ragot coming down 0.079 ahead of Charre on the first section but again losing time lower down taking home the Silver. As Rachel Atherton came down the course, a back injury was obviously causing her problems and she never challenged Charre’s time coming in 5^th overall. Which gave Morgane Charre a shock World Championship victory which seemed to surprise the young French girl as much everyone else.

From winners to losers and what has to be the most embarrassing crash in World Champs history. http://dirt.mpora.com/news/shortest-world-champs-race-run-ever-before-crashing.html

The men’s race kicked off with Mic Hannah having posted the fastest training time, but expectations of that time being blown apart. The British had fielded a strong men’s team with two former World Champions and a former junior World Champion in the mix, last years defending Champion Danny Hart was out with a shoulder injury.  Solid runs by Matt Simmonds and Joe Smith put them 24^th and 34^th respectively but they didn’t look to challenge the top spots. Steve Peat riding in his 20^th World Champs, what other athlete can say that, was running first but had a big crash and ended up in 36^th, Peatys team mate Josh Bryceland also was putting in a great run until he also a big crash putting him out of contention. Marc Beaumont also couldn’t put a great run in to challenge the top riders and came 14^th, Sam Dale on the other hand managed to put a good run together which saw him in the top 3 for a long time but ending up 12^th and the second fastest Brit.

Troy Brosnan returning from life threatening injury had another big crash which saw him out of the race and back into hospital, although he was ok in the end. Andrew Neethling was putting a really good time in when he lost control off a wall ride carrying a lot of speed but held it together just managing to finish up in joint 18th, Mic Hannah came down with a storming run to go into first but was followed by Canadian Steve Smith desperate for the win, slower on the first section but coming down to go into first by just under a second. 

With only Gee Atherton, Greg Minaar and Aaron Gwin to come down Steve Smith must have been on tenter-hooks, Gee put together an almost perfect run to go into the hot seat and looked hard to beat, then came Minaar putting 0.5 seconds into Gee’s time in the top section matching his 2^nd section exactly and nearly the same again in the 3^rd section going into the lead with only Gwin to come, however it was not to be Gwins year as an early brake problem destroyed his run so he just styled his way down giving Minaar a well deserved second World Championship win, his last 9 years ago. Gee came so close in 2^nd ahead of Stevie Smith in 3^rd.

A lot came down to line choice on some jumps at the top whether to hit the big jumps and really create some speed or keep pedalling and take the safe line this is what seemed to separate the top 5 from the rest, both the men’s and women’s races were fantastic to watch and had thrilling finishes, it was a shame Gwin’s run was spoilt but the after party for Greg Minaar mixed with a special party for Peatys 20^th must have been great to be at. Here’s a little audio about Peaty from that night a great listen.

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/victors-world-champs-finals-gallery.html#slide-11

Oh and worth a mention was Claudio Caluori, Scott 11 manager coming out of retirement to nearly win the Swiss Champs in order to be selected for their Worlds team, as one of his riders was out injured and Brendan Fairclough hadn’t qualified for the British team having been injured for a lot of the season. In the end he punctured about half way but finished the course riding it out on the rim.

Full Results: http://www.uci.ch/templates/BUILTIN-NOFRAMES/Template1/layout.asp?MenuId=MTY1NjI&LangId=1

Old Skool vs New Kit

I’ve been slowly up grading my bike for the last 12 years since I snapped the handle bars while doing my paper round.  A couple of months ago I changed the last part that hadn’t been replaced, the saddle leaving my original frame and upgrades from 2000 to today, however by now the front end of my bike is rather outdated, so it’s time to start all over again… Or is it?

I have been running Marzochi Z4 Flylight Airs from 2000 and I haven’t had them serviced once and they are still in great condition, I also have a Planet X Beam Me Up Stem and Club Roost Go Fast bars which attract a load of attention, kids stop me and ask what the bracer bar is for and adults stop me to say they haven’t seen them in years. It’s a great way to start a conversation, I’m used to that set up and there’s nothing wrong with the components. It’s also hard to find a new stem which matches the current geometry of the one I’m running now and as the frame is too small for me I use a longer and steeper degree stem to add some extra reach and height.

On the other hand I’m gripping the end of the bars and there’s a lot of talk of wider and wider bars and the a general improvement in materials weight and strength and my current bars have taken some abuse over the years and having snapped one set while riding I’m not keen to repeat it.

Until I replace the frame, which won’t happen unless I snap it, it’s never going to be a high performance bike it’s just a hobby to keep putting new and different parts on it to keep it going, I’m looking to buy a very nice full sus in the next year or so to be my race bike but I’ll always keep this one going. The question is do I keep it as an Old School machine or keep upgrading as and when needed/when I have the money.

The decision has actually already been made as it may be a while before I can afford the bike I want and I want to keep my current bike running as best as possible. I’ve retired my old bars and stem, originally just looking to change the bars I couldn’t find ones with a small enough size at the clamp so the hunt began for a new one, this lead to me specially ordering a Ritchey stem that will appear at some point and in the mean time buy a cheap Da Bomb Stem with an extra spacer on the head set. It seems to be working pretty well and the bars are making a huge difference to my riding.

The old Club Roost bars sit in my room with the Planet X stem awaiting the day when perhaps I rebuild the bike again as an Old School machine for the hell of it, most likely when I can afford to have a new ful sus and a new hardtail and keep my old frame.

Rapid fire catch up

Well it’s been a few of weeks since I posted for various reasons but here’s a little run down of stuff that’s gone down from the National Champs to round 6 of the World Cup .

The National Champs was quite a while ago now but even at the time it appeared to slip by a little un-noticed almost or maybe I just wasn’t concentrating or there was just so much on as every country seemed to have their National races that weekend it seemed. Gee and Rachel Atherton both took the wins so they’re still wearing matching race jerseys with the Union Flag on the sleeve now. Gee beat Santa Cruz Syndicate riders Josh Bryceland and Steve Peat for his win while Rachel beat a rapidly recovering Manon Carpenter. Also Nigel Page Chain Reaction/Nukeproof manager deserves a mention for winning the Veteran Category adding to his Bronze medal from the BMX World Champs.

Val D’Isere was the venue for the 6^th round of the World Cup and it looked Gnarly as, so gnarly in fact they changed a bit that involved dropping off the roof of a shed into a sketchy landing, also sketchy enough to put Tracey Hannah into hospital with some nasty breaks but it sounds like she’s getting better now though. There were a few issues with showing the event and replaying it, meaning I didn’t get to see it until several days later when I knew the result, which was a bit rubbish.
The women were up first, with Rachel Atherton just leading over Emmeline Ragot in the overall standings despite having missed the first race of the year. Manon Carpenter put together a good run for 5^th getting back on track after her collar bone injury earlier in the year, but the win went to a dominant Rachel Atherton nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Ragot with Pugin in 3rd and Miriam Nicole  4^th so a British and French top 5.

The mens race was a close one to call with young guns like Cam Cole, Brook ‘Bulldog’ MacDonald and Josh ‘Ratboy’ Bryceland putting in great qualifiers and the ever dominant Gwin always a threat and Minaar trying to keep his overall hopes alive. Worth a mention was the massive storm earlier in the weekend with a massive lightening strike while Sam Dale was on the hill, that can’t have been fun.

Gwin came down early after a crash in qualifying and spent a long time in the hot seat until Minaar kept his chances in the overall alive coming in just faster than Gwin despite a little mistake up top. Nick Beer had a massive over the bars nearly front flipping the bike on a jump but managed to finish the race, these guys are hardcore. Gee Atherton steals the top spot from Minaar putting down a faultless performance fastest all the way down however Bulldog managed to finally put a run together, after a being down at split one he upped his pace and came in 0.495 faster than Gee. Ratboy was next up and he smashed the top section to put in the fastest top split but seemed to slow further down the course and eventually slotted into 3^rd his best ever result. That left Cam Cole to come down but he didn’t have it in him to challenge the top spots. Bulldog claimed his first ever World Cup win and every rider in the finish arena wanted to congratulate him, it must have been one hell of an after party! Oh this also knocked Minaar and Gwin down far enough that Gwin, fairly unsurprisingly has enough of a lead into the final race to be unassailable and take the overall title for 2012.

Now rapidly approaching is the World Champs and the British team has been announced and it’s pretty hard core with 3 former World Champions and two junior World Champions from the Men and Women elite squads and the other men in the squad have either won or made the podium at World Cup rounds, it would also have had the current World Champ Danny Hart but he’s out with an injured shoulder. Britain still looking pretty solid for a win though.

Cutting Corners

I started trying to write this post a couple of times but never quite got it right, however with a couple of recent events I’ve once again been inspired to write about cutting corners and intentionally going off the track.

Rachel Atherton took the win at Windham but on her way down she lost control and went through the tape then rejoined further down. A lot of people thought she should have been disqualified for it and enough people have been in the past like Steve Peat at La Bresse last year. As a marshal at Fort William I’ve heard the call over the radio enough times to know the question always asked is ‘did they gain any time by doing it?’ That’s what it comes down to in the end was it a course cut to gain time or was it an out of control slide through the tape that lost them time rather than gained it. In many cases it’s the marshal at that spots call although with the coverage Red Bull is giving this year you can watch replays of it. With this question in mind neither Rachel nor Peaty should have been disqualified. Unless you argue that by going in and out of the tape they stayed on their bike when otherwise they would have crashed and lost more time, however this seems a little harsh on the riders if you’re insisting they crash rather than cut the tape.

On the other end of the argument I have got increasingly annoyed by people cutting corners up at Ashton Court.  Why ride a trail if you’re not going to stick to it, yes there are a few corners up there where it’s easy to get a bit wild on the exit and end up off the trail but just cutting corners for the hell of it seems daft. Surely most people are going up there to ride for the fun of it so why do they need to save time by cutting a corner.

 The other thing I’ve seen up there is people cutting drop offs on the red run, if they can’t hit the drop offs then they shouldn’t be riding the harder sections. However what has put me off entering a race up there in October is going up there after the summer race to find that people have deliberately cut massive corners to save time. Now that’s cheating and worthy of being disqualified, I know they don’t use course tape but surely there should be a certain sense of honour amongst the riders in not cutting a corner to save a couple of seconds in a local endurance event. To me it seems a bit pathetic.

In response to people cutting corners a few well placed rocks and branches were added to the inside entrance to corners, however as corner cutting continued the people doing this have gone a bit nuts completely lining the inside and outside of turns with rocks, making a really tight line with hard consequences if you do accidently stray off line. In some places they’ve even lined the straights with rocks which are apparently rather pointy. I was looking down at my gears strayed a bit to the right and ended up with this, I was going uphill and not very fast so they must be pretty sharp rocks.

If you stray out accidently and it’s that or crash fair enough but if you deliberately cut a corner to save time, in a race you’re cheating even if the course isn’t marked well, if you’re not racing it’s pointless and if done consistently damages the sides of the trails and the ground they’re on, as the Ashton Court trails were built up partly to help protect the land this a particularly ignorant thing to be doing. Mountain Biking allows us to see the countryside and appreciate it, so why destroy it for other people to save a couple of seconds that mean nothing to anyone.