Afterbang - Chapter 1 - Fort William

Well here we are, it’s 2013… Can you believe it!? This is the future. If you’ve just arrived after spilling your energy drink over your hot-tub control panel... welcome! Just try not to mess things up for the rest of us. Leave those butterflies well alone for example. Before we go on I should mention, if you're at the office, this is absolutely NSFW (not safe for work) because you'll be bored stiff of the nonsense at your desk by the time we're done here...


Well, it was quite a race! People say it a lot, but this really was a stormer, ironically with the bluest of skies. The sun blazed, the gravel flew and the people watching just about lost their minds with excitement. The riding was at such a level I can honestly say I would hate to be the other side of the race tape right now and I could say I'm almost at the point where I'm feeling empathy for the guys who can't push into the limelight. Even more so for the guys who know what it is to have it all and be at the top, but can't rekindle the flame. Admittedly these are first-world problems, at least they've got food. Even if it is Fort William's deepest fried.


Aaron Gwin lurks in the shadows at the top of the hill. A sight that would cause any one of the top flight hopeful's hearts to sink last season. He was on another level, a higher plain, of course he was going to win. And he did time and time again. The addition of jagged 'S' inscribed on his chest meant fresh pastures. Did it mean fresh pressures? Well, if not before it certainly does now. A new bike, race kit, mechanic, team mate, RV, training program, contractual obligations... the changes went so deep he probably has to eat different breakfast cereal.

News flash if you missed it: AARON GWIN DID NOT WIN FORT WILLIAM WORLD CUP ROUND 1.


The finale on Sunday was more gripping than a Five-ten shoe straight out of the dryer, with breathtaking racing across juniors and womens to match. Rachel Atherton took the course apart, 10 seconds the fastest, only 30 seconds back on Stevie Smith's best effort. Carpenter, Ragot, Nicole and Charre backed up the podium.

In the junior class, Noel Niederberger of Switzerland took the win, followed by Brit, Michael Jones and Aussie, Dean Lucas. Credit must also go to athlete Richey Rude Jr who would have taken it home by two seconds had he not jumped in with the big boys (28th despite this).


Have some of that. Gee asserts total dominance of a 2.66km long active minefield, including proverbial sharks, crocodiles and god-knows-what else. It was a straight-up massive win, on a level playing field, against his most fierce competitors, especially Hart who beat him here at the BDS national just a few weekends prior.



Gwin crossed the line in an atmosphere with which he's completely unfamiliar. A hushed confusion. It didn't help that the commentator went totally quiet as he entered the arena. The MC then tried to change the subject to the next rider, but the suggested distraction did nothing to take attention from the magnitude of this loss. You could say 'no big deal, it's just one race', but this is Aaron Gwin and anything other than winning demands, at risk of killing cats, great curiosity.



We know Gwin is great at winning... but what about losing? He crossed the line and quickly swept away behind the barriers. But he didn't rush off in a sulk as you might expect with such disappointment. He stuck around signing hats for the kids and chatting quietly to fans. Gwin is the pinnacle of professionalism in mountain biking and deserves credit as such.


No sh*t Sherlock, Aaron will be back with all the answers in Italy. The scene of an 8 seconds-up, merciless, bloodbath for him last season.


That sorry criminal is Greg Minnaar! Does everyone remember him?? Fort William is Greg's track. He's raced here every single year without fail and that's going back to a time when downhill results came in wrapped around a pigeon's shin... 2002. Here are his results each season since '03:

4th, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 1st, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 6th. I mean are you serious!? Fort William's biggest upset wasn't Gwin, who began his race career in 2008, it's Greg. He should have won here. There were whispers he was having trouble out there and with a fourth in the national, the warning shots had been fired. I mean 8th place....his worst result in 10 years of highland racing. It's disgusting.

Anyway, Greg should buy Aaron a beer if he hasn't already


Not everyone underachieved, of course, some of the guys nearly bowled the grandstand over when they came crashing into the arena. Sam Hill was one such rider, blitzing the course in a 4.38, the first sign of sub- 4.40 possibility. People are rooting for Hill, they want to see him back at the top like the days prior to his beastly smash on this very mountain in 2010. Well, 6th spot is a tasty hors d'oeuvre, let's see what's for main.



Stay back! Bulldog Brook is a rider ready to tear your arms off and then feast violently on your recoiling torso. Watch him smashing turns and tanking down straights and you'll agree he's the most aggressive rider out there right now. Anyone who can hold it together for nigh-on five minutes here can put that into terrifying practice wheresoever they roam. Plus, as starter number 6, he already proved very podium-worthy last season.


Is Stevie Smith the best thing ever to come out of Canada? Bearing in mind that would include Shania Twain? Bearing in mind that Pinkbike itself was conceived in Canada? I don't know, but you'd never say 'that don't impress me much' to his riding. The mustached musketeer outta Vancouver Island was seriously on his game this weekend. A terrific combiner of smoothness and power, Val di Sole will surely be his cup of bolognaise.


Oh dear, Nick Beer. A great new opportunity on the Devinci team alongside Stevie. Then he falls foul of the boulders on track during qualifying. Faced with the problem so many riders have who go beyond a flat and damage the actual rim- how to get off this goddam hillside!? So Beer decided to ride it out. He rode all the way down through the woods, but came seriously unstuck on the hip before the motorway when his rim sprung apart and chucked him OTB onto the gravel. All captured on a 10 year old's mobile. There's just no privacy these days.

Yes, carnage at Round 1 was more abundant than the total sum of 'duck-faced selfies' on MySpace. Of particular note was the wheel wreck of serious contender Matt Simmonds in the final.



Myriam Nicole isn't the only top pick in the world of sticky, caffeinated fizz.....

Introducing Marcelo Gutierrez Villegas. Maybe there's no need for a formal prelude, but with the team change and so many of the spectators salivating at the sight of who they thought was Danny Hart, I beg to differ. Marcelo is the Colombian national champ who won a bunch of the urban downhill races in South America. Sounding iffy?


Absolutely not. Number 8 starter plate, check this guy out the gate. Marcelo is legit. He rides with some serious flair and authority. Here he placed only 10 seconds off Gee, coming in 23rd. Keep your eyes thoroughly peeled. We chatted to the former student of Cedric Gracia, now signed onto the Giant Factory DH and having just bagged a Red Bull helmet.

"This year's definitely very special for me, signing with Red Bull and Giant. Both of those sponsors are something I was dreaming of. I wasn't waiting for it because I could never expect it. When everything worked out with Red Bull, I was super stoked, and then to get Giant as well was amazing. It's given me the perfect motivation for the World Cup this year."


In other news, Sam Blenkinsop is back on the gas. He's looked a bit off lately, as exemplified by the number 18 start. He was certainly back ripping this weekend though and who knows- if he hadn't been half blind on his race run, what the outcome would have been. He has that wild, unpredictable, brilliance that makes him a dangerous player in this brilliantly dangerous game.

There were too many guys at Fort Bill dragging along great big cojones to mention. A short list would include the long-term hot-seat holder Greg Williamson (10th), French bad-ass ripper Remi Thirion (17th) and fresh-faced fledgling Connor Fearon (21st).


Gee did it again. What a terrific racer. Fort William ticked off for the second time in his career. He span around at the barriers and came to a hunched-over stop by the hot-seat, exhausted but presumably totally overjoyed.


And with the realization of her brother's momentous triumph, Rachel just shrugged and rolled her eyes irritably.


Not everyone who shows brilliance and consistency can win. It takes something very few people will understand or ever know about. An x-factor that will stay that way until someone is silly enough to give the game away, instead of taking it for themselves.

You'll have to ask one of these guys.


Credit and congratulations are due to fellow Pinkbike snipers for their first rate world cup coverage so far- Colin Meagher, Vanja Kodermac and Fraser Britton.