Lewis Buchanan's Rookie Season, Part Two - It's Part of the Game

In this second part of my rookie season story I will explain a bit about my unfortunate crash which has thrown a complete twist into my season, the next steps, and since I wasn't in Ireland I will talk a bit about the results and what stood out to me.


After having some awesome results at the first two rounds of the EWS I flew home with great confidence and a lot of momentum on my side. It was nice to be home and back into my schedule of training and riding and all was on track and looking great. Unfortunately, I had a crash on 28th April and hit my elbow on a rock. What popped into my head as soon as it happened was "Ireland". I was hoping it was nothing bad at all but the pain was something I have never experienced before so I then came to realise that it wasn't looking great. After getting x-rays done I was told I had done a great job of breaking my elbow. This was obviously devastating news for me and my team and everyone involved as I had great form at the first two rounds and everything was clicking. I had surgery that night and had it plated with screws which was needed and was the best direction to go. As far as taking the next steps I will be resting and physio will begin shortly which I really look forward to.


I have been told the recovery period is from between 6-12 months but I have great people around me helping me in the right direction for a fast and full recovery. I have found myself in this position a couple times being injured but I am in a much better place mentally and physically to recover from this and to return to competition fighting for single digit positions. I am very motivated for my return after seeing what I was capable of at my first two EWS rounds. Injuring yourself at any time is not ideal and it's part of the game but I am happy I was able to get two solid EWS results in and hopefully I have established myself as a contender for the future and shown people what I'm capable of. I am in great spirits and remaining positive throughout my recovery and thanks to all for the healing vibes.


Last weekend was round three of the Enduro World Series in Ireland and I'd quite like to talk about the race and it's something I may do fair bit during my recovery. I watched the live timing online and kept track of all the men's stage results and even with this injury I have it's still important for me to soak in all the info I can, to learn and study the results and see who's where on the sheet. I thought that the results would be completely different to Chile and Argentina, and boy was I totally spot on with that. The stages looked short and punchy and nothing over five and a half minutes meant that the times would be tight.


Greg Callaghan withstood the home race pressure, kept his cool and delivered when it mattered taking home the win again making it back to back wins two years on the trot. Impressive! Mechanicals are part of the game and this time it bit at the current title contenders and many other top riders which caused a big stir up in the results. Richie Rude paid the price on stage two suffering a puncture, finishing in 70th almost 30 seconds of the fastest stage time set by Frenchman, Florian Nicolai. You would think that he would be out of the running for a podium finish but he managed to pull back heaps of time on the current GC leader, Callaghan and showed that you should never give up and dominated stages 3,4,6 and 7. Sam Hill in second place really didn't surprise me, to be honest but what a performance from the man on flat pedals. From what I heard, he had all clean stage runs and remained consistent all day. He has clearly learned and developed a great pedalling technique over the years on flat pedals and proves that he is at no disadvantage to the clipped in boys. After starting in second place on stage one Martin Maes suffered from a puncture which meant he had to take a five-minute time penalty due to a wheel change seeing his chances at podium finished. He still went out and laid down solid stage positions on the final three runs showing no signs of giving up. Other notable racers with mechanical issues resulting in time penalties where Jared Graves and Josh Carlson who also showed great sportsmanship by still heading out and putting in valiant performances even after their troubles, so well done to them.


Great performance by my teammate, François in 13th holding it down for the team and climbing up to 6th overall. It's tough to gauge yourself without a teammate during practice or someone to push you, so the old dog has done well without my help...haha jokes.


Even though I was not there racing I still learned a bunch just from paying close attention to the videos, comments and studying the results. One thing I have really learned and applied to not only my training but when I'm in a tough situation during racing is to never give up. You never know what can happen and Richie Rude did not give up and rode like a defending champ should and still remains the man to beat. They say you win championships on your bad days and the ride that Richie put in may have saved his season so far but there is plenty of racing left and a lot of racers biting at his heels. I'll probably pop up at some EWS event before the end of the season and I really look forward to showing face and being around the racing even though I will not be taking part. So please be sure to swing by the pits and speak with me and my teammate Francois. I will be sure to keep 'my rookie season' story going this year but it won't be after every round like it originally was going to be. The injury has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works and it's important I don't bore you guys so I will spread it out over the course of the season.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this second part.

Lewis Buchanan

PC: Jérémie Reuiller - ILL Prod and Innes Graham

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MENTIONS: @giro / @ridebmc

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