Practice Report: British Downhill Series 2015 - Fort William

Fort William. Sometimes it's sunny, sometimes it's rainy, sometimes it's windy. Today, it was all three plus hail and snow.

The official practice day for the second round of British Cycling's MTB Downhill Series - the Rose Bikes British Downhill Series - got off to a torrid start, with access to the gondola shut due to high winds on the mountain. This unfortunately meant that the race organisers had to fall back to their 'Plan B', and start the practice course two-thirds of the way down from the original starting hut, at the fireroad, just before the wallride.

With the Fort William round of the BDS being a regular precursor to the main World Cup event, the riders who were lucky enough to have arrived a few days before the weekend had been able to get full runs in when the gondola was in operation, whilst Fort William basked in a brief spell of Scottish sunshine. Sadly, today's predicament meant it was a push up to the 'new' start of the track, which put a lot of riders off, instead choosing to save their energy until race day, when there's a chance the weather will be fairer and therefore the gondola open, to take riders right to the top.





With rain pouring down throughout the day, it was hard going even for those pushing their bikes up. A number of riders, including Brendan Fairclough, managed to make things slightly easier for themselves by ditching their DH bikes and taking to their enduro bike for the sub-two minute descent. This lower section of the track is usually where riders' muscles are screaming for a break, so to have the opportunity to session this section with relatively fresh limbs was a bit of a revelation for some.




Throughout the day, Si Paton and his BDS team kept everyone informed regarding the status of the gondola (who's operation is down to the Nevis Range operations team), but the midday re-opening that may had hoped for sadly wasn't to be, and the day continued as a dwindling number of riders braved the squally afternoon showers. By the time the last few riders made it down at around 4pm, the fickle weather conditions had cleared up drastically, but with a small army of marshals, medics and other operation staff to get in place before the full track could re-open, there was insufficient time for the gondola to be wound into service, the full course to be re-inspected or for the 300-plus riders to make their way to the top. Added to that the fresh dusting of snow at the top - well that's how it looked from the mountain's base - and it was clear that Saturday practice day proceedings were sadly due to be wrapped up.



The question on everyone's minds as they sat in the cafe, was whether the high winds and wintry conditions would dissipate overnight, allowing the gondola to run freely for the duration of the day. The popup village of riders, mechanics, family and friends will have to wait to see what the curtain of dawn brings...

Stay tuned on Pinkbike Sunday afternoon (local time) for the full race results from Fort William.

Photos courtesy of The Hills are Alive.