Video: Rose Bikes British Downhill Series Round 2 - Fort William

One thing you can't rely on in the UK is the weather and that is never more true than it is in the Highlands of Scotland. The old adage of you can experience all the seasons in a day is pretty much the truth when you roll into Fort William. Despite that it still has legendary status and it is the track everyone wants to ride and race on. With just two weeks before the World Cup it is used as the ideal training opportunity, hence many of the big boys, who wouldn't normally enter the BDS, turn up to find some new lines and see where they stand in relation to the competition.


Friday was stacked with many of the field taking the opportunity to get in a whole load of practice runs. The weather was good and the going was fast. That however was going to be short lived. As Friday turned into Saturday Aonach Mòr obviously didn't want anyone near its peak. As the wind blew fiercely the Gondola was well out of action which meant plan B was put into action. Plan B was a push up to the Silverline Tools Wall Jump and a much shorter course. Sadly many opted not to take a run on Saturday, instead hoping to have the full course back in action on Sunday and plenty of energy to spare.



Sunday, unfortunately, brought with it more bad news. Aonach Mòr was going to be just too dangerous for marshals and officials and with the prospect of the Gondola being on and off all day the decision was made to once again opt for plan B and run the finals from the wall jump. It was going to be very much a test of leg power as the biggest section of the shortened course was the now famously brutal 'Motorway' section. Over the weekend the Moto sized jumps took plenty of victims from all-out crashes to painful casings. As the finals began the weather held off until the final 10 elite men warmed up for their runs. The rain started to fall. Despite the driving rain the Athertons proved that when it comes to power and fitness there are few who can match them as they took both the Elite Men's and Elite Women's top spots respectively. Make no mistake though, with the course running at not much more than a minute long the finish times were seriously close.

It may have been short but Fort William is always good entertainment for rider and spectator alike. It will be interesting to see if any advantage was taken by the repeated runs on the 'Motorway' section as we roll up to World Cup number 2 in a couple of weeks time.



Video By - Gee Milner
Photos By - Sarah Barrett
Words By - Simon Lacey

Video supported by - DMR Bikes and X Fusion

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MENTIONS: @Rideio / @gee-milner / @dmrbikes / @si-paton / @x-fusion-shox / @RoseBikesUK

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