Shimano BDS 2014: Round 2, Fort William - Practice Day
A selection of the world's top elite riders descended on the trusty downhill track of Fort William today. The weather outlook looked bleak in the run up to practice but riders, marshals and spectators were blessed with relatively fair weather during the day.
World Cup teams were mixing with the best of the British downhill scene and battle was brewing between a strong set of riders in all categories. With a cold winter in the UK and snow still on the mountain just above the start hut, the track has only been open for a week this season, but the trail crew have been busy preparing the race line, making it challenging and fun, resetting the scene for a lot of riders who have recently been travelling the world to race venues bogged down in flat out pedal sections.
To be honest, there's no point trying to forecast the weather tomorrow. Not even the super-computers at the Met Office can get it right here at the Nevis Range. World Cup and grassroots teams will be looking to the heavens throughout the day tomorrow and adapting in their own ways to the changing conditions but one things for sure, it's going to be an exciting race.
Stay tuned on Pinkbike and on Pinkbike's Twitter feed and Facebook page throughout the day tomorrow to catch the latest action from the Shimano British Downhill Series at Fort William.
World Cup teams were mixing with the best of the British downhill scene and battle was brewing between a strong set of riders in all categories. With a cold winter in the UK and snow still on the mountain just above the start hut, the track has only been open for a week this season, but the trail crew have been busy preparing the race line, making it challenging and fun, resetting the scene for a lot of riders who have recently been travelling the world to race venues bogged down in flat out pedal sections.
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 Sam Hill was getting a lot of practice runs in and looking solid in the process |
 | I'm really enjoying being back here at Fort William for the BDS Round. It's fast and smooth this year, which is quite strange as this place is usually rough as can be. The whole top section under the lift is probably my favourite because it's so fast. It's good having the whole family over here too, although Bam is struggling to get used to the cold weather - Sam Hill, Chain Reaction Cycles |
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| One of Fort Bill's endless fast, steep, wet and technical sections |
| We've been here a few days and the course is still settling in. It's always good to come back and see what the course is looking like after the winter. Its running well, fast, rough; the usual Fort William and we're starting to pick up a bit of pace ready for tomorrow's final. Fort William is hugely important to me, it's the home track and since I first started racing it's always been a big one for me. I've won here a few times and that makes me want to win here even more because the crowd here is always amazing. Obviously, it wasn't a great start to the World Cup season and we've done a lot of testing since then and we've seemed to have got over a few problems and I'm feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike now. - Gee Atherton, GT Factory Racing |
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| Taylor was apparently taking it easy. From the side of the track it didn't look that way at all |
| It's very exciting, the track is amazing as always, it's probably my favourite track and I just love riding here. We been riding Thursday and Friday, done a few runs with the team and it was real good fun. I'm feeling strong on the track so I'm looking forward to the racing tomorrow and the World Cup coming up. The last two World Cup races have been my first since coming back from injury so obviously I was a bit nervous so I just wanted to make sure that I got down in one piece because last year I'd come down with a puncture or I'd just crash so it was cool to get runs some under my belt and I'm starting to pick up the pace a bit now and slowly ramp myself up and towards the end of the year hopefully I'm on top of the box. It's all work in progress but I'm taking it easy but it will come. - Taylor Vernon - GT Factory Racing |
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| Lapierre were taking things to an F1 level with their gaffer-taped bike |
| It's always a pleasure to come to the British Downhill Series because Si and the organisation is always kind and especially here in Fort William we know the track the track well. It's a really specific track, a real downhill track which is World Cup level. There are super fast parts, rocky parts and so for us, as we are working on a new bike, it is certainly the best track to learn a lot on the new bike. We decided to work with data acquisition at the end of last year and we included it in the process to develop the bike. It's a really good tool and its good to compare the data of the riders and also the efficiency of the bike. The partnership between Lapierre and Rockshox is working really well, so when you always have to adapt and adjust the suspension, data acquisition is certainly the best tool, combined with the feedback of the riders, to adjust the suspension perfectly. We have this process for both secret and public testing. It makes some aspects harder because you have to service more parts and the riders have to ride from the top to the bottom with a consistent ride but in the long term, it makes it all more efficient. Tomorrow you will see a lot of tape on our bikes! - Lauren Delorme, Manager, Lapierre Gravity Republic |
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| Danny was enjoying being back on home turf |
| I like it here and I always enjoy racing here whether it's nationals, World Cup or whatever. It's a good track and we're back in our normal set up and back on some proper mountains. It's all great at Fort William but the woods are a bit tricky. It's an easy place to lose a race but you're never going to win the race there, so you've just got to get through that. The top section is really good, I enjoy it up there because its fast and wide open and then there's the jumps at the bottom. - Danny Hart, Giant Factory Team |
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| Troy was back on his big bike and on point, despite only arriving in the UK on Thursday |
| Practice was really good today at Fort William. It was a bit wet up top and it rained up top pretty much almost the whole day, so it kept those gravel corners tacky and the woods pretty gnarly-muddy. We're just having fun and trying to dial the bike in and trying to go fast but there are a lot of holes coming out. It's getting a little bit loose so I'm trying to change up a couple of lines to find the smoother ones. The rain helps the track here a lot and it deals with the rain really well. It's really good on drainage. It's just the woods that are really muddy. I don't think it's going to rain too much more, so we'll have to see how tomorrow goes. It's good to be back on the Demo. The enduro bike worked really good at those two first World Cups just because there was so much pedalling and there wasn't anything really gnarly on those tracks but you come to Fort William and it's something else, so we had to get back on the big bike and I'm loving it because you can motor over stuff and just keeps going so it's good fun that's for sure. - Troy Bronsan, Specialized Racing |
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| A rider takes a long look down the hill from Fort Bill's start hut |
| I've only been to Fort William twice before, but it's so much fun. The last two days I was almost regretting my decision to come mainly because the weather was so Scottish, but today it's definitely turned it on because the weather isn't so bad. The track is running super fast and I'm loving it, bar the woods, because you're coming in from a super fast F1 track to a spongecake, so it's definitely a bit of a fun-sponge that section, as it sucks all the fun in the woods. But the rest of it is awesome! - Eddie Masters - Bergamont Hayes World Team |
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| Kaos and Tahnee Seagrave sharing tips on line choices |
| The track is great, they've done a lot of work and it's way faster and smoother, but the woods suck and they put a s*** section in for no reason which sucks the fun out of it. - Bernard Kerr, Pivot Cycles |
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| The Gstaad-Scott tent was a pretty chilled out place but mechanic Ben (out of shot) was busy in the background |
| We have to talk with the riders about finding the right set up. The challenge is to not have any problems with the tyres and wheels as Fort William is one of the worst tracks for them. Apart from that, it's about finding the best suspension set up, that's the key to going fast here. In the pits, it's about exchanging information between the rider and the mechanic as we have to find the best way to go for the bike. As a mechanic, we have to understand what the rider says, translating their feedback is the key to progress all the time. - Ben Vergnaud, Team Mechanic, Gstaad-Scott |
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| Emmeline, Emilie and Manon catch up during a shower |
| The top section of the track flows really well and I'm really enjoying it. The woods section is causing a fair bit of carnage! I like this track and I was looking forward to competing against Rachel but there are still plenty of girls here to battle against. - Manon Carpenter, Team Madison Saracen |
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| Sam, Brendan and Slugger share a gondola and a yarn about line choices |
| I love the track. The track in Cairns was pretty slow and the tracks at home have been pretty slow so the first few runs I was like, woah, this is gnarly. Five runs in I was up to speed and loving it. I was finding a few new lines I haven't done in the past and looking forward to tomorrow and the World Cup in three weeks time. The woods are tricky but I'm all for having harder tracks. If the top riders are struggling to get through it then that makes good racing. - Sam Dale, Team Madison Saracen |
Stay tuned on Pinkbike and on Pinkbike's Twitter feed and Facebook page throughout the day tomorrow to catch the latest action from the Shimano British Downhill Series at Fort William.
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It would be pretty badass to see him take the win on hs first race back
Ummmmmm....