Dirty Dunkeld

After finishing 8th at Round 1 of the Scottish Downhill Association race at Innerleithen in March I went on a mission to improve my fitness. Since then I have dedicated 2 hours a day to my bike and my lights after I get home work and what a difference it has made for my fitness.

Round 2 quickly came around though and we were soon on the road to Dunkeld. Track walk on Friday showed a really steep, technical track littered with vertical chutes, boulders and exposed roots from top to bottom. It all looked rideable apart from two challenging sections: a leap of faith off a cliff rock roll off and the 'go big or go home' section. I took plenty of photos and felt like I knew which lines I wanted to ride.

The sick skills team have produce this brilliant little documentary of the weekend:

SDA round 2 // Dunkeld 2014 // Sick Skills from SickSkillsMTB on Vimeo.

Also check out Ben Cathro's official head cam of the full track:

OFFICIAL SDA Helmet Cam // SDA Round 2 Dunkeld // Sick Skills 2014 from SickSkillsMTB on Vimeo.

Saturday practice dawned and up we went to get a run down. We were on the second bus up. When we got to the start we watched a few, maybe a lot, and then set off down the track. With all the rain through night the track had completely changed and holding onto a line was proving hard work. Five metres in to the track you were faced with your first 4ft rock drop. After that some swoopy single track brought you out to another steep, sharp rock garden. Get through that and you had the option of a large rock roll off or to ride a steep S down a heather framed rock face. A few more berms with plenty more boulders chucked in for good measure and you came to a 10m rock chute. On Saturday morning it was steep but rollable... A few more steep and rocky berms brought you out onto the fire road. You then had to cross a puddly, rocky mess to get to the next cliff. You could either drop straight off the rock in a leap of faith as you couldn't see your landing until you dropped, try to steer and roll round the narrow rocks and risk pedal bash and going over the bars or carry enough speed to traverse a high line. I saw a few people try to follow the traverse line that some of the elites rode and it never ended well! After that you rode through some off camber sludge to come down 'go big or go home'. A series of rock or root step downs with that very message sprayed onto them. After that it was pretty much wacky races style to get home through more sludge, more roots, more rocks, and more steep chutes!


My first practice run took 2 hours as I sectioned my way down the track, watching others and then trying out different lines. I had two spectacular somersaults on 'go big or go home' but I kept pushing back up and on my third attempt nailed the outside line with the bigger step downs.

The leap of faith after the fire road, the location of many spectacular falls:


Once at the bottom I got straight back on the bus to get another run in before lunch but half way up the hill we stopped. Another bus had crashed. We all agreed to get off the bus at the halfway point and just ride down the track from there. So that was my second run and apart from stopping to check the state of the cliff drop off the fire road I pretty much rode a full run. I was happy with the track and how it was riding just as the heavens opened so I went off to get changed and relax. With torrential rain forecast over night the track would change drastically again.

I was up at 6.30am on Sunday to go and walk the track again. It had changed. And not for the better. Different people said you could no longer drop off the leap of faith as it was ending in a face plant every time. Also the steep 10 metre muddy rock chute in the top section had been transformed into a vertical drop with people dragging their back brakes through the bottom half of it, eroding the mud away. When it came to my practice run it caught me out, with a rooty rock that had been revealed halfway down sending my bike upwards and to the side whilst I carried on down the chute. I braced myself for my bike landing on top of me but looked up to see it stuck up a tree! It took myself and a steward to remove it from the tree! The rest of practice went well and I was looking forward to getting a safe race run in.

Coming through 'Go Big or Go Home'

By the time it came to racing the 12 women who had signed on to race were reduced to 8 as people crashed out or stepped down from racing. We were like lambs to the slaughter as we packed our bikes in one cattle wagon and climbed into the other. The buses had abandoned the job during Saturday practice. The junior girls were first off the start line and it wasn't long before I was on track. I slipped off my line in the top section coming into the tight S bend cliff which put me on too tight of a line to make it through. As I saw the ground coming closer I hit both brakes and planted my feet. I couldn't ride it out, I was heading for an over the bars, so I walked the bike down and just as I was about to get back on 'rider' was shouted, so I jumped out of the way to let Sandra Scally past. No sooner had I got my bike to a flattish place to get back on, I had to jump back off track to let Jess Stone whizz past. The top section was a disaster. So I played it safe for the rest of the run, aiming to just get to the bottom. I cleanly dropped the rock cliff and made it through the step downs on 'go big or go home' with my wheels the right way up - so that was positive. I crossed the line in 6 minutes 14 seconds. Slow, but alive and knowing where I could make up a lot of time.

Dropping in over the leap of faith rock after the fire road, (copyright free photo has been purchased but digital copy not arrived yet):

I wasn't sure about doing a second run but I really wanted to ride that top section properly and see what I could improve on - see if I could get down without being overtaken. Rona and Hope persuaded me back up the hill. Only 6 girls returned for run two. In fact, in a field of just over 200, over 50 people either did not finish run two or did not turn up for it. With people dropping out in all categories I asked if I could have more than a 30 second gap, I was given 50 seconds. It wasn't much more but it was enough to help me focus on my riding and not having to pull over to let the more experienced riders through. I was more aggressive and carrying more speed so I rode a new line through the top rock garden which saved me a lot of time and put me on a better line for the S cliff that I'd had the disaster on run 1 with. With that clear it was on to the the rock chute that had transformed into a vertical drop, I came through that nicely carrying lots of speed through the next few berms which smoothed the boulders out. I was so pleased to have bossed the top section. Onto the middle section I rolled off the rock on the cliff face again, I think I was the only girl to take this line, and then I was onto 'go big or go home'. Things got a bit loose in the corners at the bottom of there with my back wheel temporarily washing out on me, but it didn't slow me down and I could hear the finish line getting closer. I held it together and crossed the line with my time being called out as 5 minutes and 13 seconds. I'd done it. I shaved off over a minute by riding properly and made it down safely again! I was over the moon and it was definitely worth going up for that second run - and on top of that then I noticed that I never got caught by Sandra and Jess!!

We knew I'd finished in 3rd due to the times given out by the commentator as we crossed the line but at some point during the Masters or Vets category the new timing equipment crashed out so that meant no more live times and sadly no podiums. Prizes are to be presented at the next race at Ae Forest in May.


Female Results:
Junior Women
1st Freya Avis
2nd Rona Strivens
3rd Elena Melton

Senior Women
1st Jess Stone
2nd Sandra Scally
3rd Rachel Simpson

Next race is the SDA at Ae Forest, followed by the English DH Champs at Hamsterley and then the Cyclewise Altura Gravity Challenge at Whinlatter after that - 3 busy weeks!