Pretend Pro Mountain Biker – Trail Bikes on the Fort Bill World Cup track and Laggan Scottish Enduro

SDA Double Header – Round 5 & Scottish Championships

After a couple of weeks off racing and mostly just working in the office, riding jumps and enjoying the last bit of Summer, it was time to head up to the last round of the SDA for what would be round 5 and the Scottish Championships as the champs had to be cancelled due to lack of entries.


Before heading to Fort William I thought I’d get hold of some well known branded foam inserts to protect my wheels as I didn’t fancy having to buy new wheels after a weekend on the downhill track. However, this proved to be a disaster. With a total of 6 hours spent trying to fit one, including excellent help from Joe Barnes and his mechanic and all round good guy Craig Millar it turned out it just wasn’t going to fit the narrow rim I have. So make sure you check your rim width before investing in any foam inserts.


So after some deliberation I decided to run rock hard tyres and save my money and wheels for the next EWS at Finale, so I can enjoy a pizza and ice cream after the race without fear of having the bailiffs show up once I get home.
The world cup track we all know is rough as anything. Having not ridden it since 2013 or 2014 I was trying to ride all the lines I knew worked on a downhill bike, but quickly found they really don’t work on a trail bike. So, I did some thorough investigations of some sections to smooth it out and I was ready to race.

The weather was incredible and you’d never have thought it was going to turn bad, but the forecast was terrible for the Sunday, so the SDA elected to run 1 race run on the Saturday afternoon in case the weather really came in and we couldn’t ride on the Sunday. I managed to put in a pretty steady run, nothing special and came away with a 5th in the senior category. The hands were definitely feeling the 40psi in the front tyre though that’s for sure.

After a funny night in the van with everyone because all thought it would be cancelled on the Sunday, we awoke to no wind, dark skies and plenty rain. It looked like the gondola was running. By 8.30am we found out we were going ahead with the race and were going to try at least one race run. The weather was a bit grizzly, but the track was running amazing. After one practice run, I was well up for taking some time off my first race run. However, there was a big course hold due to a rider down and some heavy weather and I was not able to better my time.

It turns out that Fort William SDA is more than possible on a modern trail bike these days. It’s certainly not easy or comfortable, but to be honest, it was much more comfortable than I expected and I’m well up for giving it another go next year on the trail bike.

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Big thanks to the SDA for putting on such an awesome weekend and congrats to Cathro for putting in a stormer of a run to take the Scottish Champion title. Don’t forget to support the series and attend the AGM on Saturday 30th of September at Glencoe for some riding and discussions.

Scottish Enduro Series Round 5 – Laggan Wolftrax


After my bike survived the SDA, I got it all tuned up again for the penultimate round of the Scottish Enduro Series. With a week of rest and some physio to sort my shoulder out after the punishment my 40psi front tyre caused at Fort William, I was ready to head up to Laggan.

I was taking up my friend Rory Watt for his first ever race and Chris Hutchens, who I’d certainly be battling with during the race for a podium spot. Having recently moved down to Bristol, I picked up Chris from Edinburgh airport about 10pm and we headed north with an overnight pit stop before trucking up to Laggan for a leisurely afternoon practice lap.

We arrived and quickly set off for the trail centre side of the hill to discover one delightful trail and one that was going to require some seriously strong legs on Sunday. Over on the other side of the A82 was some fresh and some filth, all of which was pretty good!


I’m usually a big fan of the sloppy conditions, but for some reason felt like I wasn’t really riding too well, so going into the race I wasn’t wildly enthused. However, I cracked on regardless and tried to keep the thought of finishing 8th out of my mind. It’s not that 8th would be terrible, it just wasn’t going to exactly excite me after the race.

Once the race was all said and done, everyone had had their crashes and sprinted their legs off. I was nervous to see the times. With Joe Barnes and Lew Buchanan racing it felt like it was a race for third. Cathro and Hutchens were always going to be challenging for it, but the likes of stokemaster Kyle Beattie, Calum McCubbing, Joe Connel and many more, it was going be close.

In the end the master of Laggan Joe Barnes took the win with Lew in second. Hutchens took third less than 1 second ahead of myself, which was a pleasant surprise as I truly felt off the pace. My tactic of just relaxing and riding fairly casually has continued to pay off even when I don’t feel on it, which is good. Cathro was just six seconds or so behind me and it’s ridiculously tough to beat Cathro, so it confirmed I must’ve been going well.

Now it’s time for a couple off weeks back in the office and working with Borders College and Dirt School before heading off to the EWS in Finale Ligure, where hopefully I can finish the season on a high!


Supported by:

Progression Bikes Scotland
Wigwam Holidays
Stoats

Shout Outs

Scottish Downhill Association
Scottish Enduro Series

Photos
Trev Worsey
Keith Bremner
Paul Cram

About Christo

I am 24 years old and have been racing for the best part of 10 years now with a 3 year break due to shoulder problems. I work full time in IT with a little bit of mountain bike coaching on the side. I've been a "pretend pro mountain biker" for four or five years now, trying to race at the top level. Other than the fact if I'm not at work or at a race then I'll be at the pumptrack in Edinburgh, that's probably all there is to know.