After a disappointing race in Val di Sole, I drove the 23 hours to Fort William for the second time this season for round three of the 2012 World Cup. I wasn’t parked long before the XC bike came out and with a few cheeky rides in before track walk and practice began. I felt really good on my TR450 and after working with the guys from Fox Racing Shox, I was quickly putting full runs together on Friday. There’s always a few people who go flat out on the Friday so it’s good to know where your at and what you need to do to be in with a chance come finals.

Photo Credit: Nathan Carvel

Qualifying went well for me. I rode the track and felt comfortable pedaling hard to a 20th place finish, which also helped me out with some valuable points, but more importantly some extra coverage on the live viewing feed. When race day came, the dusty, bone dry track we had been riding wasn’t so dusty and dry any more. We had fog and rain for most of the day, but despite the crap weather, it spiced it all up a bit and the track was completely different to what we had been riding leading up to Sunday.

Looking back, my run went pretty well. There were a few sections that I felt like I’d held a little back on, but like my quali run, I just made sure I pedaled hard where I could and focused on carrying speed and pumping anything that could be pumped!

I came down into 2nd place right behind Aaron Gwin! Grabbing a few words, he said he’d a good run, so I knew I’d be on for a good result being only 7 seconds behind as last week he was 8 up on 2nd place! As riders came down it was looking better and better and when I realised I had made the top 10 I was so stoked! To finish in 8th is a great feeling, but the fact I felt good on my bike and raced like I ride in practice was more important to me.

I’d like to thank my dad for prepping my bike and everyone who is helping me out this season:

Transition Bikes
Fox Europe
S.I.Sealy
www.wdbathrooms.co.uk
www.mindforsport.co.uk
Riders Refuge Morzine
Renthal
Burgtec
Five Ten
Schwalbe
Fox Shox
Shimano
Gamut
American Classic

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