2010 Alpine Bikes, Round 2, Innerleithen

21st February 2010


Results (203)Race report Photos (319) Videos (1)      


By Stephen Hardcastle (pics Ian Linton)

With no current sponsor, Lewis Buchanan couldn't have asked for a better season start!

So, three weeks after the first Borderline Events Alpine Bikes Innerleithen winter round (the race that never was) I loaded the van up again and did the long drive north. The forecast had been getting worse through the week with temperatures getting lower and even snow possible on Sunday. A quick walk of the track on Friday afternoon showed another good track, this one less steep than the last round to keep it more rideable if the ice returned. Late in the afternoon the track was soft at the bottom in the main but got harder and more frozen as I walked up the hill. You could tell the ice would be coming back in places the following day, but on the whole it looked good.

We headed out of the start shed down the wide straight line, a right hand berm at the bottom into a couple of corners in the trees, over the fallen down wall and round the corner to the quarry. Down the face of the thankfully ice free quarry, over the road gap and into the tunnel. First left off of the main track and back into the tighter sections. A lot of these had been taped quite wide so there were inside lines all over the place; it was difficult to tell which were actually faster but it did provide more options when the ice came. Over some roots into a tight right hander which became very slick when inevitably iced-up. Next came a small open section which developed a new low line during the weekend leading you into another straight-line and back into the trees. A slightly flatter section followed heading toward the middle fireroad. Off here into a nice left hand berm then into a right, either round the outside in the rut coming out below the wall or take the tighter line to come down above the wall giving a better line into the right hander, if you could hold it high all the way!

A tight section in the trees over another small fire break and into the last section which gave a warp speed approach into a right-left corner combo, then a nice steep section into some off-camber with high lines the way to go. Right near the end now, a sweeping right-hander with an inside over the grass through the little gully and then down and over the road.

Joe Connell didn't let the ice slow him down - putting over 17 seconds into 2nd-placed Youth Stuart Wilcox.

When I got out of the van on Saturday morning it was clear it had been cold over night but nowhere near as bad as round 1, and the course showed this. The top half became very icy during the morning but the sections below the middle fireroad were never too bad and by the end of the day everything had thawed out and was riding really well. We went off to bed hoping it wouldn’t be too cold overnight again. Unfortunately I woke up and opened the van door to a very white scene, it had been -6°C over night and everything was frozen solid. One practice run in the morning showed that the whole course was now icy and the steep sections toward the end were difficult to get down without crashing. People were off all over the course and trying to avoid them was really hard at times.

Jack Reading had a big crash in Saturday practice, leaving an easy win for Adam Brayton.

Despite the ice, racing went ahead. Albeit with about a third of the riders deciding not to race or going home early. In fact 4 out of 5 elites went home leaving only Adam Brayton to ride and he’d been in hospital the day before, discharging himself in the morning to come back and roll down to a lonely victory. Again through the day the course thawed out and the later riders had a lot more grip. You can see the full results here on the site; they were up around 5pm on Sunday which must be some kind of record.

Fastest time of the day was a 3.24 for Lewis Buchanan (currently unsponsored - not for long?!) in juniors with Ali Mac (Pinkbike.com) in experts taking second fastest with a 3.30 and another junior, Allan Findlay (Borderline events, Mountain High, Orange) taking 3rd with a 3.40.

Alasdair MacLennan managed to start 2010 the way he ended 2009 - with a win. Can he keep it up?

In the ladies races Bex Reilly (Uplift Scotland) won the women’s race by 25 seconds from Angela Coates (Fox, Team-chr.co.uk) and Mairi Gillis taking third despite Ali Mac running her over halfway through his run. The elite ladies race was won by Harriet Latchem (Propain Bikes) in a shade over 5 minutes, nearly 35 seconds faster than the next fastest girl.

It was another good weekend of racing despite the weather and at least this time we all got the chance to try ourselves against the clock. We’ll be back for round 3 in a few weeks and hopefully this time the top of Innerleithen will have melted at some point during the break. I think most of us will even take pouring rain over more ice!

Thanks to all the people who helped make the race happen this weekend, in no particular order...

Mike Marsden of Borderline Events, Trevor Williams for taking the chief marshall role, the medics, the course builders (who worked throughout the weekend to keep as much rideable as possible by braking sections of the track up), the team from the SDA for doing the timing, the commissaries, the marshalls, the uplift drivers and anyone else I’ve forgotten.

Thanks also go to all the event sponsors, Alpine Bikes, Buff, Go Fast energy drinks, Buff, Fox and Trek.

See you all in a few weeks for round 3!

Pete Hoggan has great form at the moment, two Veteran class wins in his last two races!