2008 SDA, Round 3, Aberfeldy

15th June 2008

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By Alasdair MacLennan

It’s not often that Scotland gets a new race venue, the last to be added to the SDA calendar being Dunkeld, itself now a veteran of the series. This weekend we were not a million miles away from that course, near the quiet town of Aberfeldy, and just along the road from the historic Castle Menzies. With directions to the venue kept under wraps until mere days before the event, there was speculation aplenty as to what on earth we were going to end up riding...

Things took an interesting turn when I took a call on the Friday evening from someone who was already up there saying that it was super scary, rocky and steep; almost like a miniature World Cup course. So after being forewarned that walking the track would be a good idea, it seemed prudent to give plenty of time to do some line investigation before riding. As we climbed up the course, it getting steeper with every step, we were met with smile after smile from riders coming back down. Ok, I lie; there were a couple of sheet white & pretty scared looking faces too! In ten years of riding I can’t think back to many tracks which have had the same reception by riders on the first day. Master’s rider Mark Weightman summed it up perfectly when he said ‘I’m glad I never walked that last night after I got here. If I had, I’d have had nightmares!

The track was quite short for a Scottish race, with an expected length of around two minutes, but what it lacked in time it made up with what was packed into such a short space of hill!

After what must have been the shortest and most efficient uplift in the history of Scottish downhill racing, we decamped from the trucks at the top, mere yards from the start line, and with no push in sight. So what had palms sweating and hearts racing?

Well, for the first part, nothing much. Then, less than 20 yards out of the start gate and you were into a rock slab huck which wouldn’t be out of place on the Canadian North Shore. This was mightily impressive to watch the few who chose to hit the big line; most went around it. From there, hold your grip on the camber, hit the log drop which was running at an angle across the track and get as faJr right as you could over the stump. Then throw the anchors on and aim the bike left to get the line over the rocks. Tree huggers were aplenty on this corner as rider after rider missed the line and ended up on a trajectory for the bottom of the hill! Next up were some really technical, off camber and dusty turns which then led into a steep chute. That was something I should mention too; the weather. Sun, no rain and dust! This created some superb drifty and loose corners with masses of debris flying off your wheels as you railed the turns. After dodging the trees and carving your way down the upper reaches you were very quickly led into the first of the rocky chutes. You could either go straight down over it which very few chose to do or take the natural groove which was slower but a lot more straight forward and more likely to succeed in getting you to the finish. The trees really tightened after this point and the course merely got steeper, testing your ability to control the bike to its limits. In here was the gouger. A nasty rock which seemed to take a chunk out of virtually every riders chain device at some point over the weekend. The road crossing soon after gave you rest for a fraction of a second before sending you into what seemed to be yet another chute with an almost paved surface created from boulders. Get out of this alive and you were now in view from spectators in the bottom field. However, something was wrong if you were riding this and had time to look at the field! Most tried to avoid crashing at this point as there was a 20ft drop not far from the edge of the track awaiting you if you made a mistake. Hit the switchback and rail the dusty, rocky berm. So many riders missed the edge of the track here and went for flying lessons into the bracken. The corner next up earned many nicknames over the weekend and very few of them were complimentary as it was just so tight and so many riders just missed it altogether! The track now changed in feel again as the gradient slackened and it cut down through the younger planting at the bottom of the hill. Tight & twisty with many roots grappling with your wheels and some rocks thrown in for good measure, this was really a great piece of track to ride if not spectate on.

What was it that made this track special? Well, for many riders, it was partly down to it being a new challenge, somewhere fresh to ride and a clean slate for everyone. But more than that it was one of those rare courses which stood apart as something really different to the norm. There was no respite, everything became a feature and it felt as though a lot of thought had gone into the best use of the hill. You didn’t get a rest, everything made you fight to keep the bike on the fast line and pointing in the right direction all the way to the finish, even the last corner doing its best to push you off into the undergrowth. Yes, there were some who felt that it was too severe for a Scottish regional race but that would appear to because it was such a shock that after several years of no new and challenging tracks rather we were faced by this steep and rocky number. In the end it followed on superbly from the tweaked Dunkeld course seen at round 1 and the just plain brutal round 2 course at Fort William. The only disappointment is that approval to have the course at all was based on it being used for this race only due to forestry operations at Pitfichie, preventing us holding a race there this year. Hopefully there may be a chance of being able to use it again if negotiations take place as the course was simply superb and it would be such a shame to lose it and all the effort already invested in it.

Practice generally went pretty smoothly although there were of course many red flags being put up throughout the day as well as many riders pushing back up one or two sections repeatedly in an effort to get their lines dialled. The first few runs down were an exercise in finding the fast lines as there were not many clear options with most having their plus and minus points. But by early afternoon, riders had had a good number of runs due to the excellent uplift (highlighting how much better the trucks are compared to the forestry’s preferred option of coaches) and the better lines were getting nicely cut in. That didn’t stop the temptation to try different lines and the ensuing crashes gave spectators plenty to laugh and cringe over, in doing so giving the hill a fantastic atmosphere all afternoon. On Sunday morning there were quite a few rough looking bodies milling around, due to taking a battering from the track and also more alcohol related roughness. The GoFast being handed out in the queue first thing certainly helped many riders pull their vision into focus and wake up before launching themselves down the hill for the second day of riding!

Racing is what we were here for and regardless of how difficult the course is the best will still always be at the top of the table. The emphasis here though was on consistency and being as neat as you could possibly be in an attempt to put in a good time. It was difficult though, with the track rutting up noticeably between the end of practice and the race runs and in doing so, causing a number of problems for some riders as they got sucked into places they didn’t want to be. As one rider put it, you get one section sorted one run and mess up another yet the following run you would perhaps mess the first part up and get the second perfect. It was certainly not one of those tracks that makes it easy to get that perfect race run.

Juveniles was the first category off once the racing was underway and there was quite a margin at the top of the tree. In third was Greg Gilfillan with a 2:23 gained in his second run whilst in next up was Joe Connell, riding for Kona-Nissan Grassroots. His 2:10 from run one placed him second behind Fraser McGlone who set a 2:04 in run two to secure the win.

Youths were next up and Adam Burnside was third placed for Santa Cruz UK with a 2:07. In second was Ronan Taylor of 777 Racing who pulled out a 2:06. However, in a class of his own all weekend was the Innerleithen based Lewis Buchanan with a 1:58 in his first run to take the win for MTBCut.tv.

Womens wasn’t the biggest category this weekend but third placed was Bex Reilly of Castle Douglas Cycle Centre with a 3:57. In second was the Highland Bicycle Co,’s Naomi Williamson on her apple green 224 with a time of 3:05, just pipped for first by Angela Coates for Descend Hamsterley with a 3:00.

Veterans next and it was 100mph+ himself, otherwise known as Steve Felstead, who took third for Ticket2RideBC.com with a 2:29. Kem Avis just snatched second place with a 2:26 whilst Alastair MacLennan took a clear win for Off Beat Bikes with a 2:08.

Ross Anderson of MSC Bikes/Descent-Gear took third in Senior with a 2:03 with Adam Stanyer took a well deserved second place for Turner Bikes with a 2:02. Callum Gault however was the winner here with a 1:59, the only sub 2 minute Senior run of the day.

With Mark Weightman taking a clear win in Seniors for Leisure Lakes, with a time just a fraction over 2 minutes, the battle was all on for second. In the end it was Tim Wilcox of Stand who took the upper hand over Chain Reaction Cycle’s Dale McMullan, both on a 2:06.

Juniors saw Andrew Phillips haul over the line in his first run with a 1:55 on his Yeti 303 for third. In second, and by the narrowest of Margins, was James Scott of thecyclejersey.com less than three tenths up on Andrew. However, it was Alastair Wilson of Ancillotti UK who pulled out the win with a margin of just over 1.5 seconds on a 1:53.

Expert’s was tight at the top so no surprises there. In third place on the podium was Ben Cortis for Tricky/777 Racing with a 2:00. In second was Ben Hall for Team CHR with 1:58 but taking the lead for PedalPower/Endura was an on form Iain Cookson with a 1:57.

It’s still something of a shock to see Fergus Lamb in clean kit and on a well maintained bike. Third place was his with a 1:51 whilst Mojo’s Dan Stanbridge grabbed second with a 1:49 before making the long journey back to Somerset. However, with a simply astounding time of 1:45 was Joe Barnes for MTBCut.tv on his luminous pink 224. This left many spectators and riders agog as to how he had managed it. Seriously impressive.

So that was it, a weekend of racing on a simply superb virgin track, crafted by the hands of Peter Pollock and his band of workers from the surface of a Scottish hill. Many riders felt that this was the best course seen in Scotland for years because of its fantastic mix of unrelenting features from start to finish. With a short track it’s very easy to be left feeling short changed but that wasn’t the case here; instead we had a track which made you think from start to finish and left everyone with a smile on their face. The uplift was quick and allowed as many runs as your body felt it could cope with both Saturday and Sunday. Good, solid uplift always makes things better and that we were back in full cattle trucks rather than the mix of coaches certainly helped, as did the very direct fire road. The weather was superb for most of the weekend although some brief but heavy rain showers did make things interesting on the more exposed rocks and corners whilst making most people want to dive for the nearest Ezi-Up! There were mercifully few injuries given the challenge of the track but hopefully those who were injured make a speedy recovery. We almost didn’t have the second runs when a rider needed transferred to hospital and the local ambulance was tied up with a road accident but that emergency passed and racing continued without hitch. However, I think every rider and spectator must doff their caps to the SDA who put on a superb event with fantastic atmosphere, stunning course and great racing. Remember that they are all volunteers! The next race is on a track which is arguably just as challenging; Glencoe. Last year, some atrocious weather led to the race being abandoned but hopefully this year a change of date will give another superb event. It’s the Scottish Champs so remember that it’s double points but more importantly, remember the Skin So Soft to keep the midges at bay for they’ll be out in force!