Scotland, Weather, Scotland, Austria

After a few weeks break between racing I headed up to Glen Coe for round 3 of the BDS series, a venue not used for a National event before and somewhere I hadn't ridden before. Its good that the series is putting new tracks in. The weather forecast leading up to Glen Coe was not good with some serious winds whipping up! We got to Glen Coe Friday afternoon to walk the track, team water barrel filler Nick Jones had joined us for the weekend, and popped his best clothes on for the muddy track walk! He hit the deck 3 times!



The top of Glen Coe

Practice day, it was raining and seriously windy, practice got delayed a few times, and I managed more runs than most with a total of 3! Not good when you are trying to learn a new technical track! Practice got called off at 3pm due to the weather and a few other problems! At least we had plenty of time to watch the mighty Barca destroy United!

Sunday race day, I think everyone knew the race would have to be cancelled as the wind picked up even more, the organisers just tried to drag it out as long as possible! I managed 2 practice runs, bending a disc in half on one, Eds went for a 3rd run and his chairlift got blown into one of the pylons on the way up which was a common story between many riders around the pits, Eds then got blown off the track with a sideways wind ! 11 o'clock and a decision was made to cancel the seeding and race runs. I wasn't too bothered about that, although the decision to not offer any sort of series points or a small refund now benefits all that didn't bother to go to Glen Coe in the first place! At least we were home for a Sunday roast!

Fort William World Cup, I headed back up to Scotland on the Wednesday after Glen Coe with Blazing Bikes mechanic Ben, we stopped off for a steady lap at Glentress on the way, not so steady for Ben who took a big tumble trying to impress some hot talent in Lycra! Glentress is a top lap though!

Ben Nevis in all its glory

A couple of changes to the track at Fort William, and it was all dry considering all the bad weather they had

the week before. They usually have a good woods section in for the world cup, not sure what they were thinking with this one though , a nice uphill and not a lot of flow! That night we went to the 3Minute Gaps film premiere from Clay Porter , its got some pretty amazing footage, and it starts with Sam Hill and Rob Zombie!

3MinuteGaps premier

Qualifying day. A couple of practice runs and i felt OK on the track, although my timed run was to be my first full run, so I wasn't too sure on how hard to push. After a smooth top section, I went off line in the woods and hit a tree! I had an OK bottom half and went into 72 place, I finished in 86th place missing out on qualifying by just under 2 seconds! Annoying and disappointing!

Race day, I sat myself in the stands and watched the action unfold, it was a real exciting race to watch, Danny Hart's run was something else, Aaron Gwin 5 seconds up and crashed, Gee had a broken back wheel, Minnar put in a solid run and won at Fort William for the 4th time! Home time for me!

After getting home and opening my birthday presents and cards, I had a day to finish the birthday cake and get everything cleaned and ready for the trip to Leogang with Ralphy Jones! We took the 2 am ferry and drove through the night before arriving in Leogang at 4.30 the next day, we checked in to our pimp hotel right at the finish line and went straight to bed!

Leogang Mountains

The track looked good although they had made most of the harder sections from 2010 a little easier, it was looking very soft in places, and with the predicted non stop rain over the weekend, the track would be muddy! 

Track walk with main man Gee, walking into a storm !

Practice day, after a night of rain I put cut spikes on and banged out 4 runs quickly , getting all the jumps sorted, with the sun shining the track was drying fast so I tried highrollers before going up to walk the track and watch the top boys do a timed run.

Dropping into the finish

Qualifying, after another night of heavy rain it was back on to the cut spikes, I did 3 practice runs and then went back to the hotel for a nap! I went for a quick spin in the gym to get warm before heading up for my run, I had a smooth run with no mistakes, although I sat down for too much of the flat sections, I qualified in 60th position in a time of 4.02, some real close times as I was only 3 seconds from the top 30 ! There were around 270 riders trying to qualify in the top 80!

Qualifying run

Moto foam to keep the mud out !

Race day, even more heavy rain over night , now made the muddy track super muddy and rutty, I watched a few guys in the top section and it was mad to see some of the top ten riders really struggling to get through! I was pretty happy with my lines, choosing to go outside on most turns and carry some speed!

Race run, my plan was to get through the top section then get in the mix from there! That didnt quite work as I somehow managed to crash on one of the easier turns in the top section and get myself a muddy glove, I didn't really get going after that and ended up in 69th! Pretty annoying as I felt I was riding well! Loads of riders were crashing including Dan Atherton and Sam Dale who were both looking on it! Aaron Gwin took the win comfortably although Gee put in a stormer run and had a few seconds on everyone else in 2nd place!

Helmet cam from Leogang race day

Hopefully I won't lose my license after setting off numerous European speed cameras!

Thanks to John and Jane for the photos and sampling the dinner menu before us to advise us on what to choose! Top spectators and mechanics! Cheers

Next up I've chosen to miss the Llangollen national and race at Borovets in Bulgaria which is going to be one amazing track! Younger brother Edward is also joining me for the trip for his first race outside the UK!

Till next time! All the best
Berty