After weeks of almost unbroken sunshine we arrived at Nevis Range on Friday evening just in time to catch the last gondola to the top and walk the course back down in heavy rain. A little dampness on this course is a good thing as the loose gravel at the top gives far better grip. Fully wet however and it’s probably no advantage and as we got toward the bottom it was clearly going to be a very wet weekend.
Saturday started badly and went downhill quickly if you pardon the pun. My first run was OK but I fell a number of times on the now very muddy tree line sections and began to wonder if there was a clean line through at all. My second run only lasted to the deer fence about a 3rd of the way down when eight spokes broke on my back wheel pretty much jamming the wheel in the frame. With no spare wheel in the van and none available locally in the right axle width we only had one option. Try and fix it. This was made more difficult when the rear maxle also snapped getting the wheel off the bike. We made a run in to town for parts and spent the rest of the day and early evening making the best job we could for Sunday. This was not a weekend where I could afford to miss practice so went in to Sunday really unsure and on the back foot.
On Sunday morning I had time for only one practice run which wasn’t great and again put the rear wheel out of true. We got it straightened again in time for the my first race run though. Seeded 13th from the first round results, I crossed the line in 7th but again finished with the wheel rubbing heavily on the frame and requiring another few spokes. I knew that holding on to 13rd was going to be difficult and by the end of the first runs I was 15th. I could tell by the times of my usual competition and some mates that I had a lot of time still in me so was hoping for a solid top 10 come the end of the day. Unfortunately that was the end of the day. We managed to get the bike going again but a number of long red flag periods in some of the other classes had delayed the event too much and with the wind getting up it was decided to halt racing and call it on the single first runs.
I’m still riding the loaned 2010 bike but it had seen a lot of riding even before I got my hands on it and its starting to tell. A complete wheel rebuild and some other TLC is really overdue. With the BDS race at the very tough Glencoe ski resort in under two weeks time I hope my new bike is going to arrive on time.
On Sunday morning I had time for only one practice run which wasn’t great and again put the rear wheel out of true. We got it straightened again in time for the my first race run though. Seeded 13th from the first round results, I crossed the line in 7th but again finished with the wheel rubbing heavily on the frame and requiring another few spokes. I knew that holding on to 13rd was going to be difficult and by the end of the first runs I was 15th. I could tell by the times of my usual competition and some mates that I had a lot of time still in me so was hoping for a solid top 10 come the end of the day. Unfortunately that was the end of the day. We managed to get the bike going again but a number of long red flag periods in some of the other classes had delayed the event too much and with the wind getting up it was decided to halt racing and call it on the single first runs.
I’m still riding the loaned 2010 bike but it had seen a lot of riding even before I got my hands on it and its starting to tell. A complete wheel rebuild and some other TLC is really overdue. With the BDS race at the very tough Glencoe ski resort in under two weeks time I hope my new bike is going to arrive on time.
Photos by Paul Cram http://www.rootsandrain.co.uk/photos/paul-cram/
No comments:
Post a Comment