I returned to the saddle in a downhill race for the first time since last October after having joined the Army over the winter. I came home a couple of weeks back to a great surprise. A brand new shiny Rose Beefcake DH8 all ready to go. I knew it was coming but my folks hadn’t told me it had arrived. Getting back in the saddle was great and I felt right at home straight away. The buttery smooth setup just crying out to be ridden hard and what better than a gnarly, soaking wet race to try it out on? Round three of the Scottish Downhill Series was at Pitfichie in Aberdeenshire which is pretty close to home. For the first time the SDA chose the newer of the two tracks for this race with some totally new bits thrown in to reduce home advantage. No need on my account as I’d hardly ever ridden it, focusing the limited practice time I spend at the venue on the more popular old track.
Saturday’s practice went well enough but it was clear to see that the hill was going to change a lot as the rain, which had been falling since about a 2009, showed no sign on stopping. Pitfichie is a push up race so practice is somewhat limited anyway but I managed a couple of complete runs and sectioned the tricky bits for the rest of the day. I was feeling good on the bike but the lack of running was showing as I just didn’t feel comfortable carrying speed in the corners.
Sunday promised to be a better day according to the BBC weather people but what do they know about Aberdeenshire weather? It rained again all day! One practice run in the morning was all there was time for and the track was now really quite scary with a lot of exposed roots, huge ruts and holes that would swallow a poorly placed front. All the time topped off with a covering in white water. My first run went well enough and I arrive at the finish in a clear lead but I was running in a poorly seeded position so I tumbled to ninth as the faster riders came in. Still, I was pretty happy with a top ten even if not by the margin to my good friend Lachlan Blair in first. By the time the second set of runs started the organisers were just trying to get the day over as quickly as possible and announced that the second runs were going in no particular order with everyone just getting to the top of the hill and coming down in the order they arrived. This was OK and I set off after leaving a good gap to the man in front but what I didn’t know was who else the mix in front contained. I passed about three people with little or no delay before I came upon a guy who played dumb and wouldn’t move over for me and was really slow. By the time I got passed I’d probably lost 10 second or so. I stayed upright (no mean feat by the way) and got to the bottom a couple of seconds quicker than my first run but not enough to improve from ninth. I wasn’t going to be challenging to a podium but I really feel I could have gained a few places had I not been held up so much. I also guess I could have asked for a rerun but I didn’t fancy the hour long push up and the track wasn’t getting any better. All in all I think it was a pretty successful and enjoyable return to racing.
Many thanks again go out to Fin Paton and the guys at Rose Bikes UK for their continued support. I loved the Beefcake when I first saw it a couple of years ago and still love it as much today.
Full results on Roots and Rain
Euan.
