Alpine Bikes Winter Series Round 3

Innerleithen, Scotland

If you've been on another planet over the past few weeks then you will not have known that five of our local riders traveled up to Innerleithen over the Easter weekend to compete in round 3 of the Alpine Bikes Winter series. Sarah Brunswick, considered the Islands only female downhill rider, had previously competed in Round 2 winning it by a country mile. So for Sarah this was the chance to be crowned overall series winner.

The Course
We arrived there late Friday afternoon after an eventful journey up in the van and went straight to Inners to check out the track. Oh my god what a track, to compare it to one of the Manx tracks is easy: you walk down one of our tracks to check out which line to take, which rock or root to avoid etc.. At Inners you TRY to walk down this track! Honestly, it was awesome. Roots, rocks, tree stumps, so tight and twisty with nasty drops that really made you think about your line. Then before you know it, flat out down narrow single t rack, over doubles, through berms and blind drops and then back into fast, technical twisty sections. Parts of the track were so steep, the word 'insane' was mentioned!
There was one main part of the track that had us all worried: bursting out of the trees, trying to negotiate off camber roots, with tree stumps not really helping your line, you had to try and roll down a rocky bank onto a fire road and just as you'd composed yourself and thought 'yes, got down ok' you were straight down a near vertical rock garden, (we could barely climb up it or down it!) which when leveled out to a 30ft run through the trees! The end of the track ended with the 'bomb hole.' You drop into it and then it just spits you out, skywards into the finishing section of berms and doubles.

Saturday Practice
We got to inners bright and early, parked the van up and most importantly got the Manx flag out after getting all armoured up we made our way to the uplifts which consisted of 4 Coaches and Trucks to shuttle the 300 or so riders from the bottom to the top. Sat at the top all I could think of was the scary section which, in about 50 seconds, would be waiting for me, ready to kick me off my bike. The first run down was a bit stop/start, flagging marshals stopping you as riders fell off left right and center. Once we got going THE section approached and thankfully we all got down safely to continue fairly quickly to the end with no major mishaps, learning the track and picking out lines as we went. Throughout the day we managed to get a good 7 practice run, we maybe could have done with a couple more, but the uplifts at times were a bit slow and frustrating, anyway, we were just having a laugh and enjoying the atmosphere.

Race Day
Thankfully on Sunday morning there wasn't a white blanket from the previous evenings snow fall, but we had heard that the uplifts were not running as they couldn't get up the fire road! The race was still on, but it was to be shortened and would be starting at the nastiest section of the track. Although we wouldn't have to negotiate the drop into the fire road we would have to start the race by dropping straight down the vertical drop into the rock garden….nice. Due to the lack of uplifts we had to haul our own butts up to the new start of the track, so only 1 or 2 practice runs were completed in the morning. Thankfully, with the help of a little sun and some overly keen 4x4 owners the fire road was cleared and the uplift was back on, which meant nice fresh legs for the riders.
James Gant
The first Manxie of the day to step up was James Gant in the junior class, who had been looking quick all weekend and was loving the track. Gants lack of track knowledge at Innerleithen coupled with nerves played way for a couple of little errors, coupled with catching up a slower rider meant precious seconds were lost, yet despite all this he still posted a storming time of 3:06 which would have put him in 11th in the expert category! With the run he had and the time that was posted surely a podium can't be far off for young Gant….
Russ Sansom
next away was me in the Masters category, I started cautiously and was just getting up to speed when I binned it big time! I got up and desperately tried to get back on my bike but couldn't as the seat had twisted round, after giving it a good kick I threw my leg back over and absolutely caned it down the rest of the track .I pinned everything up to a point where, despite taking a tumble, I'd caught up the rider who'd started 30 seconds before me. On the 2nd to last corner the rider dropped in front of me, so having to avoid him I then sprinted to the finish and a time of 3:27. This resulted in 10th place, pretty good, but I was still annoyed with myself for crashing and being held up.
Sarah Brunswick
Sarah had won here previously in Round 2, if she could finish on the podium she would be crowned overall champion of Senior Girls category. Sarah was away as smooth as ever, she had a great run until she caught up the girl who had started before her, once she had passed her she amazingly caught up the girl who'd started 2 places before her. Sarah passed her at the bus stop, narrowly avoiding being taken out & then got back into her rhythm before having a 'moment' in the last open section, she grabbed her bike & peddled for home! 3.59 1st place again, champion!!! So for Sarah 2 visits to the podium that day would be necessary, once for the first place of the days racing and the second for the overall series victory. Could there be a sponsorship on the cards? Watch this space……
Bryan Ravenshear
Bryan Ravenshear was the first senior Manx rider away, taking it easy as he'd had a big crash in practice and picking up an injury to his thigh. Once he got his rhythm he got faster as the course went on despite it getting pretty cut up and previous lines getting destroyed. A couple of 'moments' later Bryan posted a time of 3:28 which wasn't what he'd hoped for, but considering the circumstances, it had to do!
Tom Skillicorn
Tom Skillicorn, the island No.1 champion, got off to a flying start until again he was held up by a slower rider who would not move out of the way. As the track was so tight it was difficult to pass, unless the rider is considerate enough to make some space you just have to sit and wait for it to open up. Despite Skilly passing the inconsiderate rider his race run had already gone down the pan and posted a time of 3:05 which sat him in 8th place.

Summary
Sarah was on the podium twice and two other riders placed in the top ten of their categories, not a bad weekends riding if you ask me. I'm pretty sure the Manx made an impression on the other riders and hopefully more visits across will firmly put the Isle of Man riders on the map, and give a few of our UK counterparts something to think about…..

Russ Sansom