IXS Macavalance - Glencoe Mountain Resort

Coming into this race I had mixed feelings and had no idea with what to expect never having competed in a) a mass start race b) or ridden is snow. However the idea was washed away by getting a Helicopter ride to the top of Mountain at Glencoe and the beautiful weather Scotland has!

The race format was take yourself and bike up to the top via the means of 2 chairlifts and a quick 30 min push to the top, walk down the course and get a vague idea of where you wanted to go, bearing in mind having 100 people behind you couldn’t be too picky. Get to the bottom quick change into riding gear and then head up by means of a helicopter.

 

Not the standard uplift - helicopters

The track itself was pretty cool and had a good mix of everything, starting at the top with a minute or so of riding in the snow followed by some tricky rocky sections, bit of pedalling, some bog dodging, bit more pedalling, on to the top of the DH track, past the DH track, drop left into some flat out open grassy turns, before a sprint into the finish.

Racing went ok for me, I didn’t get the result that I wanted but here’s what happened…

With it being a 100m run to the bikes “le monde” style, a bit of pushing here and there I got to my bike and started in the snow. With the warm weather we’ve had the snow was so soft and the majority of it was run on with a bit of shoulder barging (Thanks Danny Mac and Steve Larking) Through the snow section somehow my triple knotted shoe laces managed to undo themselves and tangle round the pedal. It meant I could only do 3 cranks forward and had to do three cranks backwards to undo them, pretty annoying for the pedal in the middle section.

Right on Fergus Lambs tail I followed him and we took a little detour from the main track costing valuable time but what was even more irritating was seeing all the people I’d passed were now ahead of nailing it down the hard pack!

Probably the highlight though was racing Fergus Lamb down one of the final grassy straights, I just lent back let of the brakes and pinned it passing him, the manoeuvre paid off and gave me a 10^th place overall and not too far off the podium considering all the bad luck I had, I was pretty stoked and had an amazing time out on the hill and for sure would do it again.

Big thanks to the guys at IXS Sports, No Fuss Events and of course Glencoe Mountain Resort for making this race possible!

Stoked for being in a Heli!