I was adamant to fly to Finale Ligure, having driven
overseas 3 times already I decided to keep it simple and fly. However last
minute my plans changed and I decided to race the Specialized/Sram Enduro in
Flims, Switzerland the week before so I traveled out in James Shirley’s
landship. Leaving late Wednesday afternoon we trucked south, jumped on the
ferry and arrived in Switzerland Thursday evening. Friday morning I awoke to an
email announcing the race was cancelled due to 40cm of snow, we decided to head
straight to Finale Ligure where the temptation of gelato, sun, sandy beaches
and dusty trails was too good to turn down.
The first day of riding was on Saturday James and I met up
with our good friends Cat and Trev from Summit Down, they have been living and
guiding in Finale for the majority of the summer and showed us some of the best
trails I had ridden all year, I had a great few days with them! Practice
started on the Thursday before the event and I was lucky enough to be shuttled
around the trails by Freeride Finale which was a massive advantage. I managed
to get a good couple of runs in on each stage and was feeling ready for the
race.
 |
| The Summit Down crew |
Preparation went well and with the help of Cube, Fox, Sram
and Schwalbe I had my bike dialed in and ready to rip. The weather conditions
on Saturday were absolutely perfect around 20 degree’s, I opted only to wear my
full face and not carry a half face, this made the transitions a little harder
but saved carrying a secondary helmet. I was number 49 for and sandwiched
between Peaty and Ratboy of the Syndicate team, this made for entertaining
transfer stages. Transfer 1 had around 350m of vertical climbing I arrived with
plenty of time to catch my breath and get ready for the descent. I loved this
stage and rode it well, a good start to the weekend, the crowd at the bottom
was amazing and they were going crazy for the riders.
The transfer to 3 was long and tough but I made it in time
again, I enjoyed this stage but never got into the flow of things with it in
practice. Come racing though I rode it well and was happy with how it went. It
was technical with some high speed sections through trees and shrubs before
coming into a series of mega tight switchbacks and finished by racing through
the village of San Michele. Due to an accident on stage 1, stage 4 had to be
cancelled as daylight would have been short for all 600 riders to make their
way through it. I finished the day in 38th position and was happy. I
headed out for a meal with the rest of the Scottish boys, tuned my bike and
grabbed an early night.
 |
| Bottom of stage 3 |
Sunday morning we had a 2 hour transfer to stage 5 but this
was plenty of time and allowed for a nice mellow ride. It was a predominantly
downhill stage and I was looking forward to it, I felt like I put in a solid ride
but disappointingly was a little off pace. The last transfer was easy going and
I arrived at the top with 40 minutes till my start, I got the Stereo all
checked over and ensured I was ready to go. Stage 6 was the same as stage 2 and
since this was the last stage of the day, I went for it and came in 25th
place, my best yet stage result. At the end of the day I finished in 38th
place, my best ever Enduro World Series result. A few beers on Sunday night and
now I’m headed back to Scotland.
 |
| Top of stage 5 |
It’s been an amazing season, I've met lots of new people,
traveled to the sweetest places in Europe and had a wicked time riding new
trails all summer. Massive thank you to my Mum and Dad for their support along
with Cube Bikes, Mojo Suspension, Gamut USA, Renthal, Ryno Power, Robin Ruth UK
and to Fishers for SRAM and Troy Lee Clothing.
Roll on 2014…
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