MTB Worlds Spectator Diary
News Posted: 10 Sept 2007
Words and Pics by Eddie Allen
www.everydaycycling.com editor Eddie Allen made the mad dash up to Fort William on Friday morning to spend the weekend working on the British Cycling/Everyday Cycling stand and reporting on the event. Here's his account of the weekend.
Friday 7th Sept
Phew! What a day that was. Up at 4:30am, still dark outside. Headed out onto to road with taxis still bringing revellers home from the city centre. But for me the event had just started. 330 miles away lay Fort William and the climactic weekend of the UCI MTB World Championships.
An epic 6 hour journey, capped by an amazing journey across Rannoch Moor and Glencoe, ended at Fort William, on the banks of Loch Linne. I parked up at the hotel car park and pulled the bike out of the boot, packed my bag and headed out onto the excellent Bikehut sponsored traffic free trail from Fort William to the Nevis Range site.
I'd never been to a major MTB event before, apart from NPS series events and boy, was I in for a big surprise. Forget your preconceptions of cycling events - think V festival with knobbly tyres and you'll be nearer the mark. I was greeted with a huge event village, music, food of every description, from hog roast to venison casserole in a bap. TV helicopter circling overhead and a few thousand people checking out the event village and soaking in the atmosphere.
As I arrived, the Under 23 Mens XC was kicking off and I scrambled through midge infested mossy undergrowth to get a good vantage point to watch the riders power up extreme rock garden (pictured, above right) and North Shore sections. All around me, cowbells were chiming like the soundtrack to a downhill skiing event and pleas in a dozen languages were urging respective riders on. Too soon (though not too soon for the riders) the XC race was over. So I decided to do a bit of retail therapy. 2008 models from Kona were on display. Clothing from Fox, Plain Lazy and others, plus steel and ti creations from Charge bikes. Another sweep of the giant catering marquee resulted in a coffee and a few hundred more calories in the shape of a delicious slab of carrot cake.
Retail therapy is a big part of any trip to the worlds Suitably refreshed I made my way back over to the 4X course, where riders were training for the evening's showcase event. It amazed me that even in practice, the riders were pulling huge tabletops and flairs just to keep the crowd pleased. And pleased they were, with the whole course lined two deep even for the practice session.
Dusk and the lights are beginning to come on for the 4-Cross finals But this was nothing compared to the heats and finals later in the evening. The scene was epic in proportion. Floodlights and strobes. Pumping music, the drama of low cloud covering and revealing Ben Nevis in the evening light, and the world's best 4X riders battling for supremacy. No team orders - GB riders shoulder to shoulder racing to win. Drama, big crashes and the over-riding aim to keep the crowd happy, no matter what the outcome of the race. In the end, the USA's Brian Lopes romped away with a comfortable victory in the Mens Final, with fellow USA rider Kintner taking the Women's honours. Funny thing was, the winner's and losers were upstaged by the sheer magnitude of the event, and the drunken and vocal supporters of all nationalities greeted the worthy champions with thunderous applause when they donned their rainbow jerseys.
Fireworks capped off the 4th day at the championships Can't wait for Saturday and Sunday!
Saturday 8th
Sponsors Nissan have put a lot into the event - in every way! After a 1:30am finish, blogging and downloading pictures, I was up again at 7:00am and back up the road to the event village, once again using the special cycleway. A lot less hairy than the ride down in pitch dark last night.
Mesmerising skill in the trials When we got there, the trials semi finals was well underway. Dotted around the arena and into the woods, there were rock, wood, riverbed, construction site and natural sections, plus one section with a Nissan pickup and a phone box. British riders figured strongly in the semis and the crowds followed the Brit pack around from section to section. In tandem, the women's senior XC was in full swing. Course designers had placed the trials areas close to the XC course, so in the same shot you had cross country whippets and back wheel hopping trialsters rubbing shoulders.
Next I was off to the Everyday Cycling event truck, where British Cycling's MC Andy Gilliott was interviewing the Junior Downhill GB Team, who when asked, were mostly 'stoked to be here.'
Catering tent - and Hog Roast Then came lunch and some serious decision making in the catering tent, which was filled with BBQ smoke and chatter. After the culinary delights of yesterday's venison casserole in a bun, I decided to branch out and go for the Hog in the Bun from Highland Hog Roast.
Time for a recipe, me thinks: Publicly spit roast and carve hog; stuff liberal portion of said hog into large bap - et voila - hog in bun, with crackling of course! Serves one (hungry) adult. Cooking time - 1-2 minutes. Prep time - zero!
Must try the porridge stall tomorrow! I'm running the full gauntlet of Scottish cuisine, though trying to stay away from the organic beer and whisky stand, at least until after I've finished a day's work. Unbenown to me, I was also on the menu. The highland midges were at work in the woods around the natural trials area and had a damn good feast on any exposed bit of flesh.
Nick Craig (left) and Liam Killeen show contrasting facial expressions as their race approachesLunch over, I was off to watch the Senior Men's XC. In the starting compound there were lots of anxious looks, last minute coaching pep talks, turbo warmups, and the odd rider looking relaxed and ready for the race. If yesterday's Under-23s were awe inspiring, then the Seniors were utterly jaw dropping - the combination of athletic prowess and techincal skill was stunning.
I watch the riders on the Berminator on the final lap - Sven Nys' audacious manouver on the final berm - going through on the inside in the rubble was a killer and drew roars from the crowd. Looking down on the event village and the finishing straight, every time a GB rider came through, the roars and the banging on the boards was deafening.
Paul Oldham (left) is swept along on a wave of cheering, whilst Sven Nys - better known as a 'Cross rider - impressed Eddie with his skillAll too soon, the day's superb action was over. Highlights? Watching the world's top XC riders power up a sandy climb like it was tarmac. A 9 foot tall bagpiper with panto dog. The focus and skill of the trials riders, not necessarily in that order. Freebie of the day? MBR bottle opener key ring, because you never know.
The Scottish diet breeds them big! Looking forward to tomorrow and the Downhill, and more adventures in Scottish catering. Hope the midges stay at home though?
Sunday 9th
Above: Crowds brave the rain and soak up some DH action After the drama of the XC, we decided to check out Fort William town centre on Saturday night the town's one main street was over-run with mountain bikers and mountain bike fans, every bar was six deep with long queues just to get into most pubs. Inside, conditions were cramped, but the whole place rang with the sound of a dozen different languages, as fans from all over the world sampled the local ales.
Outside, there were bands playing in the main square, the Animal trials team were doing demos and the smell of Aberdeen Angus and Venison burgers drifted across town from the catering vans. After a few jars, we headed back to the hotel and prepared for a final assault on the event village the following day, and the major climax to the week - the Downhill.
Fort William street life on Saturday night All week, I'd been eyeing up the ultra steep drop into the finish area, relishing the idea of watching the riders thunder in, but nothing could prepare me for the real thing. Far and away the busiest day so far, fans started to accumulate early-on for the Junior race and were treated to a GB (and Scottish) winner in Ruaridh Cunningham. The roars from the crowd were accompanied by horns and alpine bells and reached a peak every time a GB rider came in. This continued throughout the day, running simultaneously with the Trials finals, which drew it's own travelling crowd from one section to the next. Same story with the Womens event, with the crowd going wild for Rachel Atherton and Tracey Moseley's performances.
We spent the morning on the Everyday Cycling event truck, where we ran the last session of the Everyday Cycling Turbo Trainer Challenge, dragging hapless folk from the crowd and seeing how far they could ride in 2 minutes, with a chance to win signed GB shirts and other MTB goodies.
Oddballs and weirdos were a feature of the weekend Sunday's highlights included a group of Elvises (or Elvi, to use the correct plural) dressed as janitors, grown men racing children's plastic go karts and of course the cross-dressing Munster Rugby Club, effortlessly combining party frocks with military headgear.
Once again, lunchtime presented it's usual dilemmas and after almost going for the Risotto stand I was lured once more by the powerful aroma of Hog in a Bun. Later on, a Stoats Porridge flapjack and a Cappucino sustained me through the Elite Mens DH, twin highlights of which were Sam Hill's awesome run into first place despite the quickly worsening conditions, and the poor rider from New Zealand who tore the backside out of his skinsuit and rode the bottom half of the course with alfresco bum cheeks. Commentator Dan Jarvis noted that he'll be finding bits of Fort William up there for weeks.
The Elvis Cleaning Company were all shook up by the litter in the event village The rain steadily worsened as the runs went on, making life very trick for Peaty, Marc Beamont and the Athertons, but everyone rode their socks off and pulled massive crowd pleasing whips on the huge jump into the arena. The crowd remained glued to the big screen, getting progressively more soaked as the afternoon wore on, but the rain did nothing to silence the roars when the GB riders thundered into sight.
The end of the Men's DH sadly signalled the end to what, for me, was simply the best event I've been to, of any kind. The setting, the organisation, the vibe and the racing was superb - a real global gathering of the MTB faithful. In the words of the Junior DH team, I was stoked to be there.
Now I'm onto a strict no-Hog detox regime.
Ed