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Buried in the misty hills in the Highlands of Scotland, sits the legendary world championship mountain cross course. ¾ of the track was rebuilt over the winter and no pictures existed of the new layout except two aerial photos that were published in Dirt magazines March issue, so there was no mentally preparing for what we were about to race on.
Round four of the national points series would be the first race on the new Fort William track and a test run for the new layout before track designers made their final adjustments to it for the world champs.
I was extremely excited to be racing on a course of this caliber and I was all smiles…until I saw the new finish line. Then I was awed. Then the Midges came.
I’ve never raced on anything close to this.
The walk to the top of the mountain cross course for Saturday’s UCI Super-Cross Series took about 10 minutes and all along the way I paused to look at the new lines, jumps, and berms. Rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. Small ones, big ones, some the size of bowling balls, other’s were the same size of marbles, but regardless of their size, there were millions of them and they littered the course and especially in the berms where the perfect lines were. It was as if somebody went through the course and purposefully put the rocks in the fastest lines.
After a hike through the woods and up the track I was at the start gate. From start to finish the course started out down a sharp drop with rocks buried in the loose mossy dirt to a very small rolling table top. The table top dropped off into a ten foot flat to a large 6 foot tall step up that was easily cleared, but a step down greeted you on the other side of the step up and, to add insult to injury, the race course builders tossed in a rock garden on the back side of the step down-about twenty feet of it with huge rocks that were haphazardly dropped into place and were not set in the ground.
Through the rock garden a 10 tall table top with a roller on the lip that kicked you into the air which made the jump easy to clear, but it often sent you into the face of the next identical table top take off, leaving you desperately trying to suck up the bike before you got bucked off and sent over the handle bars.
Right after that last large table top, you were sent 90 degrees to the right and into a three way split line. The inside line had a large double, the middle line would pop you up into the outside line and the outside line completed this awesome passing area. Out of the 90 degree berm and into the next set of table tops. The first table top was a shorty with a 4 foot lip. The top of the table top was about 12 feet and it was filled with yet another rock garden with many of the face of the rocks facing directly at the rider, making anyone who tried to pump through it pay with a trip over the bars and down the backside of the table top.
The next table top was fairly large. 10 foot lip over the 15 foot top and down the back side into a very loose rock garden with very spongy dirt/moss and a few snapped branches still poking out of the ground to impale all those who failed to drift the turn and into the nicely done doubles.
Off of the doubles and into another 90 degree berm, but this time you went to the left and up toward the old start that had been turned into a hip jump. Over the hip jump and down a series of short step downs and you hit the new big double gap jump. Out of the double and into the infamous 180 degree berm that was super loose and filled with gravel that did not easily line the rider up for the small double then a step down, then another double that sent you into another loose gravel filled berm that turned you 90 degrees to the left and down a four foot drop into a very steep roller that sent you flying over the large table top.
Another 90 degree turn to the right and you were lined up with the small triple jump that set you up for the finishing line.
Out of the berm and you were gunning it through the new finishing line and all you had to do was drop 7 feet over the boulders to the landing, but miss the landing and your rocketing down another steep roller that dropped you another four feet into a long straight that led to another boulder drop of about five feet to the finish line.
Easy.
I finished off Saturday’s UCI Super-Cross Series with a third place finish and podiumed for the first time this season!
We actually had enough riders to go though the semi-finals, but injuries, bike malfunctions, and the every present army of Midges destroyed the ranks and we were left with four of us for the final. I finished 4th in the final.
Current national standing: If I did all the calculations right- I’m 9th in the nation.
Thanks for your support!
Bob Burnes
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